Mouth Music Transcript
- All aboard!
♪ Pretty woman walking down the street ♪
♪ Pretty woman, the kind I'd like to meet ♪
♪ Pretty woman ♪
♪ Rock me baby, ♪
♪ Rock me all night long, ♪
♪ I want you to rock me ♪
♪ Shady Grove, my true love ♪
♪ Shady Grove, I know ♪
♪ Shady Grove, my true love ♪
♪ I'm for Shady Grove ♪
♪ Put the rifle on my back, a nap sack on my shoulder ♪
♪ Walk away to Mexico and then I'll be a soldier ♪
♪ Shady Grove, my true love ♪
♪ Shady Grove I know ♪
♪ Shady Grove my true love ♪
♪ I'm for Shady Grove ♪
♪ And I'm bound for the Shady Grove. ♪
- Hi everybody. I'm Hamper McBee. Welcome to Southbound. Now, I don't know a hell of a lot about television but when these folks invited me to be the host on this TV series about Southern music, I said, why sure. But I sure like the music. And long as they footing the bill, I say hell, let's get it on the road. Southbound is a series about the evolution of different kind of music that came from the south. I bet you didn't know that most American music had its roots in this part of the country now, did you? Well, we're gonna be traveling all over and we're gonna meet folks singing the blues in Memphis, ♪ The gypsy woman told my mother ♪ ♪ before I was born ♪ playing the jazz in New Orleans, doing Cajun music in the bayous of Louisiana, Country Music at Nashville, and many, many more stay hanging loose and let's watch Southbound.
♪ Oh, I married me wife in the month of June ♪
♪ Ris-Sel-ty, ros-sel ty, now, now, now ♪
♪ And I took her home by the light of the moon ♪
♪ Ris sel ty, ross el ty, hey bom-bas-si-ty, ♪
♪ Nick-E-ty, nack-e-ty ♪
♪ Re-Tri-cal qua-li-ty, ♪
♪ Wil-low-by, wal-low-by, now, now, now ♪
♪ Oh, she swept the floor but once a year ♪
♪ Ris-Sel-ty, ros-sel-ty, now, now, now ♪
♪ And she swore her broom was much too dear. ♪
♪ Ris-Sel-ty, ros-sel-ty, hey bom-bas-si-ty, ♪
♪ Nick-E-ty, nack-e-ty, re-tri-cal qua-li-ty, ♪
♪ Wil-Low-by, wal-low-by, now, now, now ♪
♪ Oh, she combed her hair but once a year, ♪
♪ Ris-Sel-ty, ros-sel-ty, now, now, now ♪
♪ And every rake, she'd give a tear ♪
♪ Ris-Sel-ty, ros-sel-ty, hey bom-bas-si-ty, ♪
♪ Nick-E-ty, nack-e-ty, re-tri-cal qua-li-ty, ♪
♪ Wil-Low-by, wal-low-by, now, now, now ♪
♪ Oh, she churned her butter... ♪
- Years and years ago, the people who settled this country of ours, used their voices, in all kinds of unusual and wonderful ways. They sang work songs in the field to help pass the time. They taught rhymes and chants to their children. And they made their own entertainment. With ballads, nonsense songs, and crazy mouth sounds. Their music was as much talking as it was singing. And if you had to call it anything, today you would call it mouth music.
- First thing you do, you pronounce the letter E and you go like that. No, I'm sorry, I got it wrong. You hiccup where you E and then you hiccup like E. No I had it right the first time. E and hiccup right behind that. And you got it. E , I , E , I
- [Narrator] As everybody knows, America has changed a lot in the last 200 years, but here and there, especially in the south, you can still hear the sound of mouth music.
- [Leonard Emmanuel] We're in South River about 12 miles below Dunn, North Carolina and about 8 miles from Wade Station. And we're in between Spiveys Corner and Federal. ♪ ♪
- [Leonard Emmanuel] Used to set nets, set cat hooks, go fishing' with rod and reel. Some of the fish is getting scarce in here now, but you can catch a mess if you've got faith in it. Back yonder about 50 years ago, No I'd say 25 years ago, when I had my teeth, I could get out and holler. Hollering was a proper thing back there. People would get out and holler back and forth to each other and let them know they're well of a morning and.. They'll answer back. If you needed help, You got to holler for help. If you wanted to borrow something from somebody, He'd holler and you'd answer him back. He'd tell him what he wanted. Can I borrow your shovel today? But now you can't. They ain't no use in hollering now for help or nothing else. Too many tractors and mess running in the field. Cars on the road, trucks, airplanes flying over. So mostly I just do it for pleasure. Cause I love to do it.
♪ Every day will bring a memory. ♪
♪ Every night I dream . ♪
♪ I'll be waiting for you. ♪
♪ All the time. ♪ ♪ ♪
- [Group Of Children] Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around. Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground. Teddy bear, teddy bear, shine those shoes. Teddy bear, teddy bear, watch the news.
- [Group Of Children] Cinderella, dressed in yellow, went upstairs to kiss her fellow. Made a mistake and kissed a snake. How many doctors did it take? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Coffee and tea. I like Dakota to jump in with me. Coffee and tea, coffee and tea. I like Katelyn to jump in with me. Coffee and tea, coffee and tea, I want to jump in with me. We are the girls from the USA. Turn on the radio and what do you hear? Elvis Presley doing a cheer. You got the best of my boogie, Oosh, osh. You got the best of my boogie. Oosh, osh. You got the best of my boogie. Oosh, osh. You got the best of my boogie. Oosh, osh.
- [Cheerleaders] G O, G O A G O, G O A Georgia, Georgia, all the way.
- [Cheerleaders] Get That Ball, Get that ball
♪ There was an old man and he had an old sow ♪
♪ Had an old sow ♪
♪ There was an old man and he had an old sow♪
♪ Lassa-Feral-hurray. ♪
♪ Oh, Susanna's a funny old man. ♪
♪ Susanna's a funny old man. ♪
- [Narrator] Now buying a cow at a livestock auction hasn't changed much in a hundred years. The auctioneer is still talking too damn fast if you're buying, and a might too slow if you're selling'.
- [Auctioneer] Six hundred Cherry 8. Cherry number 8.
- [Male Speaker #1] Hogs, cattle, goats, sheep, mules, horses. Even, I have heard of them selling some chickens here a long time ago.
- [Male Speaker #2] Get outta there heh
- [Male Speaker #2] Good, thank you...heh
- [Male Speaker #3] Get up and get outta here. Go on, go on.
- [Male Speaker #1] Okay, say a cow comes in, it's got a calf and they wanna sell them together. What you do, you'll put one back tag number on the cow and then put one number higher on the calf, which identifies that as being her calf. And then they're penned together. And then when they come in the ring, they sell together and then whomever buys them, why, they're on their way back to the farm.
- [Auctioneer] Behave, you're on TV now.
- [Male Speaker #1] Say they run a cow in the ring. If you want to buy her, why, the man that owns the barn usually starts the livestock. And then if you're interested in buying her, why, all you gotta do is just say yes, I will and bid on her. And the highest man bidding gets the cow when the sale's over.
- [Carnival Worker] You can be the next winner. Grab a gun, have some fun at the race gun. There's water right there if you wanna satisfaction.
- [Carnival Worker] Play ball.
- [Candy Maker] Cotton candy, fine and dandy, looks like cotton, but it's real candy. It's Doniker Dan the candy man with circus strawberry candy.
- [Hamper McBee] Here we go, teddy bears and Frigidaire's. Here goes a washing machine. Everybody wins. Two in you win. Look how easy it is. Hey, old basketball game. Who wants this?
- [Narrator] One of the most culturally isolated parts of the United States is to be found in the Cumberland mountains of North Tennessee and Southern Kentucky. Here in Fentress County, Tennessee, Dee and Delty Hicks are perhaps the last living singers of the old nonsense songs.
♪ Old Henry Johnson had a trouble of his own. ♪
♪ He had an old yellow cat he couldn't keep away from home. ♪
♪ Oh, he would give in to this and he'd give in to that. ♪
♪ All that he wanted to get a shadow of the cat. ♪
♪ But the very next day, the old cat come back. ♪
♪I thought he was a goner, But the cat he come back. ♪
♪ wasn't any wonder that the cat he come back. ♪
♪ Cause he couldn't stay away. ♪
♪And he gave him to a preacher going in a balloon. ♪
♪ And I told him won't he take him to the man in the moon. ♪
♪ But the balloon busted. And the people all said, ♪
♪ Man was found a way about a hundred mile dead. ♪
♪ But the very next day, the old cat come back. ♪
♪ I thought he wasn't gonna, but the cat he come back. ♪
♪ Wasn't any wonder that the cat he come back ♪
♪ cause he couldn't stay away. ♪
♪ And I loaded up my gun with a ball of dynamite ♪
♪ and swore to the Lord to kill the cat on site. ♪
♪ But the gun exploded in the middle of the lead ♪
♪ man's found away about 40 mile dead. ♪
♪ But the very next day, the old cat come back. ♪
- [Delty Hicks] Now these wood fires is about as good a fire as a body can have. I like to burn coal, but I can't stand the smell of it. It smothers me.
- [Delty Hicks] Chick, chick, chick. We just have the dogs now and chickens. We used to have horses and cattle and sheep and hogs. But Dee got sick and wasn't able to help farm or feed them. And so, we just sold them and got rid of them. So we've been here, me and Dee's been married 50 year. And then we cleared all this field up. When we moved up here and built, it was just woods. So we cleared it all up and cut the trees off with a cross cut saw and a ax and plowed it with the mules and a bull tongue plow with a cutter in the front, you know to cut the roots ahead. So we cleared all this up and I set the apple trees out here when they was just little bitty sprouts just about so high. And I put them all around the house because the cattle would run in here and they'd eat the little apple sprouts, you know. That's a cross cut saw.
- [Delta Hicks] Well, now that's what the kind of a thing we used to clear the ground here. It had another handle. That's what I learned to use when I was 10 year old helping my dad cut tie timber. We'd pull them old crosscut saws to cut our timber down. So it's just been just a life of hard work here. We had a job of clearing it up and a fencing it.
♪ The old man come in from his plow ♪
♪ Dandoo, Dandoo. ♪
♪ The old man come in from his plow ♪
♪ Tom KlingKlass, McKlingle ♪
♪ The old man come in from his plow ♪
♪ Says wife I want my breakfast now ♪
♪ Unintelligible ♪
♪ Unintelligible ♪
♪ There's a piece of bread lies on the shelf. ♪
♪ Dandoo, Dandoo. ♪
♪ There's a piece of bread lies on the shelf. ♪
♪ Clish, ma-clash, ma-clingo ♪
♪ There's a piece of bread lies on the shelf, ♪
♪ you want anymore, you can cook it yourself. ♪
♪ ♪ ♪ Hum to my doodle dandoo. ♪
♪ , Clish, ma-clash, ma-clingo ♪
- [Delta Hicks] Well, now the women didn't sing no little, as that, called them dang devil songs. They wouldn't sing them kind. And mostly, the most of what they sung, to my remembrance, was the religious songs. Once in a while they'd sing... Now mom knowed some love songs. She had learned from her mama that she sung for us.
♪ So she squeezed my hand, ♪
♪ says there's one thing I fear, sir, ♪
♪ my father he'll be passing by ♪
♪ And I'm afraid he sees us here, sir. ♪
♪ Timaling a ting I oh, ♪
♪ Timaling a ting I a. ♪
♪ Now you go climb a long slim tree. ♪
♪ See when he passes by, sir. ♪
♪ And we'll go over in Yonder Grove. ♪
♪ And now we'll sport and play, sir. ♪
♪ Timaling a ting I oh, ♪
♪ Timaling a ting I a. ♪
♪ So quickly I sprung up the tree ♪
♪ not being the least offended, ♪
♪ a charming beauty at the roots. ♪
♪ Oh, to see how I ascended. ♪
♪ Timaling a ting I oh, ♪
♪ Timaling a ting I a. ♪
♪ She said, you ugly thing I do disdain ♪
♪ You look just like an ulcer. ♪
♪ You can eat your grapes and stuff the stems ♪
♪ for I'm a goin' to the house, sir ♪
♪ Timaling a ting I oh, ♪
♪ Timaling a ting I a. ♪
♪ Miss Kate went skipping over the plains. ♪
♪ She was leaving him half distracted. ♪
♪ He ripped, he roared, He cussed and swore, ♪
♪ oh to see how Kate had acted. ♪
♪ Timaling a ting I oh, ♪
♪ Timaling a ting I a. ♪
♪ My song is rough, I sung enough, ♪
♪ it's time to leave off rhyming. ♪
♪ But every time Kate looked at me, ♪
♪ oh, it makes me sad for climbing. ♪
♪ Timaling a ting I oh, ♪
♪ Timaling a ting I a. ♪
- [Delta Hicks] I just wondered where they'd ever come from, whoever made them up.
- [Dee Hicks] The old songs has in one sense of the word got more meaning to them. It seems like they've originated from a big lot of it being the truth.
- [Delta Hicks] And the new songs, I think they just study them up and put them together just through fiction
- [Dee Hicks] Yeah, they had young people. There's a lot of young people made them.
- [Delta Hicks] But the old songs nearly always come up from something that could have been the truth. It had meaning to it and and things that could have happened.
- ♪ T Rowe, T Rowe, tiptoeing Sounder ♪
♪ Oh, of all the dogs that I possess ♪
♪ old Rock and Rule, they are the best. ♪
♪ But Sounder is my good old dog ♪
♪ forevermore I know. ♪
♪ Oh, come Uncle Joe and let's go home. ♪
♪ Now we will leave that old red fox alone. ♪
♪ For our daddy's going a hunting in the morning. ♪
♪ He'll put his hounds upon its track. ♪
♪ They'll run it off and bring it back. ♪
♪ They'll run it from old England into Kentucky, I know. ♪
♪ Now put your ear upon the ground. ♪
♪ Overland lord just listen at my lead hound. ♪
♪ He's running from England to old Kentucky, I know. ♪
♪ Then he put his horn up to his mouth ♪
♪ and he blew that wind both north and south. ♪
♪ But it seemed like his old hound, he couldn't hear him. ♪
♪ Then when he blew his horn so loud ♪
♪ that they heard it thunder in the cloud, ♪
♪ I could still hear my old hound running' ♪
♪ uque, uque, uque, uque. ♪
- [Narrator] Now there ain't too damn many jobs nowadays where people still sing work chants. But we found one in Fort Benning, Georgia. Airborne training.
♪ We are - [Group Of Men] We are ♪
♪ Number one. - [Group Of Men] Number one. ♪
♪ Gonna jump - [Group Of Men] Gonna jump ♪
♪ All the way. - [Group Of Men] All the way. ♪
♪ Gonna run - [Group Of Men] Gonna run ♪
♪ Every day. - [Group Of Men] Every day. ♪
♪ Gonna sing - [Group Of Men] Gonna sing ♪
♪ All the way. - [Group Of Men] All the way. ♪
♪ Feeling good - [Group Of Men] Feeling good ♪
♪ Here today. - [Group Of Men] here today. ♪
♪ Funky, funky Boogie love, ♪
♪ [Group Of Men] Funky, funky Boogie love, ♪
♪ [Male Speaker] One more day and we'll be through. ♪
♪ [Group Of Men] One more day and we'll be through. ♪
♪ [Male Speaker] Get on up - [Group Of Men] Get on up ♪ ♪ [Male Speaker] Get on down - [Group Of Men] Get on down ♪
♪ [Male Speaker] Get on up now ♪
♪ [Group Of Men] Get on up now ♪
♪ [Male Speaker] Get on down - [Group Of Men] Get on down ♪
♪ [Male Speaker] Airborne - [Group Of Men] Airborne ♪
♪ [Male Speaker] All right - [Group Of Men] All right ♪
♪ [Male Speaker] All right - [Group Of Men] All right ♪
♪ [Male Speaker] Dynamite - [Group Of Men] Dynamite ♪
♪ [Male Speaker] Gonna be - [Group Of Men] Gonna be ♪
♪ [Male Speaker] Like me. - [Group Of Men] Like me. ♪
♪ [Male Speaker] Airborne - [Group Of Men] Airborne ♪
♪ [Male Speaker] Gonna jump ♪
♪ [Group Of Men] Gonna jump ♪
♪ [Male Speaker] From the door. ♪
♪ [Group Of Men] From the door. ♪
♪ [Male Speaker] Gotta count - [Group Of Men] Gotta count ♪
♪ [Male Speaker] One through four. ♪
♪ [Group Of Men] One through four. ♪
♪ [Male Speaker] Airborne - [Group Of Men] Airborne ♪
♪ [Male Speaker] Your left, hey your left, ♪ hey your left, right. ♪ [Group Of Men] Airborne ♪
♪ [Male Speaker] Your left, right. - [Group Of Men] Airborne ♪
♪ [Male Speaker] Your left, right. - [Group Of Men] Airborne ♪
♪ [Male Speaker] Your left, right - [Group Of Men] Airborne ♪
♪ [Male Speaker] It is all right. - [Group Of Men] Airborne ♪
♪ [Male Speaker] On your left, right ♪
♪ [Group Of Men] Airborne ♪
♪ [Male Speaker] Like Your left, right. ♪
♪ [Group Of Men] Airborne ♪
♪ [Male Speaker] Your left, right. ♪
♪ [Group Of Men] Airborne ♪ ♪ [Male Speaker] Hey ♪
- [Male Speaker] Recruiter said you're gonna go airborne, you know. I didn't know what to think at first. And then I got here to the school, you know and really turned out to be something great. I think every young soldier should have an opportunity to become an airborne paratrooper. It lifts, you know, really, really boosts your morale. Most of all it motivates you for the further career that you have down the road.
- [Group Of Men] We like it here, we like it here, we finally found a home. We like it here, we like it here, we finally found a home. A home, a home, a home away from home.
- [Male Speaker] And when you sing real good and you just forget about the run, you don't think about how far you run, most of all just the motivation factor.
♪ Here we go - [Group Of Men] Here we go ♪
♪ There we go. - [Group Of Men] There we go. ♪
♪ All right. - [Group Of Men] All right. ♪
♪ All right. - [Group Of Men] All right. ♪
- [Male Speaker] It lets you know, you know, it makes you feel real good and as a result of all that, you get really fired up and get off into the cadence.
♪ Here we go - [Group Of Men] Here we go ♪
♪ All right. - [Group Of Men] All right. ♪
♪ All right. - [Group Of Men] All right. ♪
♪ All right. - [Group Of Men] All right. ♪
♪ Feeling good. - [Group Of Men] Feeling good. ♪
♪ So good. - [Group Of Men] So good. ♪
♪ Clap your hands now students ♪
♪ Clap your hands right now. ♪
♪ Tell us man. ♪
♪ Tell me how you feel now. Do you feel now? Real good now? ♪
♪ [Group Of Men] Feeling, feel all right now. ♪
♪ Now do you feel all right everybody right now? ♪
♪ [Group Of Men] Feeling, feel all right now. ♪
♪ Well, all right, said it's all right now. ♪
♪ [Group Of Men] Feeling, feel alright now. ♪
♪ Alright. - [Group Of Men] All right. ♪
♪ Gonna jump - [Group Of Men] Gonna jump ♪
♪ From the door. - [Group Of Men] From the door. ♪
♪ It's all right. - [Group Of Men] All right. ♪
♪ All right. - [Group Of Men] All right. ♪
♪ Gonna be - [Group Of Men] Gonna be ♪
♪ Airborne - [Group Of Men] Airborne ♪
♪ Next week. - [Group Of Men] Next week. ♪
♪ Hell, yeah. - [Group Of Men] Hell, yeah. ♪
♪ It's all right. - [Group Of Men] It's all right. ♪
♪ Gonna be - [Group Of Men] Gonna be ♪
♪ Airborne - [Group Of Men] Airborne ♪
♪ All right - [Group Of Men] All right ♪
♪ All right - [Group Of Men] All right ♪
♪ Airborne - [Group Of Men] Airborne ♪
♪ Gonna go - [Group Of Men] Gonna go ♪
♪ Downtown. - [Group Of Men] Downtown. ♪
♪ Gonna get - [Group Of Men] Gonna get ♪
♪ Get on down. - [Group Of Men] Get on down. ♪
♪ All right. - [Group Of Men] All right. ♪
♪ All right. - [Group Of Men] All right. ♪
♪ All right. - [Group Of Men] All right. ♪
♪ All the legs, - [Group Of Men] All the legs, ♪
♪ they will say - [Group Of Men] they will say ♪
♪ we're the best. - [Group Of Men] we're the best. ♪
♪ We're the best. - [Group Of Men] We're the best. ♪
♪ We are - [Group Of Men] We are ♪
♪ number one. - [Group Of Men] number one. ♪
♪ Hell yeah. - [Group Of Men] Hell yeah. ♪
♪ All right. - [Group Of Men] All right. ♪
♪ Sounding good. - [Group Of Men] Sounding good. ♪
♪ I got it. - [Group Of Men] I got it. ♪
♪ in my knees. - [Group Of Men] in my knees. ♪
♪ Can you feel it - [Group Of Men] Can you feel it ♪
♪ in your knees? - [Group Of Men] in your knees? ♪
♪ Oh yes. - [Group Of Men] Oh, yes. ♪
♪ Oh, yes. - [Group Of Men] Oh, yes. ♪
♪ Feels good. - [Group Of Men] Feels good. ♪
♪ All right. - [Group Of Men] All right. ♪
♪ All right. - [Group Of Men] All right. ♪
♪ Got it all. - [Group Of Men] Got it all. ♪
♪ All over. - [Group Of Men] All over. ♪
♪ All right. - [Group Of Men] All right. ♪
♪ Hallelujah. - [Group Of Men] Hallelujah ♪
♪ Hallelujah - [Group Of Men] Hallelujah ♪
♪ Here we are. - [Group Of Men] Here we are. ♪
♪ Here we are - [Group Of Men] Here we are ♪
♪ going home - [Group Of Men] going home ♪
♪ We run - [Group Of Men] We run ♪
♪ one mile - [Group Of Men] one mile ♪
♪ two miles - [Group Of Men] two miles ♪
♪ three miles - [Group Of Men] three miles ♪
♪ four miles - [Group Of Men] four miles ♪
♪ Five miles - [Group Of Men] Five miles ♪
♪ Yes we do. - [Group Of Men] Yes we do. ♪
♪ Feeling good. - [Group Of Men] Feeling good. ♪
♪ We can run - [Group Of Men] We can run ♪
♪ All week - [Group Of Men] All week ♪
♪ We can sing ♪
♪ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P ♪ ♪ Q R S T U and V W X and Y and Z. ♪
♪Grab your money, cross the rode ♪
♪ Now, went there stalking, lay down low ♪
♪ Come on boys and lets go, here's 63 ♪
♪ Grab your honey and a pat her on the head ♪
♪ if she don't like chicken, you can feed her corn bread. ♪
♪ Grab your honey and don't be slow ♪
♪ and be like a chicken and a picking them dough. ♪
- [Jimmie Riddle] You're not taping that, are you?
- [Camera Man] We got it.
- [Jimmie Riddle] Oh, yeah.
