Annotation:Goodbye Liza Jane (1)

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GOODBYE LIZA JANE [1]. AKA- "Liza Jane (1)." AKA and see "Going Down to Cairo." Ameican, Reel (2/4 time). A Major (most versions): D Major (Silberberg). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Silberberg): AABB (most versions). Two influential recordings were made of the tune in the 1920's which helped spread its popularity among early country musicians, remarks Charles Wolfe (1991). The first was by the east Tennessee string band The Hill Billies, who released it under the title "Mountaineers Love Song," and the second was by another band from the same area, the Tenneva Ramblers, as "Miss Liza Poor Gal." Bob Wills (Texas), the father of western swing, said this was the first tune he learned (as "Goodbye, Miss Liza Jane") to fiddle.

Swing Ma, swing Pa, goodbye, goodbye,
Swing that gal from Arkansas, Goodbye Liza Jane.

Chorus:
Oh how I loved her, ain't that a shame,
Oh how I loved her, Goodbye Liza Jane.

Swing that gal and don't be late, goodbye, goodbye,
Knock down Sal, big fat gate, Goodbye Liza Jane.

Take a chaw of tobacco, spit on the wall, goodbye, goodbye,
Swing that gal clear across the hall, Goodbye Liza Jane.

Three wheels 're off and the axel's draggin', goodbye, goodbye,
You can't ride the little red wagon, Goodbye Liza Jane.

Other versions go:

Charlotte Town is burning down, goodbye, goodbye.
Burning down to the ground, goodbye, Liza Jane.

Chorus:
Oh, how I miss you, ain't that a shame,
Oh, how I miss you, goodbye, Liza Jane.

Alt. Chorus:
Ain't y'mighty sorry? Goodbye, bye-bye
Ain't y'mighty sorry? Goodbye, Liza Jane.

Liza Jane had a dress of red, goodbye, goodbye,
Queen of hearts, or so she said, goodbye, Liza Jane.

Liza Jane countin' her toes
You can smell her feet wherever she goes.

I got a gal and a hound dog too,
She don't bite, but the hound dog do.

Liza Jane 'bout half grown,
Jumps on a man like a dog on a bone

Liza Jane, pretty as a rose,
Bites her nails and picks her nose.

Goin' down to Caro, goodbye, goodbye,
Goin' down to Caro, goodbye Liza Jane.

Well, I blacked my boots and I made 'em shine, goodbye, goodbye.
I blacked my boots and I made 'em shine, goodbye Liza Jane.

A version of the tune and song, under the title "Rejected by Eliza Jane," was collected by the African-American collector Thomas Talley which he printed in his book Negro Folk Rhymes (1922, reprinted 1991 edited by Charles Wolfe). His lyrics go:

W'en I went 'cross de cotton patch
'I give my ho'n a blow.
I thought I heared pretty Lizie say:
"Oh, yonder come my beau!"

So: I axed pretty Lizie to marry me,
An' what d'you reckon she said?
She said she wouldn' marry me,
If ev'ybody else was dead.

An': As I went up de new cut road,
An' she go down de land;
Den I though I heared somebody say:
"Good-bye, ole Liza Jane!"

Well: Jes get 'long, Lizie, my true love.
Git 'long, Miss Lizie Jane.
Perhaps you'll sack "Ole Sour Bill"
An' git choked on "Sugar Cain."

See also the related second strain of Isham Monday's "Old Liza Jane."

Source for notated version: Bobby Hicks (Brody, Phillips): Plank Road String Band via Delaware Gap String Band (Kuntz).

Printed sources: Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; p. 124. Stephen F. Davis, Devil's Box, vol. 13, no. 3, Sept. 1979; p. 61. Kuntz (Ragged but Right), 1987; pp. 339-340. Phillips (Fiddle Case Tunebook: Old Time Southern), 1989; p. 21. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 100. Silberberg (Fiddle Tunes I Learned at the Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 54.

Recorded sources: County 772, Bobby Hicks – "Texas Crapshooter." King 787, Reno and Smiley – "Banjo Special." Mountain 301, Kyle Creed – "Blue Ridge Style Dance Time." Kicking Mule 205, Delaware Water Gap – "From the Rivers of Babylon to the Land of Jazz" (1979. Appears as "Liza Jane"). Kapp KS 3639, Bob Wills and Mel Tillis – "Mel Tillis and Bob Wills in Person." Victor 21141 (78 RPM), The Tenneva Ramblers (1927, as "Miss Liza, Poor Gal"). Vocalion 5115 (78 RPM), The Hill Billies (1926, as "Mountaineers Love Song").

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]

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