Annotation:Waterbound

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X:1 T:Waterbound L:1/8 M:2/4 B:Kuntz – Ragged but Right K:A c/c/B AA/B/|c/d/c/B/ AA|BB/B/ Bc/B/|A/B/A/F/ E>(E|E)F/F/ AA/B/|c/B/c/d/ e2| fe/e/ cc/B/|A2A2|c/c/B AA/B/|c/d/c/B/ AA|BB/B/ Bc/B/|A/B/A/F/ E>(E| E)F/F/ AA/B/|c/B/c/d/ e2|fe/e/ cc/B/|A2A2||:aa/a/ aa/a/|f/e/c e(B| c)c/B/ c/B/A|f/e/c/d/ ee|aa/a/ aa/a/|f/e/c ee|fe cB/c/|A2A2:|]

WATERBOUND. AKA and see “Stay All Night,” "Way Down in North Carolina." American, Song/ piece. USA, Virginia. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Silberberg): AABB (Kuntz). "Waterbound" was originally recorded in March, 1929, by Fields Ward and his Buck Mountain Band (consisting of brothers Wade and Crockett Ward, fiddler Van Edwards and his son Earl Edwards), who were originally formed in 1919. The Grayson/ County, southwestern Virginia group called the Ballard Branch Bogtrotters (Wade and Crockett Ward, nephew Fields Ward, autoharpist Doc Davis and fiddler Eck Dunford) was recorded by folklorist John A. Lomax in 1937 playing "Waterbound" (later released in 1962 on Folkways FA 2363, "Roscoe Holcomb and Wade Ward").

Chickens crowin' in the old plowed field, (x3)
Down in North Carolina.

Refrain (Verses 1, 3)
Waterbound and I can't go home, (x3)
I have to stay till morning.

Bill and Charlie lets go home, (x3)
Before the water rises.

The water's up and I can't get across, (x3)
I'll ride the old white horse.

The old man's mad but I don't care, (x3)
Just so I get his daughter.
If he don't give her up I'm a gonna run away, (x3)
Down in North Carolina.

Waterbound and I can't go home, (x3)
Down in North Carolina. (Kuntz)

Singer and banjo player Roscoe Holcomb (1912-1981), of Daisy, Kentucky, recorded a song called "Boat's up the River" that contains the line:

The boat's up the river and it won't come down
Then I believe to my soul Lord that I'm waterbound.

The lines, if not the song itself, were in oral tradition in the early 20th century. A 1915 version^[1] sung on Tennessee River boats also contained the same line:

The boat's up the river and she won't come down, I believe to my soul she must be water bound.

but it is a musically different piece. Dirk Powell's "Waterbound" is a different song.

Additional notes
Source for notated version : - Art Rosenbaum [Kuntz].

Printed sources : - Kuntz (Ragged but Right), 1987; pp. 315 316. Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 165.

Recorded sources : - Carryon Records 005, "The Renegades" (1993). County 534, Fields Ward "Round the Heart of Old Galax, Vol. II" (various artists). Folkways FA 2363, "Roscoe Holcomb and Wade Ward" (1962). Historical HLP 8001, Fields Ward and His Buck Mountain Band - "Early Country Music vol. 1" (197?). Kicking Mule 203, Art Rosenbaum "The Art of the Mountain Banjo." Rounder CD 0383, Mike Seegar and Paul Brown - “Down in North Carolina” (appears as “Way Down in North Carolina”).

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Roscoe Holcomb, "Boat's Up the River" (on Holcomb1, HolcombCD1) http://www.fresnostate.edu/folklore/ballads/BMRF598.html

↑ Printed in Newman I. White, American Negro Folk Songs.

[1] Printed in Newman I. White, American Negro Folk Songs.

[1]