Shortnin' Bread

Quality 0.50 · 1 view · Updated 2 months ago

Traditional song

title: "Shortnin' Bread" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["american-folk-songs", "poetry-by-james-whitcomb-riley", "the-tractors-songs", "mississippi-john-hurt-songs", "1900-songs", "american-children's-songs", "the-beach-boys-songs", "brian-wilson", "the-beach-boys-bootleg-recordings", "bread-in-culture", "songs-about-food-and-drink"] description: "Traditional song" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortnin'_Bread" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Traditional song ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox song"]

FieldValue
nameShortnin' Bread
cover"Short'nin' Bread", 1928.png
alt1928 sheet music cover for an arrangement of "Short'nin' Bread" by Jacques Wolfe
caption1928 sheet music cover for an arrangement of "Short'nin' Bread" by Jacques Wolfe.
written
published1900
writerJames Whitcomb Riley
::

::callout[type=note] the song ::

| name = Shortnin' Bread | cover = "Short'nin' Bread", 1928.png | description = | alt = 1928 sheet music cover for an arrangement of "Short'nin' Bread" by Jacques Wolfe | caption = 1928 sheet music cover for an arrangement of "Short'nin' Bread" by Jacques Wolfe. | type = | written = | published = 1900 | writer = James Whitcomb Riley | composer = | lyricist =

"Shortnin' Bread" (also spelled "Shortenin' Bread", "Short'nin' Bread", or "Sho'tnin' Bread") is an American folk song dating back at least to 1900, when James Whitcomb Riley published it as a poem. While there is speculation that Riley may have based his poem on an earlier African-American plantation song, no definitive evidence of such an origin has yet been uncovered. A "collected" version of the song was published by E. C. Perrow in 1915. It is song number 4209 in the Roud Folk Song Index.

Shortening bread refers to a bread made of corn meal, with or without flour and lard shortening.

Origins

The origin of "Shortnin' Bread" is obscure. Despite speculation of African-American roots, it is possible that it may have originated with Riley as a parody of an African-American plantation song, in the minstrel or coon song traditions popular at the time.

Riley titled the song "A Short'nin' Bread Song—Pieced Out", and wrote the first verse as:

Rake de coals out hot an' red Putt on de oven an' putt on de led Mammy's gwiner cook som short'nin' bread}}

The dialect rendered into common English would be:

Rake those coals out, hot and red Put on the oven and put on the lid Mommy's going to cook some short'nin' bread}}

The verse includes: Blackbird own de whole plowed groun' Corn is de grain as I've hearn said Dat's de blackbird's short'nin' bread}}

Another pair of verses may be later, and exist in several versions:

Two was sick and the other 'most dead Send for the doctor and the doctor said "feed them children on short'nin' bread"

When those children, sick in bed, heard that talk 'bout short'nin' bread. They popped up well, to dance and sing, skipping around and cut the pigeon wing.}}

In some versions there are two children instead of three – and the "other" either "bump'd his head" or "was dead". The first does not quite scan. The children (or "chillun") were once referred to by one of several racist terms.

Other verses include: Mama's gonna make a little short'nin' bread That ain't all she's gonna do, Mama's gonna make a little coffee too}}

slipped my pockets full of short'nin' bread. I stole the skillet, I stole the led, I stole the girl who makes short'nin' bread}}

They caught me with the girl who makes short'nin' bread. I paid six dollars for the skillet, six dollars for the led, Spent six months in jail eating short'nin' bread.}}

Reese DuPree composed a version recorded in 1927.

Folk version

Titled "Shortened Bread", E. C. Perrow published the first folk version of this song in 1915, which he collected from East Tennessee in 1912. The folk version of the song—as with Riley's—does not have any distinct theme, but consists of various floating lyrics, some relating to "shortnin' bread", some not. The traditional chorus associated with the folk song is: Mammy's little baby loves short'nin' bread (rpt.)}}

Other renditions

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/OldJoeClark-PrettyLittleWidder-ShorteninBread.gif" caption="Version by [[Clayton McMichen"] ::

The Beach Boys version

| filename = Shortenin' Bread - The Beach Boys.ogg | title = The Beach Boys with American Spring – "Shortenin' Bread" (Adult/Child bootleg) | description = Wilson's earliest attempted recording of the song, 1973 "Shortenin' Bread" was recorded by the American rock band the Beach Boys numerous times. Only one version has seen official release, as the final track on their 1979 album L.A. (Light Album). The band's principal songwriter Brian Wilson was reportedly obsessed with the song, having recorded more than a dozen versions of the tune. Beach Boy Al Jardine speculated that Wilson's obsession with the song may have begun after co-writing the song "Ding Dang" with the Byrds' Roger McGuinn in the early 1970s.

References

Bibliography

  • Eitel, Edmund Henry (ed.) The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley, Vol 5. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company (1913).
  • Perrow, E.C. "Songs and Rhymes from the South." The Journal of American Folklore, 28:108 (April - Jun. 1915) 129–190.
  • Wade, Stephen. The Beautiful Music all Around Us: Field Recordings and the American Experience. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2012.
  • Waltz, Robert B; David G. Engle. "Shortenin' Bread". The Traditional Ballad Index: An Annotated Bibliography of the Folk Songs of the English-Speaking World. Hosted by California State University, Fresno, Folklore, 2007.

References

  1. Wade, Stephen. ''The Beautiful Music all Around Us: Field Recordings and the American Experience''. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2012. p. 93.
  2. ""Minstrel show : American Theater"".
  3. (28 September 2020). ""The History of Ragtime: ''Cakewalk'' and ''Coon song''"".
  4. Eitel, ''The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley'', p. 119.
  5. "Du Pree, Reese". Discography of American Historical Recordings.
  6. Perrow, [https://archive.org/stream/jstor-534506/534506#page/n14/mode/1up "Songs and Rhymes from the South", p. 142]: "from Tennessee mountain whites, 1912". ''Archive.org''
  7. (6 November 2014). "Shortening Bread".
  8. ""Paul Robeson, Green Pastures [X27]"".
  9. (18 September 2015). "The Andrews Sisters : Shortenin' Bread. Recorded in 1938. Composed By Wood; Wolfe".
  10. (7 December 2010). "Shortnin' Bread : The Viscounts".
  11. (23 May 2015). "Shortnin' Bread".
  12. (12 November 2015). "Fats Waller & His Rhythm - Shortnin' Bread".
  13. (24 September 2015). "Short'nin' Bread (Remastered)".
  14. "Shortnin' Bread by Frances Faye".
  15. (11 May 2023). "NELSON EDDY SINGS SHORTNIN BREAD jame whitcombe riley 1938".
  16. (25 January 2017). "Shortnin' bread".
  17. (8 November 2014). "Short'nin' Bread".
  18. (25 January 2017). "Shortnin' Bread".
  19. (17 August 2008). "Charles Mingus - Shortnin' Bread".
  20. (21 July 2017). "Shortenin' Bread (Remastered 2000)".
  21. (9 February 2023). "Klaus Flouride - Shortnin Bread / The Drowning Cowboy (1982)".
  22. (21 July 2018). "Shortnin' Bread".
  23. (22 December 2010). "The Cramps - Shortnin' Bread (1990)".
  24. (28 February 2018). "Shortnin' Bread".
  25. (5 November 2022). "Shortenin' Bread by The Tractors".
  26. (21 April 2010). "Shortnin' Bread - Dance Performance by Troupe 212 at Laurie Berkner Band Concert".
  27. (11 April 2017). "Mama's Little Baby Loves Shortnin' Bread 🎵 Sing Along Nursery Rhyme with The Wiggles".
  28. (24 August 2023). "Israel's Arcade - Full Live Set".
  29. (7 March 2014). "Busy Doin' Somethin': Uncovering Brian Wilson's Lost Bedroom Tapes".
  30. Beard, David. (Spring 2007). "Ding Dang". Endless Summer Quarterly.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

american-folk-songspoetry-by-james-whitcomb-rileythe-tractors-songsmississippi-john-hurt-songs1900-songsamerican-children's-songsthe-beach-boys-songsbrian-wilsonthe-beach-boys-bootleg-recordingsbread-in-culturesongs-about-food-and-drink