Annotation:Bear Creek's Up
X:1 T: Bear Creek's Up N:From the playing of fiddler Ernest Claunch, accompanied by his daughter, Christine N:Hagood, on guitar M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel D:Library of Congress , Ernest Claunch (1939) D:Southern Culture AH002, Ernest Claunch - "Great Big Yam Potatoes" (1985) D:https://www.slippery-hill.com/content/bear-creeks Z:Andrew Kuntz K:G Bc|:d2 ed B2d2|d2 ed Bd2e| d2 ed B2A2|1G2 A2 Bd2d:|2 G2 Ad Bd3|| |:g-|g3a g2ef|gged B-d3|a3b a2f-a-|afed Bd2:|
BEAR CREEK'S UP. AKA and see "Bear Creek," "Sally Goodin," "Give Me Chaw of Tobacco." American, Reel. USA, Mississippi. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). A regional variant of the well-known "Sally Goodin" (according to Tom Carter & Gary Stanton) with similar lyrics to Thede's "Bear Creek." This version goes:
Bear Creek's up and Bear Creek's muddy
When a man gets drunk he can't stand steady.
The source for the tune, W.E. Claunch, also played "Sally Goodin,'" and for him it was a different tune, played in a different key. A Bear Creek does flow through Tishomingo County, Mississippi, into the Tennessee River, though it is likely, says Tom Rankin, that the title derives from the lyrics, not the location. Rankin also notes that the title "Bear Creek" appears in a seminar paper on traditional tunes at the University of Mississippi in 1927.
Fiddler and Mississippi traditional fiddle music researcher Harry Bolick points out that, while the first strain of Claunch's tune is a member of the "Sally Goodin'" tune family, the second strain resembles "Bear Creek" as played by another Mississippi musician recorded in the 1930's, Mae Belle Williams.
