Boil Them Cabbage Down

"Bile" is old Southern speech for "boil." Folk song collectors, Alan Lomax among them, traced the song to Black musicians, and the early printed texts were all gathered from Black singers. Thomas Talley, an African American scholar, printed the first text in his Negro Folk Rhymes in 1922.

Uncle Dave Macon, Fiddlin' John Carson and Riley Puckett all recorded it in 1924. Clayton McMichen built a flashy version for fiddle contests and called it his favorite contest tune. It is often the first tune in a beginner's fiddle book.