Lynchburg Town

DESCRIPTION: Usually a comic song about a farmer's troubles with wife, horse, merchants, prices, machinery, and anything else that comes along. Chorus: "I'm going down to town, I'm going down to town, I'm going down to Lynchburg town, toting my tobaccer down."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: farming humorous wife
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES (14 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"); also 480, "Hard Times" (1 text, massively composite: Chorus from "Lynchburg Town" and verses from "Old Bee Makes the Honey Comb" and the "White Folks Go to College" version of "Hard to Be a Nigger")
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)
Warner-TraditionalAmericanFolkSongsFromAnneAndFrankWarnerColl 181, "Lynchburg Town" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, p. 145, "Goin' Down to Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-OnTheTrailOfNegroFolkSongs, p. 192, "Hawkie Is a Schemin' Bird" (1 text, with the "Hawkie" first stanza, a chorus from "Lynchburg Town," and verses such as "Went up on a mountain To give my horn a blow" and "Climbed up on a mountain... To sweeten Liza Jane")
Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah, #196, ""Little More Cider" (1 text, with the chorus of "A Little More Cider Too" although the lyrcs are often found in "Lynchburg Town")
Lomax/Lomax-OurSingingCountry, pp. 60-62, "Lynchburg Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 260, "Lynchburg Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Coleman/Bregman-SongsOfAmericanFolks, pp. 54-55, "Goin' Down to Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Browne-AlabamaFolkLyric 167, "When I Was a Little Boy" (1 text, 1 tune, which appears to open with part of "I Wish They'd Do It Now," includes floating verses which sometimes are found in "Lynchburg Town," and end with the "Saturday NIght My Wife Died" of "The Old Gray Goose (I) (Lookit Yonder)" or similar)
Roberts/Agey-InThePine #130, "Goin' Down Town" (1 text, 1 tune, with a lot of floating verses)
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, Frank L. Warner [nephew of Frank M. Warner], "Songs My Uncle Taught Me" Vol. XI, No. 1 (Jul 1963), p. 31, "Lynchburg Town" (1 text)
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, John Allen Davidson, Jr., "The Songs of Caleb Mashburn," Vol. XX, No. 1 (Feb 1972), pp. 56-57, "'Baccer sellin' high/I'm goin' down to town/" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
DT, LYNCHBRG*
Roud #3444
RECORDINGS:
Blue Ridge Highballers, "Going Down to Lynchburg Town" (Columbia 15096-D, 1926)
The Highlanders [Lonnie Austin, Roy Harvey, Charlie Poole, Odell Smith, Lucy Terry], "Lynchburg Town" [instrmental] (Paramount 3171, 1929) [May also have been issued under Poole's name with the same record number]
Al Hopkins & his Buckle Busters, "Lynchburg Town" (Brunswick, unissued, 1928)
Grandpa Jones, "Going Down Town" (King 772-B, 1949)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Watermelon Spoilin' On The Vine" (floating verses)
cf. "Funniest Is the Frog" (lyrics, tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Lebeck Town
File: Wa181

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