Annotation:Sandy Boys

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X:1 T:Sandy Boys S:Edden Hammons (Pocahontas County, W.Va.) M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel N:AEae tuning (fiddle) D:W.Va. Univ. Press CD SA-1, "The Edden Hammons Collection vol. 1" (1999) F:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/sandy-boys Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:Amix cd|[e4e4]- [ee]fgf| e2 +slide+c2A2AB|{B}c2A2{B}c2A2|(e2 e)(e e2) +slide+[ce]-| +slide+[e4e4]- [ee]fgf| e2 +slide+c2A2AB|cdec d2+slide+c2|[A,3A3](A, [A,4A4]) AB| c/B/c d2 egec|d2+slide+c2A2AB|+slide+c2 AA c2AA|(d[d2f2])(d [d3f3]) +slide+[ce]-| +slide+[e4e4]- [ee]fgf| e2 +slide+c2A2AB|cdec d2+slide+c2|[A,3A3](A, [A,4A4])|| |:(3efg|abag egec|d2c2A2A2|{ef}gagf efge|a2(3bag a2 (ef/g/| a)bag egec| d2+slide+c2A2AB|cdec d2+slide+c2|[A,3A3](A, [A,4A4]) :||

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SANDY BOYS. Old Time, Breakdown and Song. USA; Kentucky, West Virginia. A Mixolydian. AEae tuning (fiddle). AB (Silberberg): ABAB'A'BAB (Krassen). A tune from the repertoire of Pocahontas County, West Virginia, fiddler biography:Edden Hammons. The original, however, can be found in the American minstrel show repertoire, for a similar version (although different in the second strain from Hammons’ tune) can be found in Phil Rice’s Correct Method for the Banjo (1857), a period tutor, and also appears an 1844 minstrel songbook (reproduced by Harvard Theatre College Collection, Cambridge, Mass.). Gerry Milnes has found ribald words accompanying the tune in West Virginia. The modern “revival” or “festival” version may have stemmed from a ‘mislearning’ of Hammon’s tune by Bob Herring. See also Missouri fiddler Gene Goforth’s related “Quail is a Pretty Bird.”

Carl Baron supplies the following lyrics, sung, in whole or part, to the melody (although it will be recognized there are quite a few ‘floating’ verses):

Sandy Boys

Raccoon's got a long bushy tail.
Possum's tail is bare.
Rabbit's got no tail at all
Just a little bit a bunch of hair.

Squirrely he's a pretty thing
He carries a bushy tail
Eats up all the mossy's corn
And hearts it on the rail

Cho:
Do come along, sandy boys
Do come along, oh do
Do come along, sandy boys
Waiting for the booger-boo

Somebody stole my old black dog
I wish they'd bring him back
He runs the big hogs over the fence
And the little ones through the cracks

Mama she lies sick in the bed
Papa's gone to town
Charlie wears the high-top boots
And I wish that he'd come round

Sixteen miles away from here
Chickens crowin' for day
Somebody's upstairs with my true love
And he better be gettin' away

Never told her of her faults
Dang me if I do
But every time the baby cries
I think of the booger-boo

Sixteen miles away from home,
chicken's crowin' 'fore day.
Somebody's in the bed with my true love,
and they better be gettin' away.

Another chorus:
Do get along my Sandy boys, (girls)
do get along I say.
Do get along my Sandy boys, (girls)
it's time I's gettin' away.

Racoon's tail's a ring around,
possum's tail is bare.
Rabbit ain't got no tail at all,
just a little old bunch of hair.

Do get along my...