THE FIDDLING HOUSE OF MORRISON
Sung by: The Morrison Clan
Recorded in Mountain View, AR 4/19/63

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Jimmy Driftwood: “He loved to hunt. All the Morrisons I know love to hunt. He loved to hunt, and he went out and killed a rabbit. And in Scotland in those days, all the rabbits belonged to the king. This fellow was arrested for killing the king’s rabbit and thrown in jail. He played the fiddle so beautifully that the jailer loved him so much that others conspired with the jailer, and they fastened this fiddling Morrison up in a big barrel, and rolled him onto a ship coming to America. He came to America, and we were having the Revolutionary War. He joined George Washington’s army, and fought and fiddled through that war. Now tonight we have a few of the offspring of that old fiddler, and I’ve always called it the Morrison clan, or the fiddling house of Morrison. And they’re gonna just walk by this microphone and fiddle a little, a few of the boys, and let you see them. And now we have the fiddling house of Morrison.”
Willie Morrison: “Thanks, folks, and I’m going to play just a little bit, and then turn it over to my uncle, who came from the western part of Oklahoma. He’s eighty-six year old, and he plays a wicked fiddle. But I’ll play you just a little bit.”
Driftwood: “Virgil Morrison.”
W. Morrison: “Willie Morrison.”
Driftwood: “Oh, Willie."
[W.Morrison plays a tiny bit.]
Driftwood: "Now, you introduce 'em.”
W. Morrison: “Uncle Dave Morrison from Oklahoma.”
Dave Morrison: “Look out for the long red mule.”
[Plays a little bit.]
W. Morrison: “My brother, Fate Morrison."
[Plays a little.]
W. Morrison: "One of my sisters, Dolly Morrison."
[Plays a little.]
Monroe Morrison: "I got a sore finger."
W. Morrison: "And this brother, Monroe, has a sore finger, he might saw across the strings . . . And Otis Morrison from here at town."
[Plays a little.]
W. Morrison: "His sister, Gertie Morrison."
[Plays a little.]
W. Morrison: "And now, folks, the noted twins of the Morrisons, Abbie and Absie Morrison."
Absie Morrison: "We're not a-going to play together. He's not in tune."
W. Morrison: "Not going to play together?"
A. Morrison: "No, not today."
W. Morrison: "You're not tuned together? Okay. But would you mind standing close together for the picture, boys?"
Abbie Morrison: "My fiddle ain't in tune, but I'll tune as we go."
W. Morrison: "Tune as you go."
[Plays a little.}
W. Morrison: "You're right, boy."
[Plays some more.]
W. Morrison: "And this is Abbie Morrison, the other twin."
[Play a little.]
A. Morrison: "No, I can't play on it."
W. Morrison: "Yes, you can. Come here."
[Plays a little more.]
W. Morrison: "And now, Fred Morrison."
[Plays a little.]
W. Morrison: "Thank you, folks."

All Songs Recorded by John Quincy Wolf, Jr., unless otherwise noted

The John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection
Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas
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