Annotation:Kitty Puss (1)

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KITTY PUSS. AKA and see "Black Eyed Susie (1)," "Homemade Sugar," "Hop Up Kitty Puss (1)," "Possum Up a Simmon Tree (1)," "Puncheon Camp," "Puncheon Camps," "Tucker's Old Barn (1)," "Old Time Mockingbird." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; northeast Kentucky, Tennessee. G Major (OTH/Thomas): D Major (Phillips). Standard tuning (fiddle). ABB'. A somewhat archaic sounding American fiddle tune, widely known throughout the Appalachians and Southern states under a myriad of titles. Gaither Carleton called it "Tucker's Old Barn (1)," In Kentucky, fiddler Estill Bingham knew it as "Homemade Sugar" while Clyde Davenport had it as "Puncheon Camps," and Owen "Snake" Chapman played it under the title "Doc Chapman's Breakdown." Hillside, Va., fiddler Norman Edmonds called his version "Old Time Mockingbird." It was played by Pocahontas County, West Virginia, fiddler Burl Hammonds as "Kick Mr. Possum and He Won't Come Down." Delbert Hughes called it "Old Coon Bunch."

Hop up, Kitty Puss, hop up higher,
Hop up, Kitty Puss, your tail's in the fire.

Poor little Kitty Puss, poor little feller,
Poor little Kitty Puss, died in the celler.

The title "Poor Little Kitty Puss" was one of 350 tune and song titles collected in 1915 for a class project for the Normal School taught by Professor John F. Smith in Berea, Kentucky. The melody survived in tradition and was in the repertoire of Kentucky fiddlers Buddy Thomas (Lewis County), Owen "Snake" Chapman (Pike County), Clyde Davenport (Wayne County), Estill Bingham (Bell County), Everett Kays (Anderson County) and others.

Source for notated version: learned by Buddy Thomas (Ky.) from his grandfather, via the whistling of his mother [Old-Time Herald]; Charlie Acuff (Tenn.) [Phillips].

Printed sources: Milliner & Koken (Milliner-Koken Collection of American Fiddle Tunes), 2011; p. 362. Old-Time Herald, Fall 1992, p. 31. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), 1994; p. 133.

Recorded sources: CA-01, Charlie Acuff - "Left Handed Fiddler" (1990. This privately issued cassette was recorded by 70 year old fiddler Acuff, from Alcoa, Tennessee). County 788, Clyde Davenport (Monticello, Ky.) - "Clydeoscope: Rare and Beautiful Tunes from the Cumberland Plateau" (1986. Learned from an old time fiddler from Rock Creek, Tennessee, by the name of Will Phipps, who was buried with his fiddle in his coffin). Rounder 0032, Buddy Thomas (Northeast Ky.) - "Kitty Puss: Old-Time Fiddle Music From Ky." (1976). Rounder 0320, Bob Carlin & John Hartford - "The Fun of Open Discussion" (learned from fiddler Charlie Acuff).

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Hear Kentucky fiddler Clyde Davenport's 1984 recording at Berea Digital Content [2]

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