Annotation:Jimmy Sutton

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JIMMY SUTTON. AKA - "Old Buck Ram," "Old Jimmy Sutton." Old-Time, Breakdown. A Mixolydian. AEae tuning (fiddle). AB. In the repertoire of Ozarks Mountains fiddler Vester Jones, but the song/tune is more closely associated with Blue Ridge regional musicians such as Fred Cockerham and Tommy Jarrell. As "Old Jimmy Sutton" the song/tune was in the repertoire of Grayson & Whitter who recorded it in the early 20th century (played in the key of G). These verses have been collected (sometimes a bleat or 'Baaa' is voiced at the end of the line):

Get out a rock as big as a button
Kill Jimmy Sutton as dead as mutton.

I like Sal and she likes chicken.
I'll keep Sal, all the time pickin'.

Sheep met a billy-goat going to pasture.
Sheep said "Goat, can't you go a little faster?"

Sheep fell down and skinned his chin
And, great God almighty, how the billy-goat grinned.

I like Sal and she likes mutton
And I hate to lose to old Jimmy Sutton.

If you can't dance that, you can't dance nothin'
And I wouldn't give a chaw to the old Jimmie Sutton (sometimes used as a chorus)

Bill took the gun, Bill went a huntin
BAM! went the gun and down fell a mutton.

Some of the verses are floating. Stacy Phillips points out that the lines-

Sheep met a billy-goat going to pasture.
Sheep said "Goat, can't you go a little faster?

were sung by Tommy Duncan on Texas fiddler Bob Wills' version of "Sally Goodin'," and were followed by--

Sheep fell down, goat rolled over,
Goat got up with a mouth full of clover.

North Carolina fiddler Tommy Jarrell sang:

Sheep, sheep, sheep and mutton,
If you can't dance that you can't dance nothing.
And a baa!
Baa! Old Jimmy Sutton.

We'll kill us a sheep and eat the mutton,
Save the tail for old Jimmy Sutton.
And a baa!
Baa! Old Jimmy Sutton.

Sources for notated versions: Highwoods String Band (Ithaca, New York) [Brody]; Judy Hyman (Ithaca, N.Y.) [Phillips].

Printed sources: Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; p. 206 ("Old Jimmy Sutton"). Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), 1994; p. 125.

Recorded sources: Biograph 6003, "The Original Bogtrotters." Folkways FS-3811, Vester Jones. Rounder 0045, Highwoods String Band- "Dance All Night." Tennvale 003, Pete Parish- "Clawhammer Banjo." Vester Ward - "Traditional Music From Grayson & Carrol Counties."

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Hear the tune played by Thorton and Emily Spencer (Mouth of Wilson, Virginia) at the Digital Library of Appalachia [2] [3]

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