Po' Ole Tuckyhoe
Marybird McAllister
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Oh The riggage and the ruggage in the dwellin's down below Is called by the Irish the po' ole Tuckyhoe. When they go to eat the tables all bare Nothin' up on it but a stewed up old hare A hen and a half and a hoecake of dough Stand around grinnin' the po' ole Tuckyhoe. While they were eatin' ole hare he passed by Up and after him and away they did tear Oh, It's now we're in for a seven mile chase For that is the way of the Tuckyhoe race. At last ole hare fall up at his digs For a Tuckyhoe can run at least seven licks Now we've got him I'll avow and declare Did you ever see a finer and a fatter ole hare? They take him on home and off with his skin And build up a fire and there they'll put him in He'll hardly have time to warm or to thaw Before it's let us have him, we'll eat him done or raw. When they go to bake, the baking of the bread They'll build up a fire as high as your head They'll rake out the ashes, throw in the dough Stand around grinnin' the po' ole Tuckyhoe. When they go to milk, they milk it in a gourd Set it in the chimney corner, cover it with a board For that's all the way 'at I ever seen 'em do When I were down in the Tuckyhoe crew. |
Every region of the country has its songs, tales and jokes deprecating folks from a different place or race, territory or congregation. Mrs. McAllister who sang this song explained, "Folks from over in the valley called us back here on this side of the mountain, Tuckyhoes." Robert Shiflett explained that the land on the eastern slope was so rocky and poor that the farmers there have to work incessantly to survive. They had no time for the social amenities. If an outsider came to visit he would find the natives busy scratching at the sides of the hills trying to make a crop. Not only did the native fail to pause to visit but the outsider was also directed to "Take a hoe." Probably a more realistic explanation is the 'tuckahoe' is an Indian word for a small root vegetable; thus the more prosperous valley dwellers referred to their Tuckyhoe neighbors as "small potatoes."
©1993 George Foss
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