Sail Away Ladies: A Song History
"Sail Away Ladies" is an old-time reel that discographer Guthrie Meade tied to south-central Kentucky and middle Tennessee, though phonograph records later carried it much farther afield.[1] Musically it belongs to a cluster of related tunes that includes the many versions of "Sally Ann" and "Great Big Taters in Sandy Land."[1] When it is sung, the words are a loose assortment of floating verses answered by a refrain urging the ladies to sail away. Writer Paul Wells observed that the song was being collected around 1900 and appears to have belonged to Black and white traditions alike.[1]
Howard R. Hollem, [Cable ferry across Cumberland River] McCreary County, Kentucky, photograph, 1943. Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information collection, Library of Congress. No known restrictions on publication. A river crossing in south-central Kentucky; the photograph is not connected to the tune.
The earliest known recording came from John L. "Uncle Bunt" Stephens, a Tennessee farmer who had played for country dances for decades.[1][2] In January 1926 he won a fiddle contest sponsored by the Ford dealer in Lynchburg, placed third in the state contest at Nashville and second at a regional contest in Louisville, and then travelled to Detroit, where he played for Henry Ford.[2] He is often described as having been crowned world champion fiddler there, with a car, cash, a new suit and dental work as his reward.[1] Sources differ on this, however: researcher Paul Gifford found evidence that no actual contest was held in Detroit, and he regarded the prize stories as dubious.[2] That March, Stephens recorded four sides for Columbia in New York, the only records he is known to have made.[2] Among them was "Sail Away Lady," issued as Columbia 15071-D.[1][2] Harry Smith later chose it for his 1952 Anthology of American Folk Music, observing that it was likely much like the dance music Americans played in the decades between the Revolution and the Civil War.[1][3] Uncle Dave Macon recorded a sung version for Vocalion in 1927.[1]
The tune had a surprising second life in Britain. According to English musician Dave Arthur, it caught on during the skiffle craze of the 1950s, turning up as "Don't You Rock Me, Daddy-O" on a 1957 Lonnie Donegan EP, and a few years later it was in the set of the Quarrymen, the Liverpool group that grew into the Beatles.[1] It is still taught to old-time fiddlers today, and one current fiddle course uses Stephens's version to introduce Southern-style bowing.[4] Mountain dulcimer players will find it in Stephen Seifert's Join the Jam, a collection of popular tunes from the dulcimer jamming tradition.[5]
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