Info on Jake Satterfield

Subject: Info on Jake Satterfield
From: arkie
Date: 15 Oct 99 - 03:17 PM

Anyone out there with any information about the song, Jake Satterfield? It is sung a bit around Stone County, Arkansas, but the first singer to do it here claimed to have heard it in Kentucky. Any help would be appreciated.

Subject: RE: Info on Jake Satterfield
From: arkie
Date: 16 Oct 99 - 10:21 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: Info on Jake Satterfield
From: Dale Rose
Date: 17 Oct 99 - 10:03 AM

I have only found a couple of references, a recording by Bill Monroe ~~ my guess is late 70s, and one by Canadian bluegrassers Tom Wilson and Border Bluegrass, with a mention on this page.

Tom Wilson can be reached at this address; maybe he has a source other than the Monroe recording. mailto:[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Info on Jake Satterfield
From: arkie
Date: 17 Oct 99 - 03:21 PM

Dale:

Thanks! I'll track those sources.

Subject: RE: Info on Jake Satterfield
From: GUEST,Matt
Date: 29 Dec 10 - 11:54 AM

This has been a favorite song of mine since I was a kid. Bill and James Monroe recorded it in 1978 on an album called "Together Again". I've heard the Tom Wilson version...while it is good, does not compare with the Monroe boys version.

Subject: RE: Info on Jake Satterfield
From: GUEST,DWR
Date: 29 Dec 10 - 12:22 PM

Here's an obituary thread for Damon Black, who wrote the song. thread.cfm?threadid=90151

Subject: RE: Info on Jake Satterfield
From: GUEST,Anton
Date: 22 Jul 15 - 10:57 AM

I have yet to listen to Bill Monroe singing it, but I wrote the lyrics as best I could from the two recordings I could find:

http://largiader.com/music/frontporch/jakesatterfield.html

I'm continuing to refine them so please don't post them elsewhere.

I'm interested in the "...rifle with the sights filed down" part. Can anyone give some background to this? I gather it indicates intended use at close range but I've never heard that expression before.

Subject: RE: Info on Jake Satterfield
From: GUEST,#
Date: 22 Jul 15 - 11:05 AM

I suspect the sights filed down would mean the rifle was shooting 'off' a bit, and filing either or both was necessary to give the rifle better accuracy. On early rifles the sights were often fixed and even if they were not, most people wouldn't have had the tools to do the adjustment required.

Subject: RE: Info on Jake Satterfield
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Jul 15 - 12:20 PM

Sure, it could just be that it means he had tweaked it for accuracy, as a backwoods hunter is likely to do. A flaw in all of this is that the Springfield Rifle referred to typically had adjustable sights.

But lyrics don't have to make perfectly accurate sense. I can think of several examples where lyrics were changed and make less sense than before, probably because the singer didn't understand the original words or meaning.

Subject: RE: Info on Jake Satterfield
From: GUEST,Anton
Date: 02 Aug 15 - 01:19 PM

Repeat post with the link active... hopefully. Might make it easier for someone.

Jake Satterfield Lyrics

And on the "rifle with sights filed down" thing, I think it is simply poetic license on the part of the writer, indicating that the rifle was used seriously. Damon Black didn't have to be a gun expert to write a good song.

- Anton

Subject: RE: Info on Jake Satterfield
From: GUEST,Arkie
Date: 02 Aug 15 - 07:52 PM

Damon Black did know how to write a good song and little bits like the filed down sight was just one of those little details that enhanced the story.

I have heard references to filing down front sights for a lot of years. I should have asked my Uncle Cookie who was the gun collector in the family but never did. Sadly Uncle Cookie, who made into his 90s passed on about a month ago.

Check this link.

Smith & Wesson

Subject: RE: Info on Jake Satterfield
From: GUEST
Date: 05 May 19 - 01:13 PM

Without any real proof, I've always heard this expression meant to say that no use for hunting or recreational competition, filed down sights meant this gun is meant to be fired in a flash (no time to take ai ). Purely functions as your upclose "partner". Life of a moonshiner and anyone who dispatched critters caught on a trap.
He didn't need sights.

Subject: RE: Info on Jake Satterfield
From: GUEST,weave
Date: 05 May 19 - 01:25 PM

I can't add anything about the origin of this song, but I like it.
Actually with very few words, the lyricist wove and turned the few words into a mystery with about 5 or 6 possible explanations of what exactly happened. Test me on this. It is by far the most interesting short story ever told, simply because of what exactly took place here.
I won't say any more so each of you can let your imaginations run wild. Have fun!!

Subject: RE: Info on Jake Satterfield
From: GUEST,Guest.....edderd
Date: 08 May 19 - 12:28 PM

A lady on youtube MARY FAGAN sings a version that contains an aditional verse that all the other versions omit. My hearing and perception has detioriated to the point that I am unable to decipher the words to the second verse about Gloria (Laurie) being the preachers daughter and something about some "evil power".

    If someone with better hearing could decipher that verse and post the lyrics , I would be most gratefull.
    Thanks.......edderd