Crawdad Song

Folksong originating in the southern United States and first published in a collection of songs in 1917 by Cecil Sharp. This song is apparently a variation of an older traditional work, “Sweet Thing”, which is of African-American origins. “Crawdad Song” is collected as number 4853 in the Roud Folksong Index. The tune to “Crawdad Song” is used for several other folksongs.   This song was performed at southern “play parties”, where dancing was generally not allowed for religious reasons. This song evolved from Anglo-American play-party traditions and African-American blues. Workers building levees to prevent the flooding of the Mississippi River in the South may have been among the first to sing it.  *Sometimes “African American roots” means that the song came exclusively from African Americans, but often that phrase means that while the exact origin of certain American songs can’t be determined, those songs have floating verses and structural patterns that are associated with African American songs. Also the term “African American roots” can mean that songs such as “The Crawdad song” which is categorized as “American folk songs” reflect the extensive musical cross-pollination that occurred between between African Americans and Anglo-Americans during that time, previously, and since.