"Davy Davy", also known as "Davy", "Going Down the River", "Sailing down the River", "Paddy won't You Drink some Cider?" or "Paddy Won't You Drink Some Good Old Cider" is an American breakdown in D major. The parts are played AABB.
It was one of only two sides commercially recorded by Tennessee's Perry County based Weems String Band. The band, consisting of a guitar player, two banjo players, two fiddlers and a cellist had a mixture of a primitive, archaic sound and the sophisticated techniques of position playing by the fiddlers (one fiddle plays in 3rd and one in 5th position, unusual for traditional players).
The original, blatantly racist, lyrics were a product of the 1920's:
A nought is a nought and a one is a finger, Why can't a white man dance like a nigger? He can't do the quickstep, he tends for to linger, That's why he can't dance like a nigger.
The recorded words were quickly dashed off by the Weems brothers after they arrived in Memphis for their 1928 recording session for Columbia Records. Their repertoire was instrumental tunes, but Columbia wanted lyrics and vocals, believing the recordings would sell better. The band quickly came up with a few couplets which Columbia found met their requirements.
It was printed in The New Lost City Ramblers' Songbook (1964).
It was recorded by Weems String Band (1928, backed with "Greenback Dollar"), Weems String Band on Echoes of the Ozarks, vol. 3 (1970), Weems String Band et al. on Rural String Bands of Tennessee 1927-1930, New Lost City Ramblers on New Lost City Ramblers Vol. 1 and Bob Carlin on Fiddle Tunes for Clawhammer Banjo (1980).