Music Monday: Big Bill Snyder

Recorded in the summer of 1976 in Woodstock, NY Fifty Sail on Newburgh Bay: Hudson Valley Songs Old & New was released in October of that year. Designed to be a booster for the replica sloop Clearwater, as well as to tap into the national interest in history thanks to the bicentennial, the album includes a mixture of traditional songs and new songs. This album is a recording to songs relating to the Hudson River, which played a major role in the commercial life and early history of New York State, including the Revolutionary War. Folk singer Ed Renehan (born 1956), who was a member of the board of the Clearwater, sings and plays guitar along with Pete Seeger. William Gekle, who wrote the lyrics for five of the songs, also wrote the liner notes, which detail the context of each song and provide the lyrics. This booklet designed and the commentary written by William Gekle who also wrote the lyrics for: Fifty Sail, Moon in the Pear Tree, The Phoenix and the Rose, Old Ben and Sally B., and The Burning of Kingston.

In the 1840’s, most of the Hudson Valley was still owned by a few landlords. Some of these lands had been patroonships granted by the Dutch, others were extensive manors granted by the English kings. Tenant farmers were at the mercy of their landlords and had to pay rent for their land – and keep little for their work. Then came the Anti-Rent Wars – the Tinhorn Rebellion, it was called, when farmers refused to pay their rents any longer and, they tarred and feathered the sheriffs who came to collect them. One of these Sheriffs was “Big  Bill” Snyder. https://folkways-media.si.edu/liner_notes/folkways/FW05257.pdf

Editor’s Note: Riding at night, sounding the call to action with tin horns, dressed in wild clothing with hats with horns on their heads,  the Anti-Renters, were referred to as “Calico Indians.” For more information about the Anti-Rent Wars see:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Rent_War
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BIG BILL SNYDER - LYRICS

The moon was shining silver bright,
The sheriff came in the dead of night;
High on a hill was an Indian true,
And on his horn a blast he blew –

Get out of the way, Big Bill Synder,
We’ll tar your coat and feather your hide, sir.

The Indians gathered at the sound,
Bill cocked his pistol, looked around;
Their painted faces, by the moon
He saw and heard that same old tune –

Get out of the way, Big Bill Synder,
We’ll tar your coat and feather your hide, sir.

Says Bill, “The music’s not so sweet
As I have heard; I think my feet
Had better be used,”  he started to run;
But the tin horn still kept sounding on –

Get out of the way, Big Bill Synder,
We’ll tar your coat and feather your hide, sir.

“Legs do your duty now” says Bill,
“There’s a thousand Indians on the hill,
When they catch Tories they tar their coats,
And feather their hides; and I hear the notes –“

Get out of the way, Big Bill Synder,
We’ll tar your coat and feather your hide, sir.

Bill ran and ran till he reached the wood,
And there, with horror still he stood,
He saw an Indian, tall and grim,
And he heard a horn, not a rod from him:

Get out of the way, Big Bill Synder,
We’ll tar your coat and feather your hide, sir.

Bill thought he heard the sound of a gun,
And he cried in fright, “My race is run:
Better that I had never been born
Than to hear the sound of that tin horn.”

Get out of the way, Big Bill Synder,
We’ll tar your coat and feather your hide, sir.

Well the news flew around and gained belief
That Bill was murdered by an Indian Chief;
And no one mourned that Bill was slain;
But the tin horn sounded again and again.

Get out of the way, Big Bill Synder,
We’ll tar your coat and feather your hide, sir.

Next day the body of Bill was found,
His writs were scattered on the ground,
And by his side a jug of rum
Told how he to his end had come.

Get out of the way, Big Bill Synder,
We’ll tar your coat and feather your hide, sir.

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Thanks to HRMM volunteer Mark Heller for sharing his knowledge of Hudson River music history for this series.

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