Cripple Creek (folk song)

Cripple Creek, performed by Gid Tanner and his Skillet Lickers (1929).

"Cripple Creek" is an Old Time Appalachian folk song for the fiddle, though it is often played on the banjo as well. It has become a standard among bluegrass musicians and is often one of the first songs a banjo picker learns.[1] No one knows exactly when it was composed, but there are theories about just where Cripple Creek is. Some say it is Cripple Creek, Virginia, while others say it is based on Cripple Creek, Colorado during the gold rush. It was frequently recorded by early country musicians in the 1920s.[2]

Score

Simplified version of the basic melody (A part followed by B part). << \new ChordNames { \set chordChanges = ##t a4 a4|%1 a4 a4|%2 a4 a4|%3 e4 a4|%4 e4 a4|%5 a4 a4|%6 a4 a4|%7 a4 a4|%8 e4 a4|%9 e4 a4|%10 } \new Staff \relative c'' { \key a \major \time 2/4 \repeat volta 2 { %start repeat a'8 a16 a e8 cis | %1 d8 fis e a,16 b | %2 cis8 cis16 cis b8 a | %3 }%end repeat \alternative{ {e8 fis16 e a8 a16 a |}  %4 {e8 fis16 e a4 |}  %5 } \break \repeat volta 2 { %start repeat cis8 cis16 cis b8 a |%6 cis8 cis16 cis e8 a,16 b |%7 cis8 cis16 cis b8 a |%8 } %end repeat \alternative{ {e8 fis16 e a8 a16 b |}  %9 {e,8 fis16 e a4 \bar "|." |} %10 } } >>

[3]

Lyrics

The following are lyrics from a 1909 version included in the Journal of American Folklore, 1915.[4]

Goin' to Cripple Creek, goin' ter Rome (roam),
Goin' ter Cripple Creek, goin' back home.
See them women layin' in the shade,
Waitin' fer the money them men have made.
Roll my breeches ter my knees
En wade ol' Cripple Creek when I please.
Goin' to Cripple Creek, going in a run;
Goin' to Cripple Creek to have my fun.

When Cecil Sharp collected folksongs in the Appalachian Mountains in 1917 he found one version of Cripple Creek:[2]

Gone to Cripple Creek, gone in a run,
Gone to Cripple Creek to have some fun.
Gone to Cripple Creek, gone in a run,
Gone to Cripple Creek to have some fun.
"Gone" is probably a mishearing of- goin'.

Recording

References

  1. ↑ Cripple Creek
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Cripple Creek Song History
  3. ↑ Rogers, Austin. "Cripple Creek" (PDF). Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  4. ↑ American Folklore Society (1915). Journal of American Folklore. Published for the American Folk-lore Society by Houghton, Mifflin, and Co. pp. 180–1. Retrieved 20 July 2012.