GUM TREE CANOE (THE TOMBIGBEE RIVER)
As sung by Tom, Brad and Alice . Recorded on “Been There Still” (scroll down to listen). Sung by John Hartford; Sung by Frank Crumit (ca: 1928, 78RPM)
On the Tombigbee river so bright I was born,
In a hut made of husks of the tall yaller corn,
It was there that I first met my Julia so true
And I row'd her about in my Gum Tree Canoe
chorus: Sing row away, row o'er the waters so blue,
Like a feather we'll float, in my Gum Tree Canoe - 2X
All day in the fields of soft cotton I'd hoe,
And think of my Julia and sing as I go,
I’d catch her a bird with a wing of true blue,
And at night row her ‘round in my Gum Tree Canoe.
Sing row away…
With my hand on the banjo and a toe on the oar,
I would sing her a song to the river's soft roar,
While the bright stars shone down on my Julia so true,
They danced in her eyes in my Gum Tree Canoe.
Sing row away…
One day the old river bore us so far away,
That we couldn't come back, so we thought we'd just stay,
And we spied a tall ship with a flag of true blue
And she took us in tow in the Gum Tree Canoe.
Sing row away…
Note: It was published in Boston (as much of the first-period minstrel music was) in 1847, only 4 years after Dan Emmett and the boys got the whole thing rolling. (Cover text is as follows): PLANTATION MELODIES, The words by S.S. STEELE, Esq. as sung by A.F. WINNEMORE and his band of VIRGINIA SERENADERS. Arranged for the Piano Forte by A. F. WINNEMORE.
BOSTON, Published by Geo. F. Reed, 17 Tremont Row. Entered according (blurred) copyright in the year 1847 by Geo. P. Reed in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. (inside): THE GUM TREE CANOE Written by S.S. Steele, Sung by A.F.Winnemore