AMERICAN FOLK EXAMPLES
Turkey In A Straw Information by-Aubrie
This song was written by: Daniel Decatur Emmett, George Washington Dixon, Bob Farrell and George Nichols, all claim to have wrote this song and this problem has not yet been fixed yet. It is belived that this songs tune was from the song Zip Coo. This song is a song that is called a well American folk song which came from the early 19th century. The song's tune was first popular in the late 1820s and also the early 1830s by some preformers called the blackface performers. there are many different versions of Zip coo, this song version was first sang between 1829 and 1834 in New York or maybee Baltimore. The picture shown below is the cover of the sheet music of zip coo. The first verse of Old Zip Coo is:
There once was a man with a double chin
Who performed with skill on the violin,
And he played in time and he played in tune,
But he wouldn't play anything but Old Zip Coo.
According to Linscott, the tune is derived from the ballad My Grandmother Lived on Yonder Little Green which in turn derived from the Irish ballad The Old Rose Tree.
This song Turkey in the straw is still popular today to many people, like icecream trucks, a movie was just made about it this movie is a comady show for adults, and also George Gobel sang this version on TV: Oh, I had a little chicken and she wouldn't lay an egg, So I poured some hot water on her left-hand leg,
Then I poured some hot water on her right-hand leg,
Now my little chicken laid a hard-boiled egg!
Lyrics To Turkey In A Straw by-Aubrie
As I was a-gwine down the road,
With a tired team and a heavy load,
I crack'd my whip and the leader sprung,
I says day-day to the wagon tongue.
Turkey in the straw, turkey in the hay,
Roll 'em up and twist 'em up a high tuckahaw
And twist 'em up a tune called Turkey in the Straw.
Went out to milk, and I didn't know how,
I milked the goat instead of the cow.
A monkey sittin' on a pile of straw,
A-winkin' at his mother-in-law.
Turkey in the straw, turkey in the hay,
Roll 'em up and twist 'em up a high tuckahaw
And twist 'em up a tune called Turkey in the Straw.
Met Mr. Catfish comin' down stream.
Says Mr. Catfish, "What does you mean?"
Caught Mr. Catfish by the snout,
And turned Mr. Catfish wrong side out.
Turkey in the straw, turkey in the hay,
Roll 'em up and twist 'em up a high tuckahaw
And twist 'em up a tune called Turkey in the Straw.
Came to a river and I couldn't get across,
Paid five dollars for a blind old hoss;
Wouldn't go ahead, nor he wouldn't stand still,
So he went up and down like an old saw mill.
Turkey in the straw, turkey in the hay,
Roll 'em up and twist 'em up a high tuckahaw
And twist 'em up a tune called Turkey in the Straw.
As I came down the new cut road,
Met Mr. Bullfrog, met Miss Toad
And every time Miss Toad would sing,
Old Bullfrog cut a pigeon wing.
Turkey in the straw, turkey in the hay,
Roll 'em up and twist 'em up a high tuckahaw
And twist 'em up a tune called Turkey in the Straw.
Oh I jumped in the seat and I gave a little yell
The horses ran away, broke the wagon all to hel
Sugar in the gourd and honey in the horn
I never been so happy since the day I was born.
Turkey in the straw, turkey in the hay,
Roll 'em up and twist 'em up a high tuckahaw
And twist 'em up a tune called Turkey in the Straw.
This song was written by: Daniel Decatur Emmett, George Washington Dixon
ALEXIS'S CITATIONS
wikipedia, wikipedia. "American Folk Music." American Folk Music 16 Mar 2009 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_folk_music>.