"Over the Waterfall" is sourced to fiddler Henry Reed (1884-1968) of Glen Lyn, Virginia. It was collected in 1967 during a a pair of interviews with Reed by folklorist and fiddler Alan Jabbour (1942-2017). Jabbour popularized the tune by playing it at festivals, and also by including it in his own recording with the Hollow Rock String Band on their 1968 album “Traditional Dance Tunes.”

Reed’s recording is in the MP3 player below. And as can be heard there, Reed told Jabbour that he first heard the melody at "...Teet’s Show when I was just a little thing, about five or six years old ... .sorts of shows that come around to the country…” Time-wise, this would have been around 1900. Traveling shows like these were popular, and featured musical performances and acts, similar to “medicine shows.” They often served small to mid-sized towns, and could be seen at fairs and carnivals. Jabbour’s field notes from the May 6, 1967 interview read, “Over The Waterfall - learned fr. Teacher’s Show when 5 or 6.” Jabbour’s field notes from the July 17, 1967 interview read, “Over The Waterfall - played at Teet’s Show in Peterstown where he danced, and was kidnapped.” 

Peterstown is in Monroe County, W.VA., where Reed grew up, and we would have all appreciated a follow-up question from Jabbour regarding Reed’s comment about being kidnapped. Several sources say Reed heard this melody being played by a calliope at the show. That may be true, but a reference to verify that was not found. Reed states simply that he “heard” it at Teet’s Show, and Jabbour’s notes say only that it was “played” or Reed “learned” it there. And as we will learn, both the melody and song were old and very popular.

The melody of "Over The Waterfall” is closely tied to a traditional British Isles story song. The song has many regional names and variations on both sides of the Atlantic, but is probably best known as “Eggs and Marrow Bones,” and (There Was An) “Old Woman From Wexford." The lyrics weave the tale of a woman wanting to be with another man, so she tries to blind her husband by feeding him eggs and marrow bones - so she can then easily push him into the river to drown. This plan backfires on her in spectacular fashion because eggs and marrow bones do not, in fact, make her husband blind. “Old Woman From Wexford" was revived by the Irish folk music group The Clancy Brothers in the early 1960s, and you can find it in the video below. As this traditional song involves water, Jabbour later opined that Reed’s title "Over the Waterfall" may show a link between the song and the instrumental tune he played. 

The same melody, with comic, mistaken identity themed lyrics, was widely distributed in 1866 as "The Fellow that Looks Like Me."  Authorship has been claimed by several, but is widely credited to popular composer John F. Poole.

Using the traditional melody, Al Hopkins and His Buckle Busters recorded “The Feller That Looked Like Me” in 1928 with East Tennessee’s own Charlie Bowman on fiddle and vocals (video below). A verse in this song is likely where the alternative title “Punkin’ Head” came from: 

Oh, wouldn't I like to catch him

Wherever he might be

The way I'd punch his punkin head

The fellow that looks like me.

In 1970, Alan Jabbour also collected a solo ballad by Maggie Hammons which used the same melody, under the title of “Mercian Titterary-Ary-A.” That recording can be found in "The Hammons Family: A Study of a West Virginia Family's Traditions” in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. (see page 68)

In the mid 70s, Pete Seeger used the melody for his song, “Hell’s Canyon / Don’t Ask What A River Is For,”  a song intended to raise environmental awareness about the damming of the Snake River.

J.P. & Annadeene Fraley recorded this melody as “Waterfall # 2” on their 1995 Rounder records release called “Maysville.”

For a different take on “Over The Waterfall,” try this waltz version, recorded by the Lewes Mountain Boys.

The Feller That Looked Like Me

Al Hopkins and His Buckle Busters (1928)