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Annotation:Pateroller Song (The)
X:0 T: No Score C: The Traditional Tune Archive M: K: x
PATEROLLER (SONG) [2], THE. AKA and see "Pateroller'll Catch You," "Run Boy Run," "Run Johnny Run," "Run Nigger Run," "Run Smoke Run." American, Reel and Song Tune. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The song is reported to be about pre-Civil War times when plantation owners hired men to patrol for runaway slaves or slaves out after curfew without a pass. The tune was in the repertiore of the John Lusk Band, an African-American string band from Cumberland Plateau region of Ky./Tenn under the title "Pateroller'll Catch You." Hobart Smith's version is similar to "Salt River (2)," "Salt Creek," and, a bit more distantly, to "Lonesome John." See also related tune "Rattlesnake Bit the Baby."
