Gonna Keep My Skillet Greasy: A Song History

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The Traditional Ballad Index catalogs this song as "Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy," with "Gonna Keep My Skillet Greasy" among its alternate titles, and describes a singer showing "his interest in food and drink and his lack of interest in work."[1] The index observes that verses differ a great deal from one version to the next, so the song is recognized mainly by its recurring skillet line; it cites the Warner collection and assigns Roud number 7479.[1] The index gives its earliest date as a 1924 recording by Uncle Dave Macon, and the sources consulted here document no earlier history of the song.[1]

Painting of a woman seated by a hearth, holding a long-handled pan over the fire, with a kettle hanging above and another on the floor.

Vincent van Gogh, Peasant Woman Cooking by a Fireplace, oil on canvas, 1885. Shown for the pan over the fire; it has no connection to the song.

Uncle Dave Macon was a Tennessee comedian and musician who in 1926 became the first vocalist on WSM's Grand Ole Opry.[2] He recorded "Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy" in New York on July 8, 1924, singing with his banjo, and Vocalion issued it on records 14848 and 5041.[3] Later that year, in November 1924, Henry Whitter recorded the song in New York with voice, guitar and harmonica for OKeh, which released it as OKeh 40296.[4] Macon returned to it for Victor in New Orleans on January 22, 1935, under the title "I'll Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy," issued on Bluebird B-5873.[5]

Later versions include Doc Watson and Ralph Rinzler's "Skillet Good and Greasy," which appears on Smithsonian Folkways' The Original Folkways Recordings of Doc Watson and Clarence Ashley 1960–1962.[6] The Ballad Index also lists recordings by John Henry Howard for Gennett in 1925 and by Pete Seeger.[1] Shelley Stevens includes "Gonna Keep My Skillet Greasy" in Using The 1 1/2 Fret In DAD Tuning, a Fingers Of Steel book that teaches chords, scales and tunes built around the dulcimer's 1½ fret.[7]

Our book that contains the song "Gonna Keep My Skillet Greasy"

Sources

  1. Traditional Ballad Index: "Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy".
  2. Tennessee Encyclopedia: "Macon, David Harrison 'Uncle Dave'".
  3. Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Vocalion matrix 13330-13332. Keep my skillet good and greasy / Uncle Dave Macon".
  4. Discography of American Historical Recordings: "OKeh matrix S-72984. Keep my skillet good and greasy / Henry Whitter".
  5. Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Victor matrix BVE-87689. I'll keep my skillet good and greasy / Uncle Dave Macon".
  6. Smithsonian Folkways: "The Original Folkways Recordings of Doc Watson and Clarence Ashley 1960-1962".
  7. Fingers Of Steel: "Shelley Stevens, Using The 1 1/2 Fret In DAD Tuning".
  8. Image: Vincent van Gogh, Peasant Woman Cooking by a Fireplace, oil on canvas, 1885. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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