Annotation:Lynchburg Town (1)

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LYNCHBURG TOWN. AKA - "Going Down to Lynchburg Town," "Lynchburg." AKA and see "Coon Dog (1)," "Going Down in Town (2)," "Raccoon's Tail," "Way Up on the Mountain." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Tennessee. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. This song/tune was African-American in origins and enjoyed a life on the minstrel stage. Uncle Jimmy Thompson, the elderly fiddler and "founder of the Grand Old Opry" remembered learning this tune (a "fine quadrille") as a young man in Texas on August 4, 1866 (Wolfe, 1997).

Goin' down to town, goin' down to town,
Goin' down to Lynchburg town to take my 'bacco down.

Times a gettin' hard money's gettin' scarce,
Pay me for the tobacco boys before I leave this place.

I went down to town to get me jug of wine,
They tied me up to a whippin' post and gave me forty-nine.

I went down to town to get me a jug of gin
They tied me up to another post and give me hell again. (Preceeding four verses from Art Rosenbaum)

I went down to the stillhouse, I didn't go to stay,
I fell in love with a whiskey keg, you bet I stayed all day.

Refrain
I'm goin' down, way way downtown,
I'm goin' down to Lynchburg Town to lay my tobaccer down.

I went up on the mountain just to give my horn a blow,
I thought I heard my pretty girl say "Yonder comes my beau".

Well once'd I had an old hound dog, I wish he'd bring him back,
He chased the big hogs round the fence and the little ones through the crack.

I bought myself a banjer, I strung it up with twine,
The only tune that thing would play was "Trouble On My Mind".

Well times are gettin' hard, money's gettin' scarce,
If times don't get much better here we're bound to leave this place.

Morgan Sexton sings these verses in his version called "Going Down in Town":

I'm going down in town (x2)
I Don't care what the old folks say,
I'm going down in town

I'm going down in town
They call me down for supper
Stubbed my toe on a table leg,
Stuck my nose in the butter.

African-American musician Joe Thompson plays a local Orange County version that he calls "'Way up on the Mountain," although it appears on his Rounder CD as "Goin' Downtown." Thompson tunes his fiddle to 'low bass' (FCGD), and plays the tune around a G tonal center. He sings:

Away up on the mountain, away up on the mountain,
Way up on the mountain where the eagle builds his nest.

Going on downtown, going on downtown,
Going on down to Leesburg town, lay my 'bacco down.

Source for notated version: Cranberry Lake [Kuntz].

Printed sources: Kuntz (Ragged but Right), 1987; p. 19-20.

Recorded sources: AHR4, Harvey Sampson - "Flat Foot in the Ashes." Biograph RC-6007, Ebenezer - "Tell It To Me" (1975). County 407 Blue Ridge Highballers "Original Recordings of 1926." June Appal JA 0055, Morgan Sexton - "Rock Dust" (1989. Appears as "Goin Down in Town"). Old Homestead OHTRS 4000, Wade Mainer - "From the Maple on the Hill" (1976). Philo 1028, Wade Mainer and the Morris Brothers - "Good Time Music. National Folk Festival "(1975). Rooster 101, Corn Dodgers - "Cotton eyed Joe." Swallowtail 8, Cranberry Lake- "Old Time and Jug Band Music" (1977). Traditional JS-5117, Jean Schilling - "Old Traditions" (196?). Vocalion 5456 (78 RPM), Uncle Jimmy Thompson 1848-1931 (Texas, Tenn.) {1930} [learned by Uncle Jimmy on 8/4/1866, by his account]. Hilltop Records 6022, Uncle Jimmy Thompson. Yazoo 2046 Uncle Jimmy Thompson - "Cornshuckers Frolic," vol 2.

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

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