Annotation:Cousin Sally Brown (2)

Back to Cousin Sally Brown (2)

---

COUSIN SALLY BROWN [2]. AKA and see "Miss Brown (1)." American, Reel (cut time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Calvin Cole and Dan Tate's "Old Sally Brown," recorded for the Library of Congress, is a version of "Cousin Sally Brown [2]", while a related (and better-known) tune is "Cotton Eyed Joe (2)." These words are sometimes sung to the second strain:

Where you goin' my cousin Sally Brown?
Where you goin' my cousin Sally Brown?

Joel Shimberg writes that Mike Seegar heard and sings:

Prettiest girl in this here town,
(She's that girl called) Cousin Sally Brown.

"Od Sally Brown" words are reflective of the play-party or dance, and go:

Old Sally, young Sally, Cousin Sally Brown,
Hollow of her foot kept a-diggin' in the ground.
Ho-babe, come down.
Ho-boys and you better get around.

CHO:
Swing Old Adam.
Swing Old Eve.
Swing once more before you leave.

The reel is sourced to fiddler and banjo player Gaither Carlton (1901-1972) of Deep Gap, North Carolina, guitarist Doc Watson's father-in-law. The youngest of nine children, he was born into a musical family where his parents and grandfather played and many siblings sang or also played an instrument. However, Carlton was largely self-taught.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources:

Recorded sources: Folkways 2366, The Watson Family (1963). Library of Congress AFS L 9, Calvin Cole & Dan Tate - "Play and Dances Songs and Tunes" (as "Old Sally Brown"). Smithsonian Folkways SFW-40012, Gaither Carlton - "The Watson Family" (1990. Originally recorded in 1976).

See also listing at:
Hear Gaither Carlton's recording at Slippery Hill [1]

---