Annotation:Little Home to Go to (1)

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LITTLE HOME TO GO TO [1]. AKA - "Got a Little Home to Go to," "I'm on My Way to Texas to Eat Cornbread and 'Lasses." AKA and see "John Hoban's Polka," "Get Out of the Way of the Federals," "Seneca Square Dance," "Waiting for the Federals." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Illinois, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma. G Major (Thede): D Major (Beisswenger & McCann). GDad (W.S. Collins) or Standard (Bob Holt) tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune has been recorded under this title by Missouri fiddlers Fred Stoneking of Springfield, and Bill Graves, of Phillipsburg. Marion Thede maintains that related tunes are "Saddle Old Mike," "Saddle Old Spike" and "Saddle Old Bob," although this seems to be because of the lyrics and not the music.

O saddle ole Mike I tell you,
For I'm goin' away to leave you;
I'm goin' away to Texas,
To eat cornbread and 'lasses.

Got a little home to go to,
Got a little home to go to;
Oh I've got a little home to go to,
Oh I've got a little home to go to. ... [W.S. Collins]

Another version of the words (from Arkansas) is "Goin' Back to Arkansas to Eat Corn Bread and 'Possum Jaw" according to Thede, perhaps the inspiration for Arkansas fiddler Skeeter Walden's name for the tune as "I'm on My Way to Texas to Eat Cornbread and 'Lasses." Mark Wilson identifies "Got a Little Home to Go to" as a member of a family of tunes that includes "Old Coon Dog," "Seneca Square Dance," "Waiting for the Federals," and "Shoot that Turkey Buzzard," and gives the alternate title "Get Out of the Way of the Federals." "Jones County" is also a related tune. Wilson also sees melodic relationships with "Pretty Little Girl with the Blue Dress On." Drew Beisswenger adds that it is similar to north Georgia fiddler Fiddlin' John Carson's "Hell Bound for Alabama." Ira Ford and R.P. Christeson both thought versions of "Hell Among the Yearlings" to be similar to "Got a Little Home to Go to." Beisswenger & McCann (2008) find some evidence that the lyrics were linked to play-party fragments.

Sources for notated versions: W.S. Collins (Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma) [Thede]; Bob Holt (1930-2004, Ava, Missouri) [Beissenger & McCann].

Printed sources: Beisswenger & McCann (Ozarks Fiddle Music), 2008; pp. 62-63. Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; pp. 18-19.

Recorded sources: Kicking Mule, Art Rosenbaum. Rounder Records CD -532, Bob Holt - "Got a Little Home to Go to" (1998).

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]

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