Black Eyed Susie

In a previous entry we came across the name Molly Tuttle, a guitarist from Palo Alto, California. Primarily a bluegrass enthusiast, her talents extend in many directions, too many to enumerate.  She studied in the American Roots Music Program at Berklee College of Music in Boston on a merit scholarship from which she graduated with an Artist Diploma in Guitar Performance.  In a Youtube exploration of her catalogue of music, I came across the song titled "Black-Eyed Suzie," performed by the Goodbye Girls. The Goodbye Girls was a performing group during 2014-2018 consisting of Berklee undergraduates, Molly Tuttle (guitar), Allison de Groot (banjo), Lena Jonsson of Sweden (fiddle) and Brittany Karlson (stand-up bass). 

I took an interest in the song and explored some of its history and recordings.  The Goodbye Girls' version is by far the cleanest and liveliest version I listened to.   

The song is more commonly titled "Black-Eyed Susie."  It's thought to have originated in Great Britain under different tunes and lyrics and travelled to America hundreds of years ago where it morphed into a popular song in the South and West during the early 20th century.  There were numerous UK songs with titles that used Black-Eyed Susan but none quite, if at all, identifiable as this song.  I found it published in "Blue grass Picker's Tune Book" where it falls in the category, "Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes." It's found in both "Old time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes" and "Mississippi Fiddle Tunes. "  Alan Lomax, who did a field recording of Luther Strong on 10/17/1937, called it a "square dancing tune" and that's exactly what it sounds like to me. 
The first know recording of this tune was on March 8, 1924 by Gid Tanner and George Riley Puckett of Georgia.

The Gid Tanner was recorded with his group The Skillet Lickers in 1928.

J.Preston Nestor (banjo) and Norman Edmonds (fiddle) were recorded doing Black-eyed Susie on Aug. 1, 1927 around Hillsville, Va.



But it had been recorded on Aug. 28, 1927 by Doc Roberts and John Booker in Richmond, Indiana.

In Dec. 1927, Al Hopkins and His Buckle Busters, aka the Hill Billies, had their version preserved.

In 1928, Jame William Day, who was going by the moniker "Blind Bill Day" which he later changed to Jilson Setters, recorded "Susie."

 A recording in a style that might be later considered Country and Western was made on July 3, 1939, Gayoso Hotel of Memphis Tennessee by Hank Penny and his Radio Cowboys:

So, there seemed to be a polularization of this tune between 1925 (probably a lot earlier) and 1930 among the Old Time musicians just as it seemed to have gained popularity again in the 1960s, possibly attributable to Mike Seeger and the New Lost City Ramblers (1964). 

This would be the perfect introduction for listening to Mike's half-brother Pete (along with Woody Guthrie, Lee Hayes, Cisco Houston, Tom Glazer, butch Hawes and Bess Lomax) do their more folk-ish version from 1951:

This subtle shift from Old time to folk might have been instrumental in Guy Mitchell recoding this (in my opinion, truly awful) interpretation in 1952. He called it "Pretty Little Black Eyed Susie":

The only bluegrass verion, besides that by the Goodbye Girls, I want to show is by Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder.  My reason is that in listening to it, first notice the hyper speed at which it's played, showing off the musicians' techniques and virtuosity... then consider the beauty of the song as many of these artists perform it.  I have nothing against showcasing skill and speed on an instrument, but I have to wonder if the showing off is just for the sake of showing off.  Personally, I very much dislike this version, especially in comparison with the bluegrass version of the top most video.

As with many things, this tune comes around to Huddie Ledbetter who's fantastic version of "Green Corn" which bears a strong similarity musically and lyrically to "Black-Eyed Susie" was recorded by John Lomax in Shreveport, La in February 1935

Typical Black-Eyed Susie lyrics:

Black Eyed Susie

Black eyed Susie went to town
All she wore was a gingham gown

Hey.
Black eyed Susie Ho.
Black eyed Susie Hey.
Black eyed Susie Jane.

I may get drunk I may get woozy
But I’m comin’ home to Black eyed Susie

Black eyed Susie’s long and tall
Sleeps in the kitchen with her feet in the hall

Hey old man I want your daughter
To chop my wood and carry my water

Black eyed Susie lives in a holler
She won’t come and I won’t call her

All I want in this creation
Pretty little wife on a big plantation.

All I need to make me happy
Two little boys to call me Pappy.

One name Sop and the other name Gravy
One sop it up and the other gonna save it.

Up Red Oak and down salt water
Some old man gonna lose his daughter.

Black eyed Susie went huckleberry pickin’
Came home late and took a lickin’.

Love my wife and love my baby
Love my biscuits sopped in gravy.

Goin’ back home with a pocket full of money
Somebody there to call me honey.

You are an excellent historian....and I believe your contributions enrich this site. Thanks!

Hi Kamalakanta. Thank you. I'm no historian, just a brown-eyed Sarah. 

From "American Ballads and Folk Songs" by John A, Lomax and Alan Lomax. 1934.

There’s a lot of black eyes Susie…..

The Skillet Lickers???!!!

Reminds me sowehat the Irish song „I‘ll tell my Ma“ and then on the other of the thing Rednex did in 1990s (btw I always thought they were a US band, but actually they are Swedish )

Indeed.
Mountain humor.

Are you talking about the Rednex song "Cotton Eye Joe"?
The now infamous (#8) Skillet Lickers recorded it in 1928 under the more familiar name "Cotton Eyed Joe."

Thanks.
A lot of songs when they found themselves in the mountains of eastern US, became almost unrecognizable as they evolved or morphed, just like the language and the culture of the people who moved here and their descendants.  Scholars claim this song possibly dated back even to c.1500 but really offer nothing substantial that I could find to back it up. One of their biggest aruments is that the term "Black-eyed Susan (in some form) was found in various titles, but I could even find a broadside.  Still, most traditional US folk songs, mountain songs and ditties did come from the UK area.  Sea shanties and hornpipes are indeed one source as are jigs and reels.  Appalachian (mountain) music is more intricately tied to dancing than folk music and this song is, if nothing else, a dancing tune. Whether it's origins were so closely tied to dancing can only be guessed, I imagine but it would be nice to think so.

I'm really sorry about your little brother.  I never had any siblings myself. Still, any such loss diminishes us all to varying degrees. 
Fortunately, this is just a lightweight music posting in an off-topic forum on a chess site, made more just to give exposure to ideas (mine) as they occur to me than to solve any academic musical issue.  

Leadbelly is indeed a gem.

Doesn't matter. He'll just return with a new name and the same old hatred. It's the chess.com revolving door policy -- the one that refuses to put severe limits on new accounts, making all this not just possible, but inevitable. 

Huddie Ledbetter

That's him. Green Corn.

Lead Belly died in 1949, but has had a lasting impact.  Like BB King

Leadbelly died of the most dreaded disease, ALS. This means that he'd probably been unable to play or sing for years before his death.  And he wasn't that old either, just 61.  Meanwhile Woody Guthrie was suffering from the debilitating Huntington's Disease, another untreatable neurological disorder.   Ledbetter influenced generations of folk musicians.  While no one had any more authority or right to sing the blues than Huddie, his songs didn't really fall into that category any more than his friend Blind Lemon's songs really belonged in that category, unless one does a little stretching and retrofitting.  Now, Leadbelly's 12 string guitar technique is unique and legendary and may have influenced some blues guitarists.