Crazy Song to the Air of "Dixie"

DESCRIPTION: "Way down south in the land of cotton, I wrote this song and wrote it rotten, I did, I didn't -- you don't believe me. The reason why I cannot sing I have no chestnuts for to spring...." Other nonsense of similar calibre follows
AUTHOR: "Andy Lee" (W. W. Delaney) supplied Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag's text
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (recording, Ernest Stoneman)
KEYWORDS: nonsense nonballad parody derivative campsong
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, p. 342, "Crazy Song to the Air of 'Dixie'" (1 text)
Coleman/Bregman-SongsOfAmericanFolks, pp. 120-121, "The Crazy Dixie" (1 text, 1 tune, beginning with "The Horse Named Bill" and including "Crazy Song to the Air of Dixie" verses)
Pankake/Pankake-PrairieHomeCompanionFolkSongBook, p. 61, "The Whale Song (1 text, tune referenced; a "Sarah the Whale" type)
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, pp. 94, 490, 491, "Sarah the Whale" (notes only)
Roud #29315
RECORDINGS:
Ernest Stoneman, "Dixie Parody" (OKeh 40430, 1925)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Dixie" (tune) and references there
cf. "The Woodpecker's Hole" (some lyrics)
NOTES [83 words]: The nature of this song is such that almost any nonsense can, and is, attracted to it. So any nonsense to the air of "Dixie" is listed here (with the exception of "A Horse Named Bill," which is coherent in a small way).
According to Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 490, the "Sarah the Whale" subtext was published by Evelyn Hopson Wood in Camp and Picnic Warrior in 1929. If so, it may have begun its existence independently -- but it certainly either mixed with or was inspired by this song. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.3
File: San342

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography