“Way Down the Old Plank Road”

Description

Floating verses, some mentioning jail, stitched together with the usual Uncle Dave Macon logic. Chorus: "Won't get drunk no mo' (x3), Way down the old plank road."

Notes

I put SharpAp 252 ("Marina Girls") here only because because half of it is a floating verse that's also in this song ("Sixteen pounds of meat a week/Whisky for to sell/How can a pretty girl stay at home/The soldiers fare so well" -- note that Uncle Dave reversed the sexes!) Although it was collected in 1918, I'm not assigning it as "Earliest Date" because it's not really "Way Down the Old Plank Road," but I note the fact of the floater. - PJS

Roud makes "Marina Girls" a separate song (his item #3661), but the only known text appears to be Sharp's short fragment from Laura V. Donald; until and unless more distinct text shows up, it's hard to know how to file the thing anyway. - RBW

Cross references

• cf. "Fare You Well, My Own True Love (The Storms Are on the Ocean, The False True Lover, The True Lover's Farewell, Red Rosy Bush, Turtle Dove)" (words)
• cf. "The Old Gray Goose (I) (Lookit Yonder)" (words)
• cf. "My Wife Died on Saturday Night" (floating verse)

Recordings

• Uncle Dave Macon, "Way Down the Old Plank Road" (Vocalion 5097, 1926; on AAFM3, RoughWays1)

References

1. Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 94, "Way Down The Old Plank Road" (1 text, 1 tune)
2. Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 202, "Way Down the Old Plank Road" (1 text, 1 tune)
3. SharpAp 252, "Marina Girls" (1 short text, 1 tune)
4. DT, OLPLNKRD
5. Roud #18527
6. BI, ADR94