Annotation:Shooting Creek (3)
SHOOTIN' CREEK [3]. American, Reel (cut time). USA, North Carolina. F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The title refers to the same Franklin County, southwestern Virginia, bootlegging area[1], as do other "Shooting Creek" tunes. The name Shooting Creek not only refers to a post village, but to a waterway that is in some of the steepest terrain in the county. Members of the famous early 20th century string band wikipedia:Charlie_Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers spent a good deal of time in the area between 1924 and 1931 and recorded a tune under the title. Joel Shimberg points out the the Ramblers’ “Shootin’ Creek” is really a version of “Cripple Creek.”
Buy me a horse and make me a sled,
Nobody rides with Ida Red.
Ida Red she lives in town,
She weighs four hundred and forty pounds.
Cho:
Going up Shootin’ Creek, going in a run,
Going up Shootin’ Creek, have a little fun.
Ida Red she’s a darned old fool,
She tried to put a saddle on a humpbacked mule.
Up the road and across the creek,
Can’t get a letter but once a week.
Going up Shootin’ Creek, going in a run,
Going up Shootin’ Creek, have a little fun.
Going up Shootin’ Creek, going in a run,
Take my razor and a Gatling gun.
Going up Shootin’ Creek, going in a run,
Going up Shootin’ Creek, have a little fun.
The recording is partly a skit, and begins with the band playing "Green Mountain Polka" when they are interrupted by a new arrival (Charlie Poole) who asks them if they can play "Shootin' Creek." Roy Harvey (gtr.) reckons they can and they oblige by playing the tune, and Charlie sings.
- ↑ Once referred to as 'the moonshine capital of the world.' During the years of Prohibition, agents destroyed 3900 moonshine stills in Franklin County.