Possum up a Gum Stump is one of the first “Real” fiddle breakdowns that I teach my students. It’s not really complicated, but it’s easy to have some fun with it.
Sometimes I play a tune by request, and today the request belongs to Linda Relph.
I don’t really know much about it, but I bet fiddler’s companion does…
Get Sheet Music for Possum Up a Gum Stump
Learn to play Possum Up a Gum Stump here
Possum Up a Gum Stump according to Fiddler’s Companion
POSSUM UP A GUM STUMP(, COONIE IN THE HOLLOW) [1]. AKA and see “Off/Going to California [1],” “Whiskey You’re the Devil,” “Whiskey in the Jar [1],” “Lexington,” “Old Towser,” “Gypsy Hornpipe [4],” “Fireman’s Reel,” “Buttermilk and Cider.” Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA; Alabama, north Georgia, Arkansas. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune was mentioned in chronicles before the year 1830 (Mark Wilson). It was cited as having been played in a 1914 Atlanta, Ga. fiddlers’ contest, and listed in the Northwest Alabamian of August 29, 1929, as one of the tunes likely to be played at an upcoming fiddlers’ convention. The title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. See also related tune family under “Dubuque,” and the related “Green Back Dollar.”
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Possum up a gum stump, coonie in the holler,
Little gal at our house, fat as she can waller.
Saddle up the old nag, martingale and collar,
Fetch her down to my house, I’ll give you half a dollar. (Ford)
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Charles Wolfe, in notes to Thomas Talley’s Negro Folk Rhymes (1991), says the first two stanzas of the song below were collected from both black and white sources, although the last two stanzas are rather rare:
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‘Possum up de gum stump,
Dat raccon in de holler;
Twis’ ‘im out, an’ git ‘im down,
An’ I’ll gin you a half a doller.
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‘Possum up de gum stump,
Yes, cooney in de holler;
A pretty gal down my house
Jes as fat as she can waller.
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‘Possum up de gum stump,
His jaws is black an’ dirty;
To come an’ kiss you, pretty gal,
I’d run lak a goobler tucky.
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‘Possum up de gum stump,
A good man’s hard to fin’;
You’d better love me, pretty gal,
You’ll git de yudder kin’.
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