Annotation:Over the River to Charley's

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OVER THE RIVER TO CHARLEY'S. AKA and see "Chapel Hill March," "New Rigged Ship (1) (The)." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Missouri, Arkansas?. The tune is known in England as "The New-Rigged Ship," while Galax, Va., fiddler Emmett Lundy called it "Chapel Hill March." Musicologist Charles Wolfe (The Devil's Box, Sept., 1982) found the following lyric in Sketches and Eccentricities of Colonel David Crockett of West Tennessee, by J.S. French, 1833:

Over the river to feed my sheep,
And over the river to Charley;
Over the river to feed my sheep,
On the buckwheat cakes and barley.

This stanza is one of those attached to the song and play-party piece "Weevily Wheat," which makes the "Over the River to Charley" title a floating one. See also note for "annotation:Over the River to Charlie (2)" for more.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources:

Recorded sources: Rounder 0157, Art Galbraith (Springfield, Mo.) - "Simple Pleasures" (1984).

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