Soldier's Joy

DESCRIPTION: Dance tune with verses; "I am my mama's darling boy...." "Grasshopper sitting on a sweet potato vine...." "Fifteen cents for the morphine, 25 cents for the beer/Fifteen cents for the morphine, gonna take me away from here"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Greig/Duncan8)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Dance tune with verses; "I am my mama's darling boy/Play that tune called Soldier's Joy"; "Grasshopper sitting on a sweet potato vine/Along come a chicken and says 'You're mine'"; "Fifteen cents for the morphine, 25 cents for the beer/Fifteen cents for the morphine, gonna take me away from here"
KEYWORDS: dancing nonballad drugs
FOUND IN: Britain US(All) Scandinavia
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Greig/Duncan8 1743, "The Soldier's Joy" (2 texts, 1 tune)6389
Linscott-FolkSongsOfOldNewEngland, pp. 109-111, "Soldier's Joy" (1 tune plus dance instructions)
MidwestFolklore, W. L. McAtee, "Some Folklore of Grant County, Indiana, in the Nineties," Volume 1, Number 4 (WInter 1951), p. 258, "(Grasshopper sittin' on the railroad track)" (1 text, a single verse that might or might not be this or might be Roud #15661)
DT, SOLDRJO2
Roud #27659
RECORDINGS:
Arkansas Woodchopper [pseud. for Luther Ossenbrink] & his Square Dance Band, "Soldier's Joy" (OKeh 06297, 1941)
Blue Ridge Highballers, "Soldier's Joy" (Columbia 15168-D, 1927)
Fiddlin' John Carson, "Soldier's Joy" (OKeh 45011, 1925)
Zeb Harrelson & M. B. Padgett, "Soldier's Joy" (OKeh 45078, 1927; rec. 1926)
Sid Harkreader w. Uncle Dave Macon, "Soldier's Joy" (Vocalion 14887, 1924)
Kessinger Brothers, "Soldier's Joy" (Brunswick 341, c. 1929)
John D. Mounce et al, "Soldier's Joy" (on MusOzarks01)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Soldier's Joy" (on NLCR07) (on NLCR16)
Aulton Ray, "Soldier Joy" (Gennett 6205, 1927)
Glenn Smith, "Soldier's Joy" [instrumental] (on GraysonCarroll1)
Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, "Soldier's Joy" (Bluebird B-5658, 1934; RCA Victor 21-2168, 1947) (Columbia 15538-D, 1930; rec. 1929; on Tanner2)
Taylor's Kentucky Boys, "Soldier Joy" (Gennett 6205, 1927)
Doc Watson, "Soldier's Joy" (on RitchieWatson1, RitchiteWatsonCD1)
Guy Wolff, "Soldier's Joy" (Piotr-Archive #427, recorded 01/08/2023)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Love Somebody, Yes I Do" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
My Stetson Hat (File: Ohr083)
NOTES [44 words]: The quintessential nonballad, but I've indexed it because it is cross-referenced elsewhere.
Reputed to have been found around the year 1000, but...
Morphine was reputed to be called "soldier's joy" during the American Civil War, but the title is older than that. - PJS
Last updated in version 6.8
File: RcSoJoy

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