Way Down in Rackensack (Old Coon Dog)

DESCRIPTION: "Somebody stole my old coon dog, I wish they'd bring him back, He drove the big 'uns over the fence An' the little ones through the crack. It's gettin' out the way o' the fiddler O (x3), Way down in Rackensack."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (recording, Fiddlin' Doc Roberts)
KEYWORDS: animal dog theft
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Randolph 350, "Way Down in Rackensack" (1 text)
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 185, "Roll Johnny Booger" (1 text, 1 tune)
McNeil-SouthernMountainFolksong, pp. 172-173, "Ol' Coon Dog" (1 text, 1 tune, with many floating verses and the chorus of "Whoa Mule (The Kickin' Mule)" but the largest share of the lyrics from "Way Down in Rackensack (Old Coon Dog)")
Roud #7627
RECORDINGS:
Bradley Kincaid, "Old Coon Dog" (Brunswick 485, c. 1930)
George "Shortbuckle" Roark, "My Old Coon Dog"(Columbia 15383-D, 1929; rec. 1928; a melange that also includes bits of, among other songs, "Whoa, Mule," "Possum Up a Gum Stump," and "Shoo Fly")
Fiddlin' Doc Roberts, "My Old Coon Dog" (Gennett 6558, 1928)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Old Coon Dog (I)" (lyrics)
NOTES [104 words]: Roud's Folk Song Index has [the] Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest [text] as Roud #764 ("Old Grimes"; accessed 03 May 2014) and a case can be made for that choice, or a number of other choices: the first verse is "Old Father Grimes, that good old man, As ever I did see, His eyes looked like two auger holes Bored in a buckeye tree." The chorus of "Roll Johnny Booger, roll (3x), The boys can't beat our time" is not like "Johnny Booker" as I know it. The second and third verses, "Somebody stole my old coon dog...." and "Somebody stole my banty hen...." seem to belong with "Old Coon Dog" so I put it here. - BS
Last updated in version 4.2
File: R350

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