X:1
T:Peas in a Pot
S:Clyde Daventport (b. 1921), learned from his father
M:C|
L:1/8
R:Reel
D:Clyde Davenport - Puncheon Camps (1992)
F:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/peas-pot
Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz
K:G
DE|G2B2c2Ad|B2B2G2Ad|B2B2 cBAd|B2[G4B4]DE|
G2B2c2Ad|B2B2G2Ad|B2B2 cBAd|Bd2(d e3)e-||
e2d2(Bd3)| [M:5/4]ed B2 [G6B6]|[M:C|](de3) e4|
d2(Bd3)ed |B2d4ef|g2g2d2 ed|B2G2G2Ac||
B2B2c2Ad|B2B2G2Ad|B2B2 cBAd| B2[G4B4]||
PEAS IN THE POT. AKA and see "Piece in the Pot," "Peas in the Pod." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Kentucky. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'B. Davenport knew this ditty, sung to the tune (although he played it as an instrumental):
Clyde Davenport
Peas in the pot, hoecake a-bakin', Step girls step, the day’s a breakin'.
A similar rhyme appears in Newman Ivey White's American Negro Folk-Songs (1928, p. 304), collected in Durham, N.C., in 1919 from a manuscript of Walter J. Miller, who remarked it was "Heard several years ago":
Peas in the pot, hoecake a bakin', Sally in the kitchen with her shift-tail a shakin'.
The first line is a 'floater' and turns up in other songs as well. Leadbelly (Huddie Ledbetter [1], 1888-1949) sang a song called “Green Corn, Come along Charlie” with the line: “Wake snake, day’s a-breaking/Peas in the pot and the hoe cake’s a-baking.”
Additional notes
Source for notated version: - Clyde Davenport (Monticello, Wayne County, Ky.) [Phillips], learned from his father.
Printed sources : - Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 182.
See also listing at:
Hear Clyde Davenport's 1992 recording at Slippery Hill [2]
Hear John Harrod's 1981 field recording of Clyde Davenport playing the tune at Berea Sound Archives [3], and at the Digital Library of Appalachia [4]
See Dave Bartlett's 1986 photograph of Clyde with banjo, front-porch picking [5]
