Four Cent Cotton
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"Four Cent Cotton" is an old-time song and breakdown in 4/4 time and C Major.<br> The parts are played ABB (Brody) or AABB (Phillips).<br> The tune is similar to "Sally Goodin'" The title is probably a reference to moonshine<br> liquor or "white lightnin'" as it is sometimes called. If the yeast is not properly<br> settled before distilling, the whisky will be cloudy.<br> The melody was one of those cited in the Fayette Northwest Alabamian of August 29th, 1929,<br> as likely to be played at an upcoming fiddlers' convention.<br> It was recorded twice (1928, 1932) by the north Georgia band The<br> Skillet Lickers, which included fiddler Lowe Stokes and was also re-recorded in 1930 by<br> Stokes with his band The Swamp Rooters (which also included Bert Layne on fiddle and<br> Arthur Tanner on banjo among others).<br> Words set to the tune go:<br> Goin' up the road, whoopin' and a-hollerin',<br> I got drunk on four cent cotton;<br> Woke up this morning, feeling kind of rotten,<br> I'd been drunk on four cent cotton.<br> The sources for the notated version are The Skillet Lickers [Brody, Kaufman] and<br> Lowe Stokes [Milliner & Koken, Phillips].<br> It was printed in Brody's Fiddler's Fakebook (1983),<br> Kaufman's Beginning Old Time Fiddle (1977),<br> Milliner & Koken's Milliner-Koken Collection of American Fiddle Tunes (2011) and<br> Phillips' Traditional American Fiddle Tunes (1994).<br> It was recorded by The Skillet Lickers (1932) (78 RPM),<br> The Skillet Lickers on Old Time Tunes (1965 reissue),<br> Lowe Stokes' Georgia Potlickers on Hell Broke Loose in Georgia (orig. rec. 1930) and<br> Lowe Stokes, vol. 1: 1927-1930 (1999 reissue).<br> <br>
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