ARKANSAS TRAVELER
...Pa's fiddle sang merrily to itself. - It sang
'Money Musk,' and ' The Red Heifer,' 'The Devil's
Dream,' and 'Arkansas Traveler'... -- Little House
in the Big Woods, Chapter 4, "Christmas"
But Pa began to play 'The Arkansas Traveler,' and
everybody began to clap in time to the music. So
Grandma bowed to them all and did a few steps by
herself. She could dance as prettily as any of
them. -- Little House in the Big Woods,
Chapter 8, "Dance at Grandpa's"
'You're the fiddlin'est fool that ever I see!' Mr.
Edwards shouted admiringly to Pa. He didn't stop dancing. Pa didn't
stop playing. He played 'Money Musk' and 'Arkansas Traveler,' 'Irish
Washerwoman' and the 'Devil's Hornpipe.' -- Little House on
the Prairie, Chapter 5, "The House on the Prairie"
"Arkansas
Traveler" is a traditional American folk song which tells
the tale of a man who becomes lost in the Arkansas wilderness in
the 1840s. His humorous encounter with a back country squatter produced
a story which was developed into a stage play, famous from South
to North in the 1850s. The lyrics are usually credited to Sanford
C. Faulkner (1803-1874), an Arkansas farmer and politician,
and is said to tell the story, which happened when Faulkner met
a fiddler while traveling through Pope County on a political mission.
Edward Payson Washburn (1831-1860), an Arkansas artist, painted a picture of the story, which was lithographed and widely distributed by Currier and Ives.
The tune was popular with fiddlers, who could improvise the tune to reflect their skill level. In 1987, it became the official state historic song of Arkansas, to lyrics written in 1947.
Charles Ingalls plays "Arkansas Traveler" during the only two episodes in the "Little House"® books which involve dancing by members outside the Ingalls family: for the dance at Grandpa's in Little House in the Big Woods (most notably while his own mother and brother enter into a jigging competition), and while Mr. Edwards dances for the family in Little House on the Prairie.
In her handwritten Pioneer Girl manuscript, Laura Ingalls Wilder included "Arkansas Traveler" as one of the songs Pa played on the fiddle in the Big Woods of Wisconsin and on the way back to Walnut Grove, Minnesota, from Burr Oak, Iowa. However, in the existing manuscripts for Little House in the Big Woods, she mentioned no specific songs in connection with the dance at Grandpa's, and no jigging scene is included. "Arkansas Traveler" doesn't appear in the manuscript for Little House on the Prairie, either. Here, Wilder used "The Old Gray Mare."
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ARKANSAS TRAVELER (words by David Stevens, circa 1850)
1. Oh, once upon a time in Arkansas An old man sat in his little cabin door, And fiddled at a tune that he liked to hear, A jolly old tune that he played by ear. It was raining hard but the fiddler didn't care, He sawed away at the popular air. Though his roof tree leaked like a waterfall That didn't seem to bother the man at all.
2. A traveler was riding by that day, And stopped to hear him practicing away The cabin was afloat and his feet were wet, But still the old man didn't seem to fret. So the stranger said, "Now the way it seems to me, You'd better mend your roof,"said he. But the old man said, as he played away, "I couldn't mend it now, it's a rainy day."
3. The traveler replied, "That's all quite true, But this, I think, is the thing for you to do- Get busy on a day that is fair and bright Then pitch the old roof till it's good and tight." But the old man kept playing at his reel, And tapped the ground with his leathery heel. "Get along," said he, "for you give me a pain. My cabin never leaks when it doesn't rain." |
ARKANSAS TRAVELER (state historic song of Arkansas)
1. On a lonely road quite long ago, A trav'ler trod with fiddle and a bow; While rambling thru the country rich and grand, He quickly sensed the magic and the beauty of the land.
[chorus] For the wonder state we'll sing a song, And lift our voices loud and strong. For the wonder state we'll shout hurrah! And praise the opportunities we find in Arkansas
2. Many years have passed, the trav'lers gay, Repeat the tune along the highway; And every voice that sings the glad refrain Re-echoes from the mountains to the fields of growing grain.
Use the navigation bar above to listen to "Arkansas Traveler" - midi sequence by John Renfro Davis. If you do not see the midi player above, click HERE to listen.
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