Annotation:Hellbound for Alabama
Tune properties and standard notation
HELLBOUND FOR ALABAMA. AKA - "Hell Bound for Alabama." AKA and see "Hell Broke Loose in Georgia." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, north Georgia. Originally recorded by north Georgia fiddler and showman John Carson and his Virginia Reelers in 1927. A similar tune called "Ride Old Buck to Water" was recorded by another north Georgia band, the Skillet Lickers, about the same time.
Ain't no hell in Georgia,
Hell broke loose in Georgia,
...in the old tin pan,
I'm goin' to hell just as quick as I can.
Some of the rhymes Carson used for the tune were taken from the song "I'd Rather Be a Nigger than a Poor White Man" (See Talley {Ed. Wolfe}, 1991, pp. 36-37).
My name's Ran, I wuks in de san',
But I'd druther be a Nigger dan a po' white man. (Talley)
Similarities to the Ozark region tune "Little Home to Go to (1)."
Source for notated version:
Printed sources:
Recorded sources: Document "Fiddlin John Carson Vol. 4 1926 - 1927." Folkways FTS 31062, "Ship in the Clouds: Old Time Instrumental Music" (1978). Okeh 45159 (78 RPM), Fiddlin' John Carson (1927).
See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]