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Publications
Arkansas Traveler
4-H Volunteer Leaders' Series
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The Legend of the Arkansas Traveler
The Traveler was exasperated. Lost in the woods with night
coming on, needing food and shelter for himself and his horse, he had learned
exactly nothing in a half-hour's conversation with a sassy Squatter who seemed
interested only in endlessly fiddling a single tune.
"What are you playing that tune over so often for?" demanded the
Traveler. "Only heard it yisterday. 'Fraid I'll forget it." "Why don't you play
the second part of it?" "lt ain't got no second part." "Give me the fiddle," the
Traveler ordered. He tuned it for a moment, then swung into the second part. The
Squatter leaped up and began to dance, the sleeping hound awoke and thumped his
tail, the children hopped up and down, and even the "old woman" came through the
door with a smile twisting unaccustomed muscles on her face.
"Come in, stranger," roared the delighted Squatter. "Take a half
a dozen cheers and sot down. Sall, stir yourself round like a six-horse team in
a mud hole. Go round in the holler, whar I killed that buck this mornin', cut
off some of the best pieces and fotch it and cook it for me and this gentleman
directly. Raise up the board under the head of the bed and git the old black
jug. Dick, carry the gentleman's hoss around under the shed, give him some
fodder and corn, as much as he kin eat. Stranger, ef you can't stay as long as
you please, and I'll give you plenty to eat and drink. Play away, stranger, you
kin sleep on the dry spot tonight!"
So goes part of the dialogue that accompanies one of the
nation's best-known fiddle tunes, "The Arkansaw Traveler." The state's
historians are generally agreed that both the story (which is narrated, not
sung) and the melody were composed by Colonel Sandford C. Faulkner (1803-74).
Faulkner, a prominent planter, is supposed to have been inspired by a
conversation with a backwoodsman in 1840. A few folklore students have credited
the authorship to an Ohio Valley fiddler named Jose Tasso, but Faulkner's claim
was so fully recognized during his lifetime that the manager of the old St.
Charles Hotel in New Orleans is said to have lettered "The Arkansaw Traveler" in
gilt above the door of a room reserved for him.
The Arkansas Traveler
Lyrics by the Arkansas State Song Selection Committee, 1947
Music by Colonel Sanford (Sandy) Faulkner, about 1850
On a lonely road quite long ago,
A trav'ler trod with fiddle and a bow;
While rambling thru the country rich and grand,
He quickly sensed the magic and the beauty of the land.
Chorus
For the wonder state we'll sing a song,
And lift our voices loud and long.
For the wonder state we'll shout hurrah!
And praise the opportunities we find in Arkansas.
Many years have passed, the trav'lers gay,
Repeat the tune along the highway;
And every voice that sings the glad refrain
Re-echoes from the mountains to the fields of growing grain.
Repeat Chorus
| Author: |
Darlene Z. Baker, Ph.D., State Leader - 4-H Youth and
Development |
DR. DARLENE Z. BAKER is state leader - 4-H
youth development, Cooperative Extension Service, University of
Arkansas, Little Rock.
4HCH10-PD-10-02RV
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