Gilbert had written the lyrics for the 1912 song " Waiting for the Robert E. Lee" (for which Lewis F. Muir wrote the music). In "Down Yonder," Gilbert brought back four of the characters from the earlier song — Daddy, Mammy, Ephram and Sammy. However, the lyrics of "Down Yonder" are seldom heard because the song has usually been performed as an instrumental, especially on the piano or organ.
"Down Yonder" is an expression meaning "down there" in a geographic sense, referring to a place that is considerably lower in elevation or farther south. In the sense of the song's lyrics, it means "in the
American South
The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
."
Recorded versions
Before 1951
Recordings by
Ernest Hare
Ernest Dudley Hare (5 December 1900, Highgate, London - 1981, London) was an English stage and film actor
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional med ...
&
Billy Jones, and by the
Peerless Quartet
The Peerless Quartet was an American vocal group that recorded in the early years of the twentieth century. They formed to record for Columbia Records, where they were credited as the Columbia Quartet or Columbia Male Quartet. From about 1907, wh ...
were very popular in 1921.
In 1934, the instrumental version by
Gid Tanner
James Gideon "Gid" Tanner (June 6, 1885 – May 13, 1960) was an American old-time fiddler and one of the earliest stars of what would come to be known as country music. His band, the Skillet Lickers, was one of the most innovative and influ ...
& His
Skillet Lickers
The Skillet Lickers were an old-time band from Georgia, United States.
When Gid Tanner teamed up with blind guitarist Riley Puckett and signed to Columbia in 1924, they created the label's earliest so-called "hillbilly" recording. Gid Tanner fo ...
sold over one million copies, and was awarded a
gold disc
Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
by the
RIAA
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...
.
1951
Versions that charted in
1951
Events
January
* January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950).
* January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...
included those by
Del Wood
Polly Adelaide Hendricks Hazelwood (February 22, 1920 – October 3, 1989), known professionally as Del Wood, was an American pianist.Whitburn, Joel (1996). ''The Billboard Book of Top 40 Country Hits'', p.366. .
Early life
Hendricks was bo ...
,
Joe "Fingers" Carr
Joe or JOE may refer to:
Arts
Film and television
* ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle
* ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage
* ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971
* ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...
,
Champ Butler
Champ Clark Butler (December 21, 1926 – March 8, 1992) was an American popular music singer who had several ''Billboard'' singles chart hits in the 1950s, and recorded primarily for Columbia Records.Original data: Social Security Applications ...
,
Lawrence (Piano Roll) Cook, the
Freddy Martin
Frederick Alfred Martin (December 9, 1906 – September 30, 1983) was an American bandleader and tenor saxophonist.
Early life
Freddy Martin was born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Raised largely in an orphanage and by various relatives, ...
orchestra, by the Frank Petty Trio, and
Ethel Smith.
On the
Cash Box charts, where all versions were combined, the song got even higher, making No. 1 for one week, December 15, 1951.
After 1951
*1960: An instrumental version by
Johnny and The Hurricanes
Johnny and the Hurricanes were an American instrumental rock band from Toledo, Ohio, United States. They specialized in adapting popular traditional melodies into the rock idiom, using organ and saxophone as their featured instruments. Between ...
and released on
Bigtop Records
Bigtop Records was an American record label started by music executive Johnny Bienstock (brother of Freddy Bienstock) and the major music publisher Hill & Range Music and was co-owned along with Big Top Record Distributors (sic). Hit artists inc ...
as catalog number 45-3036, backed with "Sheba". The record charted at 48 on the ''Billboard'' chart, and reached number 8 in the UK.
*1973:
Bill Monroe
William Smith "Bill" Monroe (; September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter, who created the bluegrass music genre. Because of this, he is often called the " Father of Bluegrass".
The genre take ...
& Friends, on ''Bill Monroe's Brown County Jamboree''
*1975:
Willie Nelson's sister
Bobbie, on the piano, for his album ''
The Red-Headed Stranger''.
*1975, 1989: Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys.
References
;Bibliography
*
{{authority control
1921 songs
1951 singles
Songs written by L. Wolfe Gilbert
Del Wood songs