Whoa Haw Buck and Jerry Boy
With a merry little jig and a happy little song
Whoa Haw Buck and Jerry Boy
We trudge our way the whole day long
Whoa Haw Buck and Jerry Boy
Look at us now all covered with dust
It's better than staying home to rust
We'll make Salt Lake someday or bust
Whoa Haw Buck and Jerry Boy
There's a pretty little gal in the outfit ahead
Whoa Haw Buck and Jerry Boy
Wish she was by my side instead
Whoa Haw Buck and Jerry Boy
Look at her now with a pout on her lips
As daintily with her finger tips
She picks for the fire some buffalo chips
Whoa Haw Buck and Jerry Boy
Well we dance all night by the light of the moon
Whoa Haw Buck and Jerry Boy
To the fiddler's best and only tune
Whoa Haw Buck and Jerry Boy
Holding her hand and stealing a kiss
Never a step to the dance we miss
Never did I know a love like this
Whoa Haw Buck and Jerry Boy
The tune is adapted from "Turkey in the Straw"
Dancing was a common practice along the Mormon Pioneer trail.
I suspect this song is from the 1860's, by which time semi-professional
wagon trains were dispatched from Salt Lake to bring the Mormon converts
across the plains to Utah. They were mostly manned by teenage bullwhackers.
One of the advantages to being a bullwhacker in these trains was that you
got to meet all the new girls first, before they got to Salt Lake.
Recorded on They Think We Live on Carrots Down in Utah, a collection of
old pioneer melodies, dance tunes, and songs recorded in 1995 by Cory Webster
and several other musicians at the University of Utah.
JW
oct97
Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!