Annotation:Love Somebody (2)

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LOVE SOMEBODY [2]. AKA- "Big Muddy," "Buffalo Nickel (1)," "Chinky Pin," "Darling Child," "Farmer had a Dog," "Fourth of July," "Hair in the Butter," "I Love Somebody Yes I Do," "I'm My Momma's Darling (Child)," "Lead Out," "Midnight Serenade (1)," "Missouri Mule," "My Love is but a Lassie Yet (1)/My Love She's But a Lassie Yet (1)," "Old Kingdom," "Old Lady Tucker," "Old Missouri," "Richmond Blues," "Sweet Sixteen," "Ten Nights in a Bar Room," "Too Young to Marry (1)," "Yellow Eyed Cat." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA: Texas; Greer County, Oklahoma (main title), Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri (alternate title). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune is used for a country dance popular in England and America called "The Cumberland Square Eight," and a version appeared in this country as early as 1839 under the title "Richmond Blues" in George P. Knauff's Virginia Reels, volume II (Baltimore). In Scotland the tune is called ";;My Love is But a Lassie Yet," a version of which Beethoven set for orchestra. "An interesting example of the re-naming of a fiddler's selection is that of a tune brought from Texas by settlers in the region which is now Greer County, Oklahoma, and called by them 'Love Somebody.' This same melody in Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana is designated ';;Old Lady Tucker,' and as such was transported to the Indian Territory from that region" (Thede, 1967). In Arizona the tune is known as "Old Missouri."

Charles Wolfe (1991) says the tune is better-known in white repertory than black and that it was popular as a fiddle tune in middle Tennessee, often being heard at the Grand Ole Opry in the 1920's and 30's. The earliest recordings of this many-titled tune by the "Love Somebody" title was by Uncle Dave Macon with Sid Harkreader in 1924, the Crook Brothers Barn Dance Orchestra (1928), and Luke Highnight's Ozark Strutters in 1928. A version was collected by African-American collector Thomas Talley (Negro Folk Rhymes), which goes:

I loves somebody, yes, I do;
An' I wants somebody to love me too.
Wid my chyart an' oxes stan'in' 'roun',
Her pretty liddle foot needn' tetch de groun'.

I loves somebody, yes I do,
Dat randsome, handsome, Sickamastew,
Wid her reddingoat an' waterfall,
She's de pretty liddle gal dat beats 'em all.

Versions appear in Perrow (Songs and Rhymes from the South, 1915, p. 125), and fragments in Brown (3:140-41).

Source for notated version: J.S. Price (Greer County, Oklahoma) [Thede]; John Powell [Chase]. Chase (American Folk Tales and Songs), 1956; p. 206.

Printed sources: Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; p. 47.

Recorded sources: Victor 40099 (78 RPM), the Crook Brothers Barn Dance Orchestra (1928). Vocalion 14857 (78 RPM), Uncle Dave Macon with Sid Harkreader (1924).

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