***
The tune
was recorded in Atlanta by the
Scottdale String Band, named in honor of the mill village
of Scottdale, near Atlanta,
and home to the band members (Wayne W. Daniel, Pickin’ on Peachtree, 1990). Their first recording was made for the
OKeh studios on October 28, 1926,
and between that date and 1932 the group recorded nearly thirty sides (all but
two—released by Paramount—for
OKeh). Bill Rattray wrote about the group in Old Time Music magazine (“Scottdale Boys,” OTM, Summer, 1971) and
said the group’s records sold “well, or at least fairly well,” and that “their
instrumentation was profoundly different from that of the other, more
well-known Georgia bands like the Skillet-Lickers, and gave their music a more
sophisticated sound that that of the ‘rough North Georgia’ school.” The group’s
repertoire varied more than usual for string bands from the region, and
included “a wider range of material including tunes used chiefly by the jazz
bands…the more traditional breakdowns, songs and ballads are hardly featured at
all.” [quoted by Daniel]. The Scottdale String Band’s recording was quickly
followed by one by another north Georgia group, (Clayton) McMichen’s Melody
Men, on Nov. 6, 1926 (Columbia 15130-D).
***
The 1934
Skillet Lickers recording was kept in print by RCA until 1960 and sold over a
million copies all told; it was the third best-selling country music record in
its initial release year (backed with "Back Up and Push"). Tony
Russell writes that Gordon Tanner, Gid Tanner's 17 year old son, played the
un-credited fiddle lead at the session. Written by L. Wolfe Gilbert in 1921
(Gilbert also wrote the words to "Waitin' for the Robert E. Lee"), it
was recorded by the Peerless Quartette that year. Rosenbaum speculates this may
have been the source for Clayton McMichen's 1926 version. "Fiddle tunes by
this name have been collected in Ligonier, Pa., and in Iuka, Miss.: see 'Check‑list
of recorded songs in the English language in the Archive of American Folk Song
to July, 1940' (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress Mucis Division, 1942), I,
86" (Bayard). Art Rosenbaum (1989) relates a story about the name of the
tune from Georgian Uncle John Patterson. Patterson was unaware that the song
was popular before it was known as a fiddle tune. It seems that at a Fiddlers'
Convention held in Atlanta in the 1920's Patterson was with Gid Tanner, Fate
Norris, Lowe Stokes and others of the Skillet Lickers hangers on: "I was
there with the banjo, and I was very small. I just wanted to be around, play
with 'em. They'd say, 'Come on in, Uncle John.' I'd be sort of timid, and set
down, and you talk about banjo, fiddle, and guitar, we'd tear it apart! So I
broke a string. They'd been workin' on this fune for a long time, and nobody
knew what was playin'. And I broke a string, and I says, 'I got to go down
younder and get a string.' And they said, 'That's it, "Down Yonder"!
And I went down on Decatur Street
and got a string to go on the banjo." It was recorded by Herbert Halpert
for the Library of Congress from the playing of Tishomingo
County, Mississippi, fiddler John
Hatcher in 1939. Commercial 78 RPM recordings include Shore's Southern Trio,
Hershal Brown and His Washboard Band, McMichen's Melody Men, Doc Roberts, The
Scottdale String Band, the latter-formation (1934) Skillet Lickers. The following lyrics were sung by the
Peerless Quartette:
***
Railroad train,
railroad train, hurry some more,
Put a little steam on
just like never before;
Hustle on, bustle on,
I’ve got the blues,
Yearning for my Swanee
shore,
Brother if you only
knew
You’d want to hurry up
too.
***
Summer night, fields
of white, bright cotton moon,
My, but I feel glad,
I’m gonna’ see you all soon.
‘Lasses’ cakes, mammy
bakes, I taste them now.
I can hear the darkies
croon,
I’ll see my sweetie
once more,
There’s lots of
kissing in store.
***
Chorus:
Down yonder someone
beckons to me,
I seem to see a race
in memory,
Between the Natchez
and the Robert E. Lee,
Swanee shore I miss
you more and more
Ev’ry day, my mammy
land, you’re simply grand.
Down yonder when the
folks get the news,
Don’t wonder at the
hullabaloos.
There’s daddy and
mammy, there’s Ephraim and Sammy,
