I Don’t Love Nobody – Fiddle Tune a Day – Day 31

One of the challenges of recording a new fiddle tune every day is that I have a limited amount of time to make it happen. I try to get the recording piece completed in 10 minutes or less and the rest of the video editing, posting and writing done in the rest of an hour. This means that most of these tunes are recorded in 3 takes or less, and that if it’s not as good as I would like, then tomorrow I have another chance. On this tune there were a couple of verses that I really like that I forgot to play. I wanted to give props to Herman Johnson with a verse I learned from him, and while I did give Dick Barrett a reference in a spot, I wanted to play the melody of it like he does, and I didn’t think of it until after I called it good enough, so it didn’t make it in.

Doing a fiddle tune a day is an adventure in living each day in the moment and being willing to live with imperfection, being pushed out of my comfort zone and putting myself out there in a bigger and bolder way. Thanks for coming along for the ride!

I really didn’t think it would be so hard to find information on this tune since it’s such a common song in contest fiddling. If I recall correctly, it was the most common fiddle tune played at the National Fiddle Contest (Weiser) for a number of years. And, there are a lot of songs about Loving Nobody that are more popular in the world that is not fiddling.

Learn to play this tune on fiddle here

I Don’t Love Nobody according to the Fiddler’s Companion

I DON’T LOVE NOBODY [1]. AKA – “I Don’t Want to Get Married,” “I Love a Nobody.” Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA; Texas, Arkansas, Georgia. C Major. Standard tuning. AAB (Phillips): AABB (Brody): ABC (Beiswenger/McCann). This popular tune has been covered by many old‑time fiddlers; Charles Wolfe (1983) remarks that it was issued by no less than six labels in the early 1930’s, and prior to that it was recorded by Georgia fiddler Gid Tanner (1924), Earl Johnson (1927), and the Dixie String Band (1924). One early recording, by the Red Headed Fiddlers (with A.L. “Red” Steely on fiddle and Red Graham on banjo), resulted in the song being released as “Fatal Wedding.” The tune was recorded for the Library of Congress by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph from Ozark Mountain fiddlers in the early 1940’s, and 20^th century Ozarks fiddler Art Galbraith noted that he heard many fiddlers play the tune (see Rounder 0133). Lyrics to the melody begin:

***

I was born in Kentucky, lived there all of my life

Thought I’d better be lucky, never had no wife

I once thought I’d get married, I asked a little girl to wed

But when I asked her to marry me, this is what she said

***

Chorus:

I don’t want to get married, always want to be free

I don’t love nobody, nobody loves me.

All they want is my money, they don’t care for me

I don’t want to get married, I just want to be free

***

However, the tune appears to be derived from a ragtime song by minstrel entertainer Lew Sully, who may have adapted it from an older song. Sully (born Charles Sullivan, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1862) copyrighted it in 1896, and it was printed with a cover of Sully in blackface, and, indeed, Mr. Sully had a long career performing in various minstrel troupes in the Midwest and East Coast. The lyrics are considered provocative in modern times, and, in fact Sully seems to have authored similar songs with racist messages (“Hesitate, Mr. N….r, Hesitate”—see sketch in Rice’s Monarchs of Minstrelsy, 1909, pg. 311).

I Don’t Love Nobody Lyrics

Well I don’t nobody, nobody loves me
All they wan’t my money, they don’t care for me
I want to live single, happy and carefree
I don’t love nobody, nobody loves me

One day I went out walking, walking down Johnson street
I met a little old lady, she smiled at me so sweet
Said hello my honey , how are you today
Just as I started to kiss her, these words I heard her say

Lord, I don’t love nobody, nobody loves me
All they wants my money , they don’t care for me
I want to live single, happy and carefree
I don’t love nobody, nobody loves me

Next day I went out walking, walking down Johnson street
I met the same little lady, she was dressed up so near
She smiled at me and said hello, how are you today
Tipped my hat and said hello and journeyed on my way

Cause I don’t love nobody, nobody loves me
All they wants my money , they don’t care for me
I want to live single, happy and carefree
I don’t love nobody, nobody loves me