Annotation:Four Cent Cotton (1)

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X:1 T:Four Cent Cotton S:Lowe Stokes with the Skillet Lickers (north Ga.) M:4/4 L:1/8 R:Reel K:C GAcd e2e2|g2 ag ec3|e2 e>e dcAB|cAGE DC3| C2cc e2 e2|g2 ag ec2d|e2ed c2AB|cAGE DC3|| C2 CD EFGA|cAcd cAGG|([de]<[ee]) [e2e2] dcAB|cAGE DC3| C2 CD EFGA|cAcd cAGc|([de]<[ee]) [e2e2] cAAB|cAGE DCCC||



FOUR CENT COTTON [1]. American, Song and Reel (whole time). USA; Georgia, Alabama. C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABB (Brody): AABB (Phillips). Norm Cohen finds the tune reminiscent of "Sally Goodin'" and suggests the title may have to do with some kind of unspecified alcoholic beverage. The reference seems obscure, but could refer to moonshine or cheap spirits which sometimes have a milky cast. Another explanation ties the name to the price of cotton, which fell to four cents a pound and prompted Prohibition era farmers to switch to a more lucrative crop, corn, which could be distilled into whiskey.

The melody was one of those cited in the Fayette Northwest Alabamian of August 29th, 1929, as likely to be played at an upcoming fiddlers' convention. It was recorded twice (1928, 1932) by the north Georgia Band the Skillet Lickers [1], which included fiddler Lowe Stokes, and was also re-recorded in 1930 by Stokes with his band The Swamp Rooters (which also included Bert Layne on fiddle and Arthur Tanner on banjo among others). Words set to the tune variously go:

Goin' up the road, whoopin' and a-hollerin',
I got drunk on four cent cotton;

Woke up this morning, feeling kind of rotten,
I'd been drunk on four cent cotton.

'Old John Davy is dead and rotten,
He got drunk on four cent cotton.

Four cent cotton, sure's you are born,
I'm gonna drink some Georgia corn.


Additional notes
Source for notated version : - The Skillet Lickers (north Ga.) [Brody, Kaufman]; Lowe Stokes (Ga.) [Stecher/Fiddler Mag./Milliner & Koken, Phillips].

Printed sources : - Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; p. 112. Larsen (Fiddler Magazine), vol. 25, No. 3, Fall 2018; p. 31. Kaufman (Beginning Old Time Fiddle), 1977; p. 67. Milliner & Koken (Milliner-Koken Collection of American Fiddle Tunes), 2011; p. 218. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), 1994; p. 92.

Recorded sources : - Columbia 15746 D (78 RPM), The Skillet Lickers (1932). County 506, The Skillet Lickers- "Old Time Tunes." County 514, Lowe Stokes' Georgia Potlickers- "Hell Broke Loose in Georgia" (orig. rec. 1930). Document 8045, "Lowe Stokes, vol. 1: 1927-1930" (1999 reissue).

See also listing at :
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]
Hear Lowe Stokes' recording at youtube.com [3] and at Slippery Hill [4]



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