Possum Up a Gum Stump

DESCRIPTION: "Possum up a gum stump, Cooney in a holler, Little gal at our house, Fat as she can waller." The first two lines are characteristic (though the animals can vary); the last two lines can seemingly be anything.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: nonballad animal
FOUND IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 415, "Lynchburg Town" (3 texts plus 2 fragments, 2 excerpts, and mention of 2 more, all with the "Lynchburg Town" chorus, but "A" and "B" have verses from "Raccoon" and "Possum Up a Gum Stump and "D" and "E" are partly "If I Had a Scolding Wife" ("Lucy Long (I)"); only "C" seems to be truly "Lynchburg Town")
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 415, "Lynchburg Town" (4 tunes plus text excerpts, corresponding to "A," "B," "E," and a "J" version that apparently is not cited in Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3); also p. 543, "Old Raccoon" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Randolph 280, "Possum Up a Gum Stump" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 161, "Possum Up a Simmon Tree" (6 texts, all of a single stanza; some are probably not this piece, but they're too short to classify)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 161, "Possum Up a 'Simmon Tree" (3 tunes, 1 text plus some excerpts)
Rosenbaum-FolkVisionsAndVoices, p. 133, "Greenback" (1 text, 1 tune, with an unusual chorus but lyrics typical of this song; Roud, oddly, classifies this with "Lynchburg Town")
Scarborough-OnTheTrailOfNegroFolkSongs, p. 177, (no title) (1 fragment)
Sulzer-TwentyFiveKentuckyFolkBallads, pp. 20-21, "Heigh-Ho-Diddle-Um-De-A" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax/Lomax-AmericanBalladsAndFolkSongs, p. 238, "Little Gal at Our House" (1 text, 1 tune)
Solomon-ZickaryZan, p. 106, "Possum up the Persimmon Tree" (1 text)
Roud #7782
RECORDINGS:
Hiter Colvin, "Rabbit Up the Gum Stump" (Victor V-40239, 1930/Montgomery Ward 8148, 1939)
Henry Truvillion, "Come On, Boys, and Let's Go to Huntin'" (AFS 3983 B2; on LC8)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Uncle Reuben" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Bile Them Cabbage Down" (floating lyrics)
NOTES [52 words]: Lomax reports this as a "patting chant" -- sung to the accompaniment of hands clapping or slapping against the thighs. Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5, p. 543, files the version on that page as a "recitation" but gives a tune and says there was a banjo accompaniment. Don't ask me to explain. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.4
File: R280

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