“Little Old Log Cabin by the Stream (Rosalie)”
Description
The singer recalls the happy time when he and the old folks partied with the fiddle and banjo. Now death has taken his (Rose/Rosalie) "From the little old log cabin by the stream." She was killed by "swamp fever"; and others are likely to be taken also
Notes
I'm not sure what to make of this piece; Randolph's version sounds like a southern minstrel piece, yet the Digital Tradition version, from Illinois, is neither southern nor minstrel-ish.
Making the matter more confusing is the fact that Randolph's informant, Rose Wilder Lane, is of course the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder, and might thus have had the song from the Ingalls (i.e. Wisconsin) tradition. - RBW
Yes, but it could have entered that tradition from the minstrel shows. They toured everywhere in the USA (and in Britain as well). - PJS
And there is a possibility that one or the other version, probably Lane's, could be from the Fiddlin' John Carson version. - (PJS,RBW)
Recordings
- Fiddlin' John Carson, "Little Old Log Cabin by the Stream" (OKeh 45198, 1928; rec. 1927)
References
- Randolph 710, "Rosalie" (1 text)
- DT, LOGCABIN*
- Roud #7376
- BI, R710