Goodbye to My Stepstone

DESCRIPTION: The singer has stayed at home among loved ones for a long time, but now is leaving: "Goodbye to my stepstone, goodbye to my home, God bless the ones that I leave with a sigh; I'll cherish dear memory while I am away; Goodbye, dear old stepstone, goodbye."
AUTHOR: probably J. O. Webster
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (collected from Lela Ammons by Bascom Lamar Lunsford. Source: _Sing Out_, volume 35, #4 [1991], p. 8); J. O. Webster published his piece "Old Doorstep," the likely ancestor, in 1880
KEYWORDS: travel home farewell rambling
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Jones-MinstrelOfTheAppalachians-Bascom-Lamar-Lunsford, "Old Stepstone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 713, "The Old Stepstone" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Randolph 853, "The Old Stepstone" (1 texts plus 2 fragments)
DT, STEPSTON*
Roud #7453
RECORDINGS:
Daphne Burns, "Goodbye To My Stepstones" (Paramount 3032, 1927)
Floyd County Ramblers, "Step Stone" (Victor V-40331, 1930; Bluebird B-5107, 1933; on TimesAint05)
Bascom Lamar Lunsford, "Stepstones" (Brunswick 231, 1928; Brunswick 314, 1929; on BLLunsford01) (Rounder LP 0065, 1957)
Peg Moreland, "The Old Step Stone" (Victor V-40008, 1929)
E. R. Nance Singers, "Goodbye to My Stepstone" (Champion 16316, 1931)
Three Muskateers, "Goodbye to the Step Stones" (Bluebird B-6525, 1936)
Ernest V. Stoneman and His Dixie Mountaineers, "Goodbye Dear Old Stepstone" (Edison 52489, 1929); Ernest Stoneman and Eddie Stoneman, "Good-bye Dear Old Stepstone" (ARC, unissued, 1934)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Old Doorstep
NOTES [27 words]: I've seen this attributed to Woody Guthrie, but the texts in Randolph, and his references to 1890s songbooks, make it clear that the basic song predated him. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.1
File: R853

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