“Soldier's Joy”
Description
Dance tune with verses; "I am my mama's darling boy...." "Grasshopper sitting on a sweet potato vine...." "Fifteen cents for the morphine, 25 cents for the beer/Fifteen cents for the morphine, gonna take me away from here"
Long description
Dance tune with verses; "I am my mama's darling boy/Play that tune called Soldier's Joy"; "Grasshopper sitting on a sweet potato vine/Along come a chicken and says 'You're mine'"; "Fifteen cents for the morphine, 25 cents for the beer/Fifteen cents for the morphine, gonna take me away from here"
Notes
The quintessential nonballad, but I've indexed it because it is cross-referenced elsewhere.
Reputed to have been found around the year 1000, but...
Morphine was reputed to be called "soldier's joy" during the American Civil War, but the title is older than that. - PJS
Same tune
- My Stetson Hat (File: Ohr083)
Cross references
- cf. "Love Somebody, Yes I Do" (tune)
Recordings
- Arkansas Woodchopper [pseud. for Luther Ossenbrink] & his Square Dance Band, "Soldier's Joy" (OKeh 06297, 1941)
- Blue Ridge Highballers, "Soldier's Joy" (Columbia 15168-D, 1927)
- Fiddlin' John Carson, "Soldier's Joy" (OKeh 45011, 1925)
- Zeb Harrelson & M. B. Padgett, "Soldier's Joy" (OKeh 45078, 1927; rec. 1926)
- Sid Harkreader w. Uncle Dave Macon, "Soldier's Joy" (Vocalion 14887, 1924)
- Kessinger Brothers, "Soldier's Joy" (Brunswick 341, c. 1929)
- John D. Mounce et al, "Soldier's Joy" (on MusOzarks01)
- New Lost City Ramblers, "Soldier's Joy" (on NLCR07) (on NLCR16)
- Aulton Ray, "Soldier Joy" (Gennett 6205, 1927)
- Glenn Smith, "Soldier's Joy" [instrumental] (on GraysonCarroll1)
- Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, "Soldier's Joy" (Bluebird B-5658, 1934; RCA Victor 21-2168, 1947) (Columbia 15538-D, 1930; rec. 1929; on Tanner2)
- Taylor's Kentucky Boys, "Soldier Joy" (Gennett 6205, 1927)
- Doc Watson, "Soldier's Joy" (on RitchieWatson1, RitchiteWatsonCD1)
References
- Linscott, pp. 109-111, "Soldier's Joy" (1 tune plus dance instructions)
- BI, RcSoJoy