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| pittsyltucky |
 Posted: Fri Oct 24, 2008 3:02 pm |
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*Johnny*
Joined: 15 Sep 2006
Posts: 4268
Location: Pigg River District, Pittsylvania County, Virginia
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Gather 'round children - it's time to learn some hist'ry on this Swannanoa Tunnel song - and a new word in the process...
Remembering The Old Songs:
SWANNANOA TUNNEL
by Lyle Lofgren
(Originally published: Inside Bluegrass, January 2006)
Here's a useful term you might not know: mondegreen. A mondegreen is a word or phrase that you hear but misconstrue into a completely different and peculiar meaning. An example is Jimi Hendrix's psychedelic
...excuse me while I kiss the sky
mis-heard as the homoerotic
...kiss this guy.
Another famous one is from the gospel song, There's A Light Lit Up in Galilee: the consecrated cross-eyed bear.
"Mondegreen" was coined by a writer named Sylvia Wright, in a 1954 Harper's article. She explained that, as a child, she loved to hear The Bonny Earl of Murray (Child #181) because of the romantic verse:
Ye Highlands and ye Lawlands,
Oh where have ye been?
They have slayed the Earl of Murray
And the Lady Mondegreen.
It was only after she grew up that she realized the last line is And they laid him on the green.
Cecil Sharp (1859-1924) was an Englishman who became interested in Morris Dancing, then in folk music. He decided to collect American versions of British folksongs, and came to America with a younger protege, Maud Karpeles (1885-1976). Although the resulting book was titled English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, it included some, such as this one, that originated in America.
Sharp and Karpeles collected Swannanoa Tunnel in North Carolina in 1916, and the mondegreen problem is especially severe if you can only hear a song once. Without a recording machine, they had to transcribe the words and tunes while people were singing them, and the North Carolina accents misled them badly on this song: "Tunnel" became "town-o" and "hoot owl" was transcribed as "hoodow."
The song is a variant of the tunnel-oriented work song usually known as "Nine Pound Hammer." We don't know where it might have originated, as the song is widespread in the south, even in Mississippi where there are few tunnels. This version, from North Carolina, is at least localized and datable: Western North Carolina Railroad's Swannanoa Tunnel was the longest (1800 feet) of 7 hand-dug tunnels through the Blue Ridge mountains to Asheville. The project, completed in 1879, took 20 years and cost at least 300 lives.
Bascom Lamar Lunsford (1882-1973), an Asheville attorney and banjo-picker, knew the song, and, many years after Sharp and Karpeles, sang it clearly for a recording (reissued on Smithsonian-Folkways CD 40082). The liner notes even transcribe the words (a rarity these days). We're publishing them here as a public service to save American Studies academics the trouble of searching for hoodow myths and motifs.
(For a picture of the tunnel and a sheet music sample, follow this link)
As recorded by Bascom:
1. I'm going back to that Swannanoa Tunnel,
That's my home, baby, that's my home.
2. Asheville Junction, Swannanoa Tunnel,
All caved in, baby, all caved in.
3. Last December, I remember,
The wind blowed cold, baby, the wind blowed cold.
4. When you hear my watchdog howling, /Somebody around, (etc.).
5. When you hear that hoot owl squalling, /Somebody dying, (etc.).
6. Hammer falling from my shoulder /All day long, (etc.).
7. Ain't no hammer in this mountain /Outrings mine, (etc.).
8. This old hammer, it killed John Henry, /It didn't kill me, (etc.).
9. Riley Gardner, he killed my partner, /He couldn't kill me, (etc.).
10. Riley Rambler, he killed Jack Ambler, /He didn't kill me, (etc.).
11. This old hammer rings like silver, /Shines like gold, (etc.).
12. Take this hammer, throw it in the river, /It rings right on, baby, it shines right on.
13. Some of these days I'll see that woman, /Well that's no dream, (etc.).
I have heard a version of this done by the Old Crows on a particularly prolific day back in January of 2002 -- the verses were performed in this order:
1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 10, 6, 8, 3, 11, 12, 13... (all but verse 7)
"If y'all don't know who Bascom Lamar Lunsford is, you oughta move out of Asheville, North Carolina, 'cause he's the heart and soul of this town... and we're tired of Bascom Lamar Lunsford bein' kept down... by all kinds of people out there keepin' Bascom down... yeah, we're tired of it... so we're gonna give you a little number now, this is one of his, this is about a, uh, I believe it's about a train tunnel... that might still be there, some hole in the ground right around here." - Ketch Secor |
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"Johnny get your gun, we'll have a little fun." |
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| jkorp |
| Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 9:20 pm |
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Charlie
Joined: 22 Feb 2007
Posts: 976
Location: The Right Coast
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Capo on 2 for key of A
G|Em|G|D
G................................................Em
I'm going back to that Swannanoa Tunnel,
..............G..................D............G
That's my home, baby, that's my home.
G|C|G
G.........................................Em
Asheville Junction, Swannanoa Tunnel,
..............G..........D............G
All caved in, baby, all caved in.
G|Em|G|D
G|C|G |
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Ich liebe meinen Speck!! |
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| pittsyltucky |
| Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 9:52 pm |
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*Johnny*
Joined: 15 Sep 2006
Posts: 4268
Location: Pigg River District, Pittsylvania County, Virginia
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| awriiiight!!!! thank you kindly, sir... |
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"Johnny get your gun, we'll have a little fun." |
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| Morgan Township Creeper |
| Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 8:25 am |
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Old Crow
Joined: 14 Nov 2006
Posts: 494
Location: Harrison, Ohio
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Wow, thanks for the work guys.
My head is a spinnin... |
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"I've always believed that paradise will have my favorite beer on tap."
Rudyard Wheatley |
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| TAlderson |
| Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 10:23 am |
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Raisin' a Ruckus
Joined: 08 Aug 2008
Posts: 126
Location: Worcester, MA
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Roscoe Holcomb does a great version of this on "An Untamed Sense of Control" under the title of "Swanno Mountain."
He was from Kentucky, so I'm not sure whether this song made it all the way out there or he heard a recording. He pronounces it "Swanee," which could be a mix-up with Stephen Foster's song "Old Folks at Home," which mentions a "Swanee River" (no idea where that may be), but I have yet to find a mention of a Swanno or Swanee Mountain, so I'm thinking it's just a geographic mix-up.
Anyone know? I lost the liner notes a while ago, so maybe it's covered in them...
-Tyler |
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| pittsyltucky |
| Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 10:51 am |
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*Johnny*
Joined: 15 Sep 2006
Posts: 4268
Location: Pigg River District, Pittsylvania County, Virginia
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| The river you mention from the Foster tune is: Suwanee -- S. Georgia/N. Florida |
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"Johnny get your gun, we'll have a little fun." |
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| The whistle knows my name |
| Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 1:11 pm |
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Thousandaire
Joined: 21 Apr 2008
Posts: 1143
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| There's a great little Stephen Foster museum at the University of Pittsburgh, under the shadow of the Cathedral of Learning. Has the original handwritten lyrics for Swanee River and his keyboard and some other cool things too. |
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"That's the whole principle of the Medicine Show ... you put your trust in the medicine, and you don't get beat up." |
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| TAlderson |
| Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 7:47 pm |
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Raisin' a Ruckus
Joined: 08 Aug 2008
Posts: 126
Location: Worcester, MA
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I have seen it, a little log cabin. I guess I should go inside. I'm a big Stephen Foster fan, especially "Hard Times Come Again No More."
-Tyler |
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| The whistle knows my name |
| Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 10:26 pm |
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Thousandaire
Joined: 21 Apr 2008
Posts: 1143
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The museum is actually in this structure Foster Memorial Building and not this one Log Cabin. The cabin represents the fabled orgins of the University.
The Memorial contains an amphitheatre and library in addition to the museum. I was inside to use the library looking for some old arrangents of folk songs and wandered in to the museum. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.
Anyway, I would recommend checking it out if you have an hour free. Then you can visit the Dirty O and you'll have the whole Oakland experience! Ha. |
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"That's the whole principle of the Medicine Show ... you put your trust in the medicine, and you don't get beat up." |
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| TAlderson |
| Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 10:42 pm |
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Raisin' a Ruckus
Joined: 08 Aug 2008
Posts: 126
Location: Worcester, MA
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I'm a big fan of Five Guys in Oakland, but I have been to the O many times, and have enjoyed every one.
Yeah, Oakland is about a five minute walk for me, so I'll go check it out when I have the time...
-Tyler
PS: Always thought the log cabin was for Mr. Foster. I am definitely checking out the library, though. Not sure how I didn't get there before... |
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