Today’d post was written by Paul.
Caleb Dykes inadvertently suggested “Old Slew Foot” for the old timey Tuesday series. We were sitting in Dunkin’ Donuts with Doyle, swapping music stories and enjoying donuts and coffee, when I happened to mention Jim and Jesse McReynolds. Caleb asked, “Didn’t they do that song about the bear stealing everything?” I asked, “You mean this one?” and started singing the first verse. Caleb laughed and said, “Yep, that’s it.” I hadn’t thought of the song in a long time, but it is a really fun one.
I like J & J’s version as well as Porter Waggoner’s version. I wouldn’t be surprised if Grandpa Jones also performed it somewhere along the line. As Pap would say, if he did, I bet he tore it up! 🙂
Something about the tall tale aspect of the song seems to suit Porter well, but my favorite version is by the Late great Johnny Horton. I like Johnny’s version because of the harmonica playing, the snare drum, and of course Johnny’s incredible rockabilly vocal. His recording also features an odd, unidentified instrument. I think it could be a jaw harp, but if it is, someone was playing it differently and sparingly. It only hits a handful of licks in the whole recording. It might also be just a single string on an electric guitar being sort of jerked and picked at the same time to imitate a jaw harp.
Howard Hausey and Eddie Manney co-wrote the song. I liked it from the first time I heard it. I don’t know for sure, but I always assumed that “slew foot” probably meant that the bear had one foot that was turned in or maybe one foot that dragged on the ground (indicated by his tracks). I couldn’t find any such explanation or definition online because “slew foot” is apparently a popular hockey term for a dirty play, in which one player deliberately trips another.
If the bear had one bad foot, that makes his high speed running and jumping even more impressive!
I’ve always heard that some bears can run up to 40 mph for short distances, which is comparable to the speed of race horses. I used to hear that scientists couldn’t understand why bulky bears could run so fast. Apparently, they now attribute it to some special factors concerning their limb structure.
I’m probably over thinking it, but something about this song’s psychology always fascinated me. Based on the last line of the chorus, is the song suggesting that the speaker himself is in fact responsible for all the thefts, even though he claims to be a victim?
Because the song feels like a tall tale (whopper if you will), I decided to increase the bear’s speed a little as the song progressed and to increase the distance covered by his jumps.
Matt and Austin both recently caught some images of large black bears on their trail cameras just a few hundred yards from their houses (which are close to my house), so when Caleb mentioned the song, I knew I had to sing it, if nothing else to clear the melody and topic from my mind.
I watched some humdinger bear videos on YouTube, including one where a black bear fell out of a tree onto a trampoline in someone’s yard. You can see Johnny Horton’s recording here. More recently, Billy Strings has performed the song. You can see Billy’s band doing it on the channel of our friends, Less Than Face Productions, an excellent channel to see great live, acoustic performances by lots of great artists. Thanks for watching!
Paul
Original singles released on Spotify.
Shepherd of My Soul (Album released in 2016).
Last night’s video: Trees Fall On The Corn & The Driveway.
i used to sing this to my kids when they were babies, and would tickle their belly and back for the big round the middle and broad across the rump lines and grab their toes for the little pig bit…
that brought back memories and made me smile
Love a good, fun, toe tapping tune! Paul did great singing and playing it!
Great job Paul! Keep doing what you’re doing and Thank you for that!
This was a fun song. I wouldn’t want that bear chasing me!
That was just so good! I really enjoyed it! Thanks for always sharing some history, too! So catchy!
I remember my dad telling me that old slew foot must have got one foot caught in a bear trap/snare. That’s just what I assumed happened to him! Funny song that I remember from being young!
I knew from my first time hearing it a long long time ago that the song wasn’t about bears at all and that the author was actually telling on himself. “Some folks say he looks a lot like me” is because he was me. I look a lot like myself too.
I think that the increase in the number of bear sightings are because there are cameras everywhere now. They were always there, lurking in the darkness, hoping to find something good to eat in your trash can. No, they don’t want to eat you, they just want your leftovers.
Loved you singing the song and I immediately thought of Marjorie Rankings because the bear in that classic story is named Old Slew Foot. Love your music and your devotion to your mother. Keep the songs coming!
As always, Paul, enjoyed your guitar and singing. Brought back memories of our bear, that was attacking garbage cans. I live in a remote area of California, which has trash service. . We had to get a bear proof container that locks. One night I was in my kitchen and heard a ruckus. I was washing an iron skillet and always make a loud racket. Doing dishes isn’t my favorite chore. I ran to my living room window just in time to see the bear’s big behind exiting down the side concrete stairs. I was surprised to see him using the stairs. He has thrown my container down on the ground, trying to open it. Not sure if I was making a lot of noise in the kitchen or frustration made him leave. It took a heave hoe to right my container, a 90 gallon plastic one. Haven’t seen him since. A neighbor also reported walking out back and seeing a bear with cubs sometime ago. The mother sent the cubs up a tree and stood waiting for my neighbor to proceed. Luckily the neighbor was far enough away to make a safe retreat. He replaced his chow dog with an Akita, which is supposed to help in taking down bears. Because my neighbor is a self employed businessman, and the Akita grew so big he took him to live with his mom in Florida, where he has more playmates. I used to dog sit Koji and miss that big bear/dog.
First time I’ve heard this song I love little tunes like this! Reminds me of one of my favorites of Johnny cash – Lumberjack!
Great guitar playing
Sunday blessings Paul & Granny. A fun song to start the day – one I recall from back in the day sung by Johnny Horton. Every year my husband and I used to spend a couple of weeks every fall camped by a wide shallow river just to watch the black bears catching and filling up on the ocean salmon as they came in to spawn. It was quite the ‘show’ that was up close and in real time. Over the years we got so we could tell some of them apart by marking or their build, walk, etc. (they really don’t all look alike) and we even named some we’d see each year. We ‘followed’ a mama who had a single cub one year, then twins and triplets another year. We watched some of the first year on own cubs learning to fend for themselves, and their sad and often failed attempts to catch a salmon, left resorting to eating another bears ‘leftovers’ that they could find. Bears sure can move fast for their size! And so very stealthily!
Haven’t heard that in years. Fun fact, part of that song was used in the old Country Bear Jamboree attraction at Disneyland. My family and I always enjoyed that attraction and were sorry when they replaced it. Thanks for the memories.
Paul you do such a fine job of explaining a song and its origins and about the people that sing them, you put so much research into it. You have a smooth clear voice as did pap I love to listen to you both. Have the 5 of you pap, granny, Steve, Tipper and yourself ever sang together I think that would be wonderful to hear. Thanks again for sharing all the knowledge. I was so surprised last night when I saw Tipper had a post on a Saturday night that doesn’t happen, I hate so bad it layed the corn down they were looking so forward to it but like Tipper said better the garden than the houses or the shed. Blessings and prayers always to granny
Tammye, we never did sing together. Glad you enjoyed the song. Thank you !
Good morning. That was a fun song this morning. Great job! We had a bear smash our garbage can looking for something to eat a few months back. It didn’t find much, and we haven’t seen it since. I have seen a couple over the years in the woods while walking out our road. It always scares me…but it scares them too.
Around here, we don’t “chase him up the gully”…..we “run him up the holler.” And we don’t “tree him in the well”….we “tree him in the hell” (as in rhododendron hell).
One of our family’s favorite ways of singing the song – and this is especially true when they’re kids – is to end the chorus with “some folks say he looks a lot like”….and then name someone in the family. At the rehearsal dinner when our youngest son got married, all of the family (but him) sang Slewfoot and named him on the second verse and his wife to be on the last verse.
Now tell me, can you think of a more elegant way to welcome a body into the family? (although she may still be wondering about what she got herself into;-)
What is a rhododendron hell?
Paul–Although I haven’t heard it used in that context in a long time, in my younger years old-time mountain folks used the description “slew-footed” to describe someone who had a club foot or dragged one foot when walking.
Have not seen one here – yet. But I’ve lived the comeback of deer, the arrival of coyote and groundhogs so could be any time now. They can cover a lot of ground roaming. Lets hope they don’t show up in the remaining corn of the big garden. You do have an amazing knowledge of country music from all angles. Just with one sideways reference you come up with the song title, who sang it and probably when. A saying I used to hear was “you could write a book”. Or, more like, several. As to the suggestion in the song that it wasn’t a bear at all …. well I reckon they have had blame that was not theirs. Now if the word was ” acted” instead of “looks”, we’d know.
Ron, like you in my teenage years if you hunted it was squirrel, rabbits or birds (bobwhite quail.) Deer were brought into my area during the 70’s. Turkeys were also being brought along about the same time. Now it is deer, turkey or squirrel, very few rabbit rabbit hunters. Rabbits are few and far between and quail no longer exist. There are also coyotes and armadillos (possum on a half shell) are being to show up. A bear was hit and killed on the main highway in my area a year or so ago.
Groundhogs and kudzu are often found together. Groundhogs find shelter in the kudzu’s vines and feast on its new growth. Doesn’t seem to slow the kudzu down at all though. There has never been a shortage of groundhogs around here nor kudzu.
I have never heard that song before. It’s a humdinger! Love it
The song didn’t ring a bell till I heard you sing it, then I remembered it! Probably Johnny Horton, but maybe another version.
Indeed there’s lots of artists that have recorded songs about this tall tale slewfoot, but your picking and singing is right up there with them!
Have a great Sunday!
Thanks Paul, great job. This brought back some pleasant memories of the Porter Wagner Show.
thank you Paul
I had heard many different ones sing this song, as usual you do a good job. More and more bears are being seen in my area, I guess all of the so called ‘development “is driving them out of their mountain homes. I remember back during the spring reading about a bear falling out of a tree on one of the hunters killing the hunter. I think it was either in Virginia or Pennsylvania.