Annotation:Wild Hog in the Woods (1)

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WILD HOG IN THE WOODS [1]. AKA and see “Bangum,” "Old Bangum." Old Time, Breakdown. USA, southwestern Va., Kentucky. A Dorian (Phillips): D Dorian (Fuzzy Mtn. String Band). AEae or GDgd (Taylor Kimble) tunings (fiddle). One part. Alan Jabbour says (regarding some instrumental versions) the tune is "almost certainly" an instrumental adaptation of the tune used in the Appalachians for the ballad "Bangum and the Boar" (Child #18) or "Old Bangum." There are words collected by folklorist Henry Galssie in 1962 from Mrs. Ruby Bowman Plemmons (Washington, D.C.), who learned them from her mother who lived in Laurel Fork, southwestern Va. Another version was recorded for the Library of Congress from the playing of Dan Tate. Most modern ‘revival’ versions, however, seem to be based on the playing of Taylor Kimble (1892-1979), of Laurel Fork, Virginia. Guthrie Meade (1980) points out the tune's high part is the same as the tune "Fun's All Over (1) (The)."

There is a wild hog in yonders woods
(diddle on down, diddle on day)
There is a wild hog in yonders woods
(diddleon down the day)
There is a wild hog in these woods,
That eats men and seeks their blood.
(Cut him down, cut him down, catch/kill him if you can).

There comes a wild hog through yonders mash (marsh?)
Splitting his way through oaks and ash.

We followed that wild hog to his den,
Found the bones of a thousand men.

We followed that wild hog day and night,
Swore we’d make that wild hog fight.

We killed that hog with sticks and knife,
Swore we’d take that wild hog’s life.

Source for notated version: Taylor Kimble (western Va.) [Phillips].

Printed sources: Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 2), 1995; p. 171.

Recorded sources: County 746, Kimble Family - "Blue Ridge Barn Dance" (1974). Flying Fish FF 275, "The Blue Flame Stringband" (1982. Learned from Pete Sutherland). Heritage XXXIII, Kimble Family (Va.) "Visits" (1981). Marimac 9000, Dan Gellert & Shoofly "Forked Deer" (1986. Learned from Brad Leftwich). Marimac 9036, the Kimble Family – “Carroll County Pioneers.” Rounder 0010, The Fuzzy Mountain String Band (1972. Learned from southwestern Va. fiddler Taylor Kimble). 5 String Productions 5SP05002, The Hoover Uprights – “Known by their Reputation” (2005).

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer’s Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources []

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