Annotation:Love Somebody (2)
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LOVE SOMEBODY [2]. AKA- "Big Muddy," "Buffalo Nickel (1)," "Chinky Pin," "Darling Child," "Farmer Had a Dog (The)," "Fourth of July," "Hair in the Butter," "I Love Somebody Yes I Do," "I'm My Momma's Darling (Child)," "Lead Out," "Midnight Serenade (1)," "Missouri Mule," "My Love is but a Lassie Yet (1)/My Love She's But a Lassie Yet (1)," "Old Kingdom," "Old Lady Tucker," "Old Missouri," "Richmond Blues," "Sweet Sixteen," "Ten Nights in a Bar Room," "Too Young to Marry (1)," "Yellow Eyed Cat." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA: Texas; Greer County, Oklahoma (main title), Tennessee, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri (alternate title). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB.
The tune has numerous and old antecedents from the British Isles, including sets in printed by London publishers Robert Bremner (Scots Reels, 1757) and the Thompsons as "Miss Fargiharson’s Reel/Miss Farquharson's Reel", and included in Northumbrian musician William Vickers' 1770 music manuscript collection as "My Lover’s Butt a Lady Yett ("My Love is But a Lassie Yet (1)). In Scotland the tune is called "My Love is But a Lassie Yet (1)," a version of which Beethoven arranged for orchestra. The melody is used for a country dance popular in England and America called "The Cumberland Square Eight," and in Ireland it is a polka called "Tripping on the Mountain."
In America a version of the tune appeared in print as early as 1839 under the title "Richmond Blues" in George P. Knauff's Virginia Reels, volume II (Baltimore). "An interesting example of the re-naming of a fiddler's selection is that of a tune brought from Texas by settlers in the region which is now Greer County, Oklahoma, and called by them 'Love Somebody.' This same melody in Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana is designated 'Old Lady Tucker,' and as such was transported to the Indian Territory from that region" (Thede, 1967). In Arizona the tune is known as "Old Missouri." Thede's Texas tune is a fairly close version of the Scottish "Miss Farquharson's Reel."
Charles Wolfe (1991) says the tune is better-known in white repertory than black and that it was popular as a fiddle tune in middle Tennessee, frequently heard at the Grand Ole Opry in the 1920's and 30's. The earliest recordings of this many-titled tune by the "Love Somebody" title was by Uncle Dave Macon with Sid Harkreader in 1924, the Crook Brothers Barn Dance Orchestra (1928), and Luke Highnight's Ozark Strutters in 1928. A version was collected by African-American collector Thomas Talley (Negro Folk Rhymes), which goes:
I loves somebody, yes, I do;
An' I wants somebody to love me too.
Wid my chyart an' oxes stan'in' 'roun',
Her pretty liddle foot needn' tetch de groun'.
I loves somebody, yes I do,
Dat randsome, handsome, Sickamastew,
Wid her reddingoat an' waterfall,
She's de pretty liddle gal dat beats 'em all.
There is some confusion over whether "Love Somebody Yes I Do" lyrics are sung to a tune that more closely resembles "Soldier's Joy" or whether it is sung to a tune more closely resembling "My Love is but a Lassie (1)." The melodies are both widespread, and simplified singing versions have some overlap. Versions appear in Perrow (Songs and Rhymes from the South, 1915, p. 125), and fragments in Brown (3:140-41).
Source for notated version: J.S. Price (Greer County, Oklahoma) [Thede]; John Powell [Chase].
Printed sources: Chase (American Folk Tales and Songs), 1956; p. 206. Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; p. 47.
Recorded sources: Victor 40099 (78 RPM), the Crook Brothers Barn Dance Orchestra (1928). Vocalion 14857 (78 RPM), Uncle Dave Macon with Sid Harkreader (1924).
See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]