On Top of Old Smoky

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"On Top of Old Smoky" is a traditional folk song of the United States which, as recorded by The Weavers, reached the pop music charts in 1951.

On top of Old Smoky, all covered with snow

I lost my true lover from a-courtin' too slow...'

Old Smoky may be a high mountain somewhere in the Ozarks or the central Appalachians, as the tune (as does much 'bluegrass' music) bears the stylistic hallmarks of the Scottish and Irish people who settled the region. Exactly which mountain it is may be lost to antiquity.

The recording by The Weavers used an arrangement by Pete Seeger, and was made on February 21, 1951. It was released by Decca Records as catalog number 27515. It reached #2 on the Billboard chart and #1 on the Cash Box chart, and sold over a million copies.

The song is one of several songs frequently parodied by grade-school children who, being pre-teens, invent insulting and often violent lyrics targeting their teachers, principal, and Barney. The second line is usually all covered in blood. One well-known parody version, "On Top of Spaghetti", deals with the loss of a meatball "when somebody sneezed".

In one of his "Schticks and Stones" medleys, Allan Sherman invented this lyric, which hints at one of the more risqué versions: "On top of Old Smokey / All covered with hair / Of course, I'm referring / To Smokey the Bear.

The Country music singer Kenny Rogers sometimes uses the first part of "On Top Of Old Smoky" as a joke in concert. The opening bars to Lucille (one of his biggest hits) play with Rogers saying to the crowd something along the lines of "None of you know what song this is", when the audience reply with "Yes we do", Rogers then begins to sing "On Top Of Old Smoky".

The 1959 single "We're Coming To Your House" by the Three Stooges is sung to the tune of "On Top Of Old Smoky."

Preceded by Mockin’ Bird Hill	Cash Box magazine best selling record chart #1 record May 19, 1951	Succeeded by Mockin’ Bird Hill
Preceded by Mockin’ Bird Hill	Cash Box magazine best selling record chart #1 record June 2, 1951	Succeeded by Too Young