Say Darlin' Say: A Song History

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"Say Darlin' Say" is a relative of the lullaby "Hush, Little Baby": it starts out with verses from that cradle song before striking off on its own, with a chorus built on the title words.[1] Steve Roud's index files the two under a single number, 470, because their words and melodies overlap, but the Traditional Ballad Index treats this one as a separate song on account of its chorus and different ending, noting too that it is generally taken at a much quicker pace.[1] Far from a bedtime song, it was a sung breakdown for Ernest Stoneman of Galax, Virginia, who is said to have learned it from older cousins, and the words he sang move well away from the nursery, with verses about drunkenness and the exploitation of women.[2]

Drawing of a small child in a nightgown sitting up in a basket crib among pillows

Lorenz Frølich, Child in a Crib, pen and ink with gray wash over graphite. A child in a crib, shown for the song's roots in a lullaby; the drawing has no connection to the song.

Stoneman recorded it for Gennett at Richmond, Indiana, in July 1928, with Willie Stoneman and the brothers Earl and Herbert Sweet, dance musicians from near Damascus, Virginia, whose sides from that session were the only recordings they made.[2] Gennett released it on its record 6733 under the invented name "Justin Winfield," and the Discography of American Historical Recordings dates the take to July 9, although the Traditional Tune Archive gives July 5.[2][3] The recording was also issued on Supertone 9400, credited to "Uncle Ben Hawkins."[1] Revival players have kept it going, among them Bruce Molsky and Bob Carlin on Take Me as I Am (1989) and Dirk Powell on Hand Me Down (1999).[2]

Don Pedi sets it in DAD tuning in Mountain Dulcimer Mother Goose, a 68-page collection of easy children's songs and nursery rhymes for all ages, arranged for solo mountain dulcimer and voice and sold as a download that includes an MP3 of each of its 29 songs.[4]

Our book that contains the song "Say Darlin' Say"

Sources

  1. The Traditional Ballad Index: "Say, Darling, Say".
  2. The Traditional Tune Archive: "Say Darling Say".
  3. Discography of American Historical Recordings: "Gennett 6733 (6000 10-in. series)".
  4. Don Pedi: "Mountain Dulcimer Mother Goose".
  5. Image: Lorenz Frølich, Child in a Crib, pen and ink with gray wash over graphite. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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