Choosing Groundhog as an old-time Tune of the Week opens up the world of bluegrass and children’s music, as well as old-time. There are so many on-line versions of this song, it’s hard to choose just a few to share.
My introduction came from the bluegrass playing of IBMA multiple-time banjo player-of-the-year Jim Mills. Then we visited Floyd, Virginia all the way from California and landed in a jam with Mac Traynham. He was surprised we knew the song, and I was glad to keep up with him. Groundhog has become a staple my husband and I play as a “kids’ song.”
We don’t eat nor even have groundhogs in California and celebrate Groundhog Day in our schools as a way to study the seasons and weather. It made sense to me that if the groundhog sees his shadow and supposedly goes back into his burrow then winter just can't be over yet. Sunshine in the cold of winter is just a respite from the expected rain and stormy skies. If it’s cloudy and he stays out, then it’s a normal winter and will end on time. Anyway, that’s how I explained it to my first graders, without discussing the alleged fear of his own shadow, and they never argued, nor minded making paper gophers instead of groundhogs.
You can see what happens for yourself in Punxsutawney, PA here: groundhog.org
Gimmicks Restaurant in Punxsutawney
Groundhog Day is on February 2nd, so it’s a good time now to add it to our Tune of the Week repertoire. Here are a few facts:
Its roots are in Georgia, the Carolinas, Virginia and West Virginia. It was played throughout Appalachia and also migrated to the Ozarks.
The earliest recording was in 1924 by Land Norris.
Well-known musicians played Groundhog, such as Doc Watson, Frank Proffitt, Marion Reece, Tommy Jarrell, Pete Seeger, Mike Seeger, and our own Dan Gellert (who’s still alive and fiddling).
It's in mixolydian mode.
There are many, many different lyrics.
The nickname “whistle-pig,” in some lyrics, refers to the high-pitched sound made by a groundhog when startled or fearful.
It only has eight full measures.
Please add your own or your favorite versions. Here are mine, with Plinky & Plunky giving it a go, too.
Excellent choice, Janet. I've been playing Groundhog since my first daughter was born, some 40 years ago. When the kids were small they particularly liked the second verse as I would substitute their name in the "Run here, Sally, with a ten foot pole..." line.
That would have made for a very long version if playing to a room full of first graders!
It was often requested, and it was great fun to explain what each verse meant, as it introduced them to an entire point in history when things were done differently. It's a very good representation of songs that can be great fun and also serve as teaching tools.
Around here, this little tune is often one of the first tunes a banjo student learns, and as you said there are many versions.
I looked for my favorite version, which is one Dwight Diller did on his "Red Rooster" album, but didn't find it.
I don't know much more about the tune itself, other than I like it, but I do know a bit about groundhogs.
Speaking of Diller and groundhogs, he once taught a class on canning groundhog meat, which is actually very good.
Many in the rural south, especially in the mountains, call them "Whistle Pig" both because of their squeal, and also there appearance.
Dave Bing plays a tune called "Picked up a Hammer" which has a phrase that begins "Saw that whistle pig coming up the holler".
Another name for groundhogs in the South, particularly in Georgia, is "Hoover Hog". This because during the depression most larger wild game in the South became very scarce, so squirrel, groundhog, rabbit, and possum became important staples in the diet of folks who had little else to eat.
When I was a boy a neighbor of ours, who had lived through those times often asked me to bring her a groundhog if I saw one while hunting, but in those days I never did see a groundhog, so I guess the population had not quite recovered from the over harvesting of two decades before. Nowadays, few people in this part of the country hunt groundhog for food, so they are plentiful to the point of becoming a road hazard. See them almost every day while driving down the road.
The lyrics in many versions of the tune, including Diller's version, mention a "long pole".
Growing up I often heard older men talking about shoving a long pole into the groundhog's burrow, and pulling him out with it. I have never seen this done, I assume the groundhog bites the pole and won't let go, but don't know.
I also heard them talk about using a long brier cane in a similar way to catch a rabbit by twisting it into it's fur, but I never saw that done either, and find it hard to believe that would work.
We don’t eat nor even have groundhogs in California...........
When I was working for Indian Health Services in Susanville, Ca every spring the Groundhogs would invade the school yard outside my window. The Native Americans considered them a delicacy. So yes there are Groundhogs in California.
First banjo tune I learned in 2ftl, from Chris Berry's youtube lesson. I cannot describe the wonderful feeling it gave me when I could, finally, play it fluently. Only two years ago but feels like an age.
Timely choice Janet and nice version. You gonna play it tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day..? Our house is right at the edge of the woods and we've got a bunch of them here. Our former next door neighbor used to pop at 'em with his 22; the current one captures them in nets and relocates them to some local park I think. We had two apple trees in the backyard and the varmints used to like the fallen wormy apples (see pic below) until one tree fell down and we removed the other. Nobody around here eats them as far as I know.
When I was a pretty young kid my mother's brother would put me on his knee and bounce me and say, "We're buddies, aren't we?" And so to this day I know him as "Uncle Buddy." Uncle Buddy would take my brother and me with him on errands in his big old International 2-ton farm truck. On one of the old gravel roads we'd cross a narrow bridge and on the other side was a high bank. There would be hole in the bank which is where a purported groundhog lived. Each time we crossed that bridge we would have to stop the truck to allow Uncle Buddy to call the groundhog... Soo-eey! Pig! Pig! Pig! Since he raised pigs (Hampshires) I just knew that he knew how to call pigs and I expected every time the groundhog to show up. But he never did...
I learned this song via Wayne Erbsen's book almost three years ago. I don't think I've played it since. I've been inspired today to try to get it all back. I'm taking Rudy's suggestion and adding in my grandkid's names. If I can get the song down to "OK" I'll record it and send it to their parents tomorrow morning.
Yup got my Wayne Erbsen books out and learning the ground hog song and love the words . Have his ole time fiddle book also and doing on fiddle too but there in different keys is all . Here's our ground hogs in summer time over at the tobacco drying barn next to us . This is G.H. (ground hog) and his bride Mrs H . They won't be out at all for ground hog day because were already having spring .No ground hog means no shadow problems
Question to those who play this song in G, are you playing an F or an F# on the low string? I learned from Chris Berry who plays an F# but listening to Jim Mills great Bluegrass version it sounds to me like he is playing F natural, and either seems to work just fine, but gives a different feel.
Very interesting groundhog experiences from you, thanks all for sharing. I stand corrected about California. Groundhogs grace our fair state, just not in my neck of the woods.
Bill, I think either noting works just fine. It's a personal preference. I learned from the Jim Mills version, which has the F natural and gives the tune a mixolydian feel.
Well, Punxsatawney Phil predicted an early spring. I tend to agree with him, though we're getting the first snowstorm tonight in our region. I read that he's right 40% of the time since the 1800's when he began his weather forecasting. It seems like he'd have a 50% chance, but it just hasn't worked that way. Here's the event, in case you've never viewed the real Groundhog Day event: Punxsatawney Phil on Groundhog Day, February 2, 2019.
Here's our talented Brainjo Josh Turknett playing on a fretless, singing, and offering tab, too.
Punxsatawney Phil is one old groundhog isn't he? Been around since the 1800s would expect him to be bigger than that.
Those things sure do get huge around here, I saw one standing up beside the road on my way home yesterday, and he looked to be about three feet tall. They don't seem frightened by cars, but I wish they were so they would stay away from the road. Most of the time they just stop what they are doing and take a casual look when I drive by them.
There are some huge beaver around here too, with some over 70 lbs being recorded.
I love to see either of these animals, but the beaver are more social creatures, the groundhog are more like hermits. I seldom see more than one groundhog at a time, but often see beaver in large groups around the lake as if they are having a meeting.
Our house is right at the edge of the woods and we've got a bunch of them here. Our former next door neighbor used to pop at 'em with his 22; the current one captures them in nets and relocates them to some local park I think. We had two apple trees in the backyard and the varmints used to like the fallen wormy apples (see pic below) until one tree fell down and we removed the other. Nobody around here eats them as far as I know. 
