A Folkie Halloween: Old Dan Tucker
Why are you reporting this puzzle?
[25 or 30 years ago, when I was living in an old-time music co-op, we had a Halloween party. Since staples of traditional music include mayhem, infidelity, murder, and accidental death, a housemate and I decided we should augment the normal decorations with tombstones of figures who died in the old songs. We took a field trip to the Mount Auburn Cemetery, then - with pencil, ink washes, and a touch of colored pencil - we made four tombstones on watercolor paper bonded to foam-core and then cut out. Unpacking from the latest move, I rediscovered them.]
Old Dan Tucker was a fine old man,
Washed his face in a frying pan,
Combed his hair with a wagon wheel,
And died with a toothache in his heel.
Git out the way, Old Dan Tucker,
You're too late to come to supper.
Supper's over, breakfast cookin',
Old Dan Tucker just standin' there a-lookin'.
This one is by my housemate. Old Dan Tucker is pretty well-known; it's even used as a camp song. Like most folk tunes, different people sing it different ways; they borrow verses from other songs, or make up their own. Here are a few versions on YouTube:
Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers - I'm not sure if this was originally released on cylinder or 78-rpm record; no doubt this was part of the explosion in "hillbilly" music back in the '20s when the new record companies found there was a market for it. It's certainly a version every old-time musician knew.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-adnK_jZn0
A contemporary string band playing their version on the old instruments and in traditional styles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbnInYCM-80
Far out: Bruce Springsteen with the Sessions Band in Dublin (note the audience all know it, and are singing along while Springsteen is still coming on stage):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO0yV_HcXx4
Old Dan Tucker was a fine old man,
Washed his face in a frying pan,
Combed his hair with a wagon wheel,
And died with a toothache in his heel.
Git out the way, Old Dan Tucker,
You're too late to come to supper.
Supper's over, breakfast cookin',
Old Dan Tucker just standin' there a-lookin'.
This one is by my housemate. Old Dan Tucker is pretty well-known; it's even used as a camp song. Like most folk tunes, different people sing it different ways; they borrow verses from other songs, or make up their own. Here are a few versions on YouTube:
Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers - I'm not sure if this was originally released on cylinder or 78-rpm record; no doubt this was part of the explosion in "hillbilly" music back in the '20s when the new record companies found there was a market for it. It's certainly a version every old-time musician knew.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-adnK_jZn0
A contemporary string band playing their version on the old instruments and in traditional styles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbnInYCM-80
Far out: Bruce Springsteen with the Sessions Band in Dublin (note the audience all know it, and are singing along while Springsteen is still coming on stage):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO0yV_HcXx4
Leaderboard
- JennyG660:27
- Grump0:28
- Kizzykat0:33
- JM_Cookie0:33
- jvsofield0:34
- pumpkinhead0:34
- MeMaw230:38
- Robbos0:38
- badenglish0:39
- wshealy0:40
Comments
Please sign in to comment. Don't have a profile? Join now! Joining is absolutely free and no personal information is required.