“The Jawbone Song”

Description

""Dance all night with a bottle in my hand/Just 'fore day give the fiddler a dram." "Jawbone walk and jawbone talk/Jawbone eat with a knife and fork" "My old Miss is mad at me, Cause I wouldn't live in Tennessee" 'I laid that jawbone on the fence...."

Notes

I'm including versions of "Give the Fiddler a Dram/Dance All Night With a Bottle In Your Hand" here, because many of them share the same tune and several verses. A case could be made for splitting as well, but in practice the two branches of the family are hard to distinguish. - PJS

This is an instance where, unusually, Roud does not lump; "Jawbone" is Roud #7728 and "Give the Fiddler a Dram" is #3657. But Paul has heard far more of the 78 recordings than I have. My initial description of "Jawbone" was as follows:

"My old Miss is mad at me, Cause I wouldn't live in Tennessee, Wah-jaw-bone to my jangle lang, An' a wah-jaw-bone to my jangle lang." "I laid that jawbone on the fence, An' I ain't seen that jawbone since. Wah-jaw-bone to my jangle lang...." - RBW

Cross references

• cf. "Old Yellow's Dead" (chorus format)

Recordings

• Carter Bros. & Son, "Old Joe Bone," "Give the Fiddler a Dram" (both on OKeh 45289, 1929)
• Willie Chapman, "Jaw Bone" [instrumental] (on MMOK, MMOKCD)
• Crazy Hillbillies Band, "Danced All Night with a Bottle in My Hand" (OKeh 45575, 1934)
• Clayton McMichen & his Georgia Wildcats, "Give the Fiddler a Dram" (Joe Davis 3510, n.d.)
• New Lost City Ramblers, "Old Joe Bone" (on NLCR13, NLCRCD2)
• Pope's Arkansas Mountaineers, "Jaw Bone" (Victor 21577, 1928)
• Stripling Brothers, "Dance All Night with a Bottle In My Hand" (Vocalion 5395, 1930)
• Gid Tanner & Riley Puckett, "Alabama Gal Give the Fiddler a Dram" (Columbia 119-D, 1924)
• Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, "Dance All Night with a Bottle in your Hand" (Columbia 15108-D, 1926)
• Tennessee Ramblers, "Give the Fiddlers a Dram" (Vocalion 5363, 1929)
• Tweedy Brothers, "Dance All Night with a Bottle in your Hand" (Supertone 9174, 1928)

References

1. Randolph 259, "The Jawbone Song" (1 short text, 1 tune)
2. Randolph/Cohen, pp. 222-223, "The Jawbone Song" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 259)
3. Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 103, (no title) (1 fragment, without the chorus); also p. 103, "Dweley" (1 text, a collection of floating verses including one from this song, one from "Crawdad," and others); also p. 104, "Lula Gal" (1 text, 1 tune, at least partly this song though the chorus appears to be something else)
4. SharpAp 246, "Give the Fiddler a Dram" (1 text, 1 tune)
5. Roud #7728 and 3657
6. BI, R259