Sourwood Mountain
There’s a couple different versions of Sourwood Mountain floating around. The version that I learned from some OTM friends is closest to a recording by Bob Holt for Rounder Records on a CD titled Traditional Fiddle Music of The Ozarks: Vol. 1 - Along the Eastern Crescent. Cecil Goforth plays a version similar to Holt’s on the same Rounder recording.
Holt’s version closely resembles a version that’s one part of medley of three fiddle tunes released in the 1920’s by The Crockett Family Mountaineers which you can find on the Yazoo Record’s Kentucky Mountain Music: Classic Recordings of the 1920s & 1930s CD box set (Yazoo 2200).
The New Lost City Ramblers play and sing Sourwood Mountain as part of a medley of three fiddle tunes on their 20th Anniversary Concert CD on Flying Fish Records (now owned by Rounder Records).
Here’s some lyrics for Sourwood Mountain:
A
Chickens crowin’ on Sourwood Mountain, hey ho diddle-um day*
So many pretty girls I can’t count ‘em, hey ho diddle-um day
B
My true love’s a blue eyed daisy, hey ho diddle-um day
She won’t come and I’m too lazy, hey ho diddle-um day
A
Big dog bark and little dog bite you, hey ho diddle-um day
Big girl courts and little on spite you, hey ho diddle-um day
B
My true love’s blue eyed daisy, hey ho diddle-um day
I don’t get her I’ll go crazy, hey ho diddle-um day
A
True love lives at the head of the hollow, hey ho diddle-um day
She won’t come and I won’t follow, hey ho diddle-um day
B
My true love lives over the river, hey ho diddle-um day
Few more jumps and I’ll be with her, hey ho diddle-um day
Download a pdf of Sourwood Mountain -> Click SourwoodMountain.pdf.
