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Groundhog Song The song you can hear by clicking on the link below is called "The Groundhog" or "The Groundhog Hunt" and it's been done many times by many artists with slightly different tunes and lyrics. This song is in .ram format and can be played using RealPlayer, whic can be downloaded for free here.
The original song dates from the the mountains of Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Virginia and was probably written around the turn of the 20th Century, or shortly before. As previously noted, there's a raft of lyrics for this song, and a couple of variations on the tune. The lyrics appended below are those sung by The Dillards, with a few verses changed and added for my own amusement. The next-to-the-last verse is grounded in fact. Groundhog skins were often used for banjo heads before the advent of plastic and store-bought hides. An example of a fretless banjo with a groundhog skin head can be seen -- and purchased -- at the web site of a Tennessee luthier at http://www.noteworthyjohn.com/mtnBanjo.htm For those interested in learning this tune, the basic banjo chords can be found in the box at the bottom of this page, and more notations and practice tips are given at http://www.ezfolk.com/bgbanjo/
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