Salty Dog (song)
Encyclopedia
"Salty Dog Blues" is an early 1900s folk song
. It is in the public domain. It has been recorded by blues
, jazz
, country music
, bluegrass
groups and other styles. The oldest recordings of the song credit Papa Charlie Jackson
, who adapted the song directly from the African-American traditional for Paramount and for Broadway in 1924. According to Jas Obrecht, "Old-time New Orleans musicians from Buddy Bolden
’s era recalled hearing far filthier versions of 'Salty Dog Blues' long before Papa Charlie’s recording." Similar versions were recorded by Mississippi John Hurt
and Lead Belly.
The Morris Brothers
version of the lyrics of the chorus of the song go: Let me be your Salty Dog
/ Or I won't be your man at all / Honey let me be your salty dog. According to Richard Matteson:
(1924), Clara Smith
(1926), Freddie Keppard
’s Jazz Cardinals (1926), the McGee Brothers
(1927), the Allen Brothers
(1927, 1930, 1934), the Morris Brothers
(1938, 1945), Flatt and Scruggs (1950), Blind Willie McTell
(1956), Mississippi John Hurt
(1963), and Johnny Cash
(2003). Others who have performed or recorded the song include Jelly Roll Morton
, Lead Belly, Bo Carter
, Reverend Gary Davis
, Kokomo Arnold
, Ricky Nelson
, the Kingston Trio
, Roger McGuinn
, Hot Tuna
, Leon Redbone
, and Cat Power
.
The song appears in a 1963 episode of The Andy Griffith Show
, "The Darlings Are Coming", featuring The Dillards
. In the show the band is called the Darling family and performs a rendition of "Salty Dog" with Andy Griffith himself on guitar.
recalled a three-piece string band led by Bill Johnson playing the number to great acclaim, probably before 1910.
Curly Seckler
, who played with Flatt and Scruggs and with Charlie Monroe
, was interviewed by Frank Stasio on the December 26, 2008 edition of The State of Things
. Seckler was asked about the origin of the name "Salty Dog" and replied that he had been told that it was the name of a locally produced soft drink.
While the song has a number of standard verses, it has also lent itself to some invented verses that are meant to be humorous, such as I like sugar, I like grits / I like girls with great big eyes and Two old maids just a-laying on the sand / Each one wishin' that the other was a man.
One of the older versions runs:
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
. It is in the public domain. It has been recorded by blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
groups and other styles. The oldest recordings of the song credit Papa Charlie Jackson
Papa Charlie Jackson
Papa Charlie Jackson was an early American bluesman and songster. He played a hybrid banjo guitar and ukulele, his recording career beginning in 1924...
, who adapted the song directly from the African-American traditional for Paramount and for Broadway in 1924. According to Jas Obrecht, "Old-time New Orleans musicians from Buddy Bolden
Buddy Bolden
Charles "Buddy" Bolden was an African American cornetist and is regarded by contemporaries as a key figure in the development of a New Orleans style of rag-time music which later came to be known as jazz.- Life :...
’s era recalled hearing far filthier versions of 'Salty Dog Blues' long before Papa Charlie’s recording." Similar versions were recorded by Mississippi John Hurt
Mississippi John Hurt
John Smith Hurt, better known as Mississippi John Hurt was an American country blues singer and guitarist.Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt taught himself how to play the guitar around age nine...
and Lead Belly.
The Morris Brothers
The Morris Brothers
The Morris Brothers were an American country music group particularly popular in the 1930s, although they continued to play together occasionally until the 1970s.-Biography:The Morris Brothers were born in Old Fort, North Carolina...
version of the lyrics of the chorus of the song go: Let me be your Salty Dog
Salty dog (slang)
“Salty Dog” is nautical slang for an experienced sailor who has spent much of their life aboard a ship at sea. A salty dog is often given increased credibility by ship mates in matters pertaining to ship-board life and duties...
/ Or I won't be your man at all / Honey let me be your salty dog. According to Richard Matteson:
Recordings and performances
The song has been recorded by Papa Charlie JacksonPapa Charlie Jackson
Papa Charlie Jackson was an early American bluesman and songster. He played a hybrid banjo guitar and ukulele, his recording career beginning in 1924...
(1924), Clara Smith
Clara Smith
Clara Smith was an American classic female blues singer. She was billed as the "Queen of the Moaners", although Smith actually had a lighter and sweeter voice than her contemporaries and main competitors.-Career:...
(1926), Freddie Keppard
Freddie Keppard
Freddie Keppard was an early jazz cornetist.Keppard was born in the Creole of Color community of downtown New Orleans, Louisiana. His older brother Louis Keppard was also a professional musician. Freddie played violin, mandolin, and accordion before switching to cornet...
’s Jazz Cardinals (1926), the McGee Brothers
McGee Brothers
The McGee Brothers were an American old-time performing duo consisting of brothers Sam McGee and Kirk McGee . Sam typically played guitar and Kirk usually played banjo or fiddle, although they were both proficient in multiple string instruments...
(1927), the Allen Brothers
The Allen Brothers
The Allen Brothers were an American country music duo popular in the 1920s and 1930s...
(1927, 1930, 1934), the Morris Brothers
The Morris Brothers
The Morris Brothers were an American country music group particularly popular in the 1930s, although they continued to play together occasionally until the 1970s.-Biography:The Morris Brothers were born in Old Fort, North Carolina...
(1938, 1945), Flatt and Scruggs (1950), Blind Willie McTell
Blind Willie McTell
Blind Willie McTell , was an influential Piedmont and ragtime blues singer and guitarist. He played with a fluid, syncopated fingerstyle guitar technique, common among many exponents of Piedmont blues, although, unlike his contemporaries, he used exclusively a twelve-string guitar...
(1956), Mississippi John Hurt
Mississippi John Hurt
John Smith Hurt, better known as Mississippi John Hurt was an American country blues singer and guitarist.Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt taught himself how to play the guitar around age nine...
(1963), and Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
(2003). Others who have performed or recorded the song include Jelly Roll Morton
Jelly Roll Morton
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe , known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, bandleader and composer....
, Lead Belly, Bo Carter
Bo Carter
Armenter "Bo Carter" Chatmon was an American early blues musician. He was a member of the Mississippi Sheiks in concerts, and on a few of their recordings...
, Reverend Gary Davis
Reverend Gary Davis
Reverend Gary Davis, also Blind Gary Davis, was an American blues and gospel singer and guitarist, who was also proficient on the banjo and harmonica...
, Kokomo Arnold
Kokomo Arnold
Kokomo Arnold was an American blues musician.Born as James Arnold in Lovejoy's Station, Georgia, he got his nickname in 1934 after releasing "Old Original Kokomo Blues" for the Decca label; it was a cover of the Scrapper Blackwell blues song about the city of Kokomo, Indiana...
, Ricky Nelson
Ricky Nelson
Eric Hilliard Nelson , better known as Ricky Nelson or Rick Nelson, was an American singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, and actor...
, the Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and Nick Reynolds...
, Roger McGuinn
Roger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...
, Hot Tuna
Hot Tuna
Hot Tuna is an American blues-rock band formed by bassist Jack Casady and guitarist Jorma Kaukonen as a spin-off of Jefferson Airplane. It plays acoustic and electric versions of original and traditional blues songs.- Jefferson Airplane side project :...
, Leon Redbone
Leon Redbone
Leon Redbone is a singer and guitarist specializing in interpretations of early 20th-century music, including jazz and blues standards and Tin Pan Alley classics....
, and Cat Power
Cat Power
Charlyn Marie Marshall , also known as Chan Marshall or by her stage name Cat Power, is an American singer/songwriter and occasional actress and model. Cat Power was originally the name of Marshall's first band, but has come to refer to her musical projects with various backing bands...
.
The song appears in a 1963 episode of The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
, "The Darlings Are Coming", featuring The Dillards
The Dillards
The Dillards are an American bluegrass band from Salem, Missouri, consisting of Douglas Flint "Doug" Dillard The Dillards are an American bluegrass band from Salem, Missouri, consisting of Douglas Flint "Doug" Dillard The Dillards are an American bluegrass band from Salem, Missouri, consisting of...
. In the show the band is called the Darling family and performs a rendition of "Salty Dog" with Andy Griffith himself on guitar.
History
In his Library of Congress interviews, Jelly Roll MortonJelly Roll Morton
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe , known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, bandleader and composer....
recalled a three-piece string band led by Bill Johnson playing the number to great acclaim, probably before 1910.
Curly Seckler
Curly Seckler
-Formative Years:Born John Ray Sechler to Carrie and Calvin Sechler in China Grove, NC December 25th, 1919, "Curly" was destined to have a huge contribution on Bluegrass music. In his youth and formative years, Curly learned to play music from his parents. His father, Calvin, played old time...
, who played with Flatt and Scruggs and with Charlie Monroe
Charlie Monroe
Charlie Monroe was an American country and bluegrass music guitarist.-Biography:Monroe was born on his family's farm in Rosine, Kentucky; he was the older brother of the mandolin player Bill Monroe. His sister Bertha also played guitar, and brother Birch, fiddle...
, was interviewed by Frank Stasio on the December 26, 2008 edition of The State of Things
The State of Things
The State of Things is the second EP by British rock band Turin Brakes, and their first release for Source Records. It was released on 7" vinyl and CD. The songs on the EP were taken from the recording sessions for The Optimist LP...
. Seckler was asked about the origin of the name "Salty Dog" and replied that he had been told that it was the name of a locally produced soft drink.
Lyrics
As with many folk songs, the lyrics can vary massively. Some of the lyrics were published as early as 1911 by Howard Odum in his article "Folk-Song and Folk-Poetry as Found in the Secular Songs of the Southern Negroes" in The Journal of American Folklore.While the song has a number of standard verses, it has also lent itself to some invented verses that are meant to be humorous, such as I like sugar, I like grits / I like girls with great big eyes and Two old maids just a-laying on the sand / Each one wishin' that the other was a man.
One of the older versions runs:
Oh won’t you let me be your salty dog,
I don’t want to be your man at all,
You salty dog, you salty dog.
Oh honey baby, let me be your salty dog,
Salty dog, oh you salty dog.
There's just one thing that worries my mind,
All of these browns and none is mine,
You salty dog, you salty dog.
The scaredest I've been in my life
Was when Uncle Bud nearly saw me kiss his wife,
You salty dog, you salty dog.
Lil' fish big fish swimmin' in the water,
Come on here and give me my quarter,
You salty dog, you salty dog.
Like lookin' for a needle in the sand,
Tryin' to find a gal that ain't got no man,
You salty dog, you salty dog.
God made a woman and he made her funny,
Lips 'round her mouth sweeter than honey,
You salty dog, you salty dog.
External links
- Public domain lyrics and MP3 of a Creative Commons-licensedCreative Commons licensesCreative Commons licenses are several copyright licenses that allow the distribution of copyrighted works. The licenses differ by several combinations that condition the terms of distribution. They were initially released on December 16, 2002 by Creative Commons, a U.S...
performance of the song by Roger McGuinnRoger McGuinnJames Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...
at Folk DenFolk DenFolk Den is a folk music website founded in 1995 by Roger McGuinn, former front man of The Byrds. Hosted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's ibiblio, the site is intended to preserve and promote folk music and offers a new folk song on a monthly basis...
. - MP3 of a public domain performance from Cumberland Books.