This is just a cool old-time tune. Nothing too complicated, but it has a great melody. According to Fiddler’s Companion, there are three tunes by this name, that are related but not the same. I play it as a two part tune in D – AABB, and it’s not the same tune as Walk Along John. If any of you know more about this tune than I, feel free to share what you know as a comment.
Rabbit, Where’s Your Mammy according to Fiddler’s Companion
RABBIT, WHERE’S YOUR MAMMY? [1] AKA and see “Little Rabbit.” Old-Time, Breakdown. G Major. Standard tuning. AABB. Source for notated version: Stuart Williams [Phillips]. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; pg. 192.
RABBIT WHERE’S YOUR MAMMY [2]. AKA and see “Walk Along John to Kansas.” USA, Arizona. A Major. AEae tuning. AABB. Some similarities to versions #1 and #3. Source for notated version: Kenner Kartchner (Arizona) via Larry Shumway [Phillips]. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; pg. 193.
RABBIT WHERE’S YOUR MAMMY [3]. Old-Time, Breakdown. D Major. Standard tuning. AABBCC. Some similarities to versions #1 and #2. The version printed in Fiddler Magazine is a contest-fiddling version by Hollis Taylor. Source for notated version: Jimmy Don Bates [Phillips]. Fiddler Magazine, vol. 14, No. 4, 2007; pgs. 32-33. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; pg. 192. Rounder 0437, Noel Scott – “Traditional Fiddle Music of the Ozarks, vol. 3: Down in the Border Counties.”
Check out the mudcat cafe for lyrics.
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=72773
First heard this from Kenny Hall, a blind mandolinist/fiddler from Fresno. It was a much more complicated version with about five parts. Kenny claimed that it was written by the Crockett Family, a musical family from Kentucky who moved to Southern California in the 1930s and appeared in some movies back then. He also says that "Little Rabbit" was written for a Bugs Bunny cartoon. The Crocketts later retired to Fresno, about 200 miles north of L.A., which is where Kenny still lives; this is where he probably met the family and learned the tune.
Did you ever hear RABBIT UP THE GUM STUMP?
I thought it was POSSUM UP A GUM STUMP? I have a t-shirt from The Fiddler Magazine with a picture of a fiddling possum!
Love;y musical performance !