“Gum Tree Canoe,” also known as “Tom-Big-Bee River,” is a nineteenth-century song. Its words were written in 1847 by S.S. Steele, with music by A.F. Winnemore, and it was published for the minstrel stage.
The song is a sweetheart’s idyll on the water. The singer paddles a canoe carved from a gum tree down the Tombigbee River with the one he loves, and the lyric drifts along with them, a gentle picture of young love and an easy current.
The old song found new life among folk and old-time performers. The version heard here is by John Hartford.
