ALL AROUND THE WORLD. AKA and see "All Around the World," "Cooley's," "The Connemara Rake," "Doherty's," "Grehan's," "John Doherty's," "Johnny Doherty's," "Jolly Beggar," "Matt Molloy's," "The Mistress," "Mot Malloy," "Tinker Doherty's," "The Wise Maid" [1]. Irish, Reel. D Major. Standard. AABB. Source for notated version: fiddler Sean McGuire [Bulmer & Sharpley]. Bulmer & Sharpley (Music from Ireland), 1974. Vol. 1, No. 29, pg. 11. Mallinson (Essential), 1995; No. 72, pg. 31. CEF 115, Frankie Gavin (with Paul Brock) - "Tribute to Joe Cooley" (1986). Shanachie 79009, "Planxty" (1973). Shanachie 79073, Noel Hill - "The Irish Concertina" (1988).
ALL AROUND THE WORLD AND BACK TO CITACO. AKA and see "Citaco" (probably). Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Georgia tune.
AROUND THE WORLD [2]. AKA and see "All Around the World," "Cooley's," "The Connemara Rake," "Doherty's," "Grehan's," "John Doherty's," "Johnny Doherty's," "Jolly Beggar," "Matt Molloy's," "The Mistress," "Mot Malloy," "Tinker Doherty's," "The Wise Maid" [1].
BLACK JOKE [1]. AKA and see "Black Joker," "Black Jack," "Black Jock," "The Black Joak," "But the House and Ben the House" (Shetland), "Sprig of Shillelah" [1]. English, Scottish, Shetlands; Country Dance, Jig and Morris Dance Tune (6/8 time). England; Northumberland, Yorkshire. G Major (Bacon, Carlin, Cooke, Mallinson, Raven, Vickers): A Major (Bacon, Gow, Merryweather & Seattle). Standard or AEAE (McLean). AB (Bacon {Stanton Harcourt}, Gow): AAB {x6} (Bacon {Ilmington}, Carlin, Cooke (two versions), Mallinson {Adderbury version}): AABB {x4} (Hall & Stafford, Mallinson {Bledington version}, Merryweather & Seattle, Raven, Vickers). "The Black Joke" was a widely popular, vulgar and bawdy street song in England in the early 1700's, though its popularity continued into the 19th century in that country and its colonies (including America). Irregular in form in many versions, its opening phrase has six measures, while the second has ten. It was heard in London as early as 1734 in Henry Carey's burlesque stage piece Chrononhotonthologos where it was called "that lowbrow little tune that has been used as an interval tune for years," referring to the music for dances performed in the entr'acte interval at the playhouses. Early English collections which contain the tune are Johnson's Wrights Collection (London, c. 1742) and Thompson 200 Country Dances Volume II. John Kirkpatrick (1976) dates the tune to 1715 without citing his source.
**
It is played today as the tune for the Lichfield Morris Dance The Barefooted Quaker, and for dances from other morris traditions. Mallinson's morris dance tune versions, for example, are from the Adderbury and Bledington areas of England's Cotswolds, while Bacon's are from the Adderbury, Ascot-under-Wychwood, Bledington, Ilmington, and Stanton Harcourt. A version of the tune from Badby, Northhamptonshire, is known as "Old Black Joe" [1], and lacks the distinctive two measure ending to both parts typical of most "Black Joke" versions. John Kirkpatrick (1976) is of the opinion that the Badby dance "flows more perfectly than any in the Cotswold Morris. No jumps, no jerky backwards movements, no need to fiddle the feet to get them right. An absolute joy." The tune collected with the dance in Bucknell (under the title "Old Black Joe") is perhaps nearest the original.
**
The tune is known as "But the House and Ben the House" in Shetland, and Cooke says some informants gave the first lines as:
But your house and ben your house
This house is like a bridal house.
The tune played by his source from the islands was the one commonly known throughout Britain and Ireland during the 18th century as "The Black Joke" (or Jock). A variety of songs were set to it, all of them bawdy and all concerned with sexual intercourse. "Some of the texts are the creations of music-hall hacks, such as the earliest published verses, entitled 'The Original black Joke, Sent from Dublin', which begin: 'No mortal sure can blame ye man/Who prompted by nature will act as he can'...(song sheet, c. 1720 Mitchell Library, Glasgow). Simple and more direct 'folk' versions were known in Scotland. Burns wrote a parody beginning 'My girl she's airy...'" (Cooke, 1986). The lyrics which appear below are taken from Andrew Crawford's 1826-28 Collection of Ballads and Songs:
**
A wee black thing sat on a cushion
Was hairy without and toothless within
Wi' her black Jock and her belley so white
**
A piper and twa little drummers came there
To play wi the wee thing well covered o'er wi hair
**
The piper went in and he jigged about
The twa little drummers stood ruffling without
**
But when he came out he hang doon his head
He look'd like a snail that was trodden to dead
**
Say's he thay wa'd need to hae something to spare
That meddle wi you or your wee pickle hair. (Cooke)
**
Cooke's informant, John Irvine, played it as a middle tune between two reels for the ceremony of the "bedding of the bride" around the turn of the century. This ceremony, in which the women of the community escorted the bride to her bed, was performed to fiddle music. "The use of the 'Black Joke' in this context is intriguing, Robert Irvine's knowledge of part of the chorus suggests that in earlier days the whole song might have been known and, unless the fiddler was having his own private joke by playing this piece, possibly even sung by the bride's attendants. Genuine bawdry is often found in such situations elsewhere in the world. According to Legman (1964), 'the purpose of such songs...was and is evidently apotropaic, being intended to ward off the evil eye...dangerously present at all moments of happiness, or of success and victory' (The Horn Book, 1964, p. 388). It is likely, too, that such humour served to release anxiety on the part of the young initiate. Finally, if the text were anything like the Crawfurd text, the explicit detail could have served also as a piece of last-minute sex education--an example of how music is sometimes used in a situation that allows one to sing what might be too embarrassing to say" (Cooke, 1986).
**
The Scotch versions are based on an English tune which was known as "Black Jock" in Scotland from about 1735 (Johnson). Johnson thinks the name was changed either on purpose, to 'Scottisize' it (it was known as "Black Jack" in Northumberland), or to distance it from the extremely obscene lyrics. If the latter, the distancing was largely hypocriphal, for the lyrics were well-known throughout the country. The Scots poet Robert Burns (who was no stranger to ribaldry) penned to the melody, in September, 1784, the words "My girl she's airy, she's buxom and gay," one of his earliest bawdy songs:
Her slender neck, her handsome waist,
Her hair well buckl'd, her stays well lad'd,
Her taper white leg with an et, and a, c,
For her a,b,e,d, and her c,u,n,t,
And Oh, for the joys of a long winter night!!!
The tune appears in the McFarlane Manuscript (1740) in a long variation set (18 strains) by Charles McLean, in Bremner's Scots Tunes (1759) in 30 strains, the Gillespie Manuscript (1768), the Sharpe Manuscript (c. 1790) with 18 strains, and a flute MS. of c. 1770; all have basically the same variations, though in different order.
**
In Ireland, Flood (1906) reports that Madame Violante set off a furor in Dublin's Smock-Alley Theatre in December, 1729, when Cummins danced the "White Joke," a set off to the then-popular "Black Joke."
**
American audiences heard the melody as the tune for air 13 in Andrew Barten's ballad opera The Disappointment (New York, 1767).
**
Sources for notated versions: Bremner (Scots Tunes, 1759) [Johnson]; John Mason via Cecil Sharpe (Stow on the Wold, England) [Bacon]; a MS by fiddler Lawrence Leadley, 1827-1897 (Helperby, Yorkshire) [Merryweather & Seattle]. Bacon (The Morris Ring), 1974, pgs. 15, 95, 210, 295. Carlin (The Master Collection of Dance Music for Violin), 1984; No. 47, pg. 37. Cooke (The Fiddle Tradition of the Shetland Isles), 1986; pgs. 86-87. Gow (Complete Collection), Part 4, 1817; pg. 10 (appears as "Black Jock"). Hall & Stafford (Charlton Memorial Tune Book), 1974; pg. 20 (appears as "Black Jack"). Johnson (Scottish Fiddle Music in the 18th Century), 1984; No. 32, pgs. 86-89. Mallinson (Mally's Cotswold Morris Book), 1988; No. 1, pg. 8 and No. 35, pg. 24. Merryweather & Seattle (The Fiddler of Helperby), 1994; No. 81, pgs. 48-49 (includes six sets of variations). Offord (John of Greeny Cheshire Way), 1985; pg. 107. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 116 (Black Jack), 81 & 95. Seattle (William Vickers), 1987, Part 2; No. 206. Gourd Music 110, Barry Phillips - "The World Turned Upside Down" (1992). Topic TSCD458, John Kirkpatrick - "Plain Capers" (1976).
T:Black Jock
L:1/8
M:6/8
S:Gow - 4th Repository
K:A
E|E2A AGA|BcB BAB|c>dc cBA|BcB BAF|A3 F2E|EFA A2 E/D/|
(CE)A AGA|(Bd)c BAG|(Ac)e edc|Bdc {c}BAG|~A>Bc ~F>GA|
EFG A2||d|(c2d e2)e|fdf {f}e2d|c2d e>fe|f>ga edc|d2b c2a|BcB {c}BAB|
~c>dc cBA|B>cB BAF|A3 ~F2E|EFA A2d|(cA)c (ec)e|(fd)f e2d|
(cA)c (ec)e|(fd)f {f}e2c|ddd ccc|Bdc B2A|(Ac)e (ed)c|(Bd)c {c}BAG|
~A>Bc ~F>GA|EFG A2||
CALLAHAN. AKA - "Callahan's Reel," "Callahan Rag," "Fiddler's Farewell," "Last of Callahan," "McClahan's March." AKA and see "Old Sport" [1]. USA; southwest Va., eastern Tenn., Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri. Old-Time, Breakdown. A Major. Standard, AEAE. The piece is known simply as "Callahan" in Patrick County, southwestern Va., where it is regarded as one of the older pieces in the fiddler's repertoire and predates the "string band" genre tunes which featured banjo/fiddle combinations (Tom Carter & Blanton Owen, 1976). Bobby Fulcher (1986) concurs regarding the age of the melody and says it belongs to a group of archaic tunes characterized by cross tunings, elaborate bowings and eccentric melody lines: "These droning exotic, richly flavored tunes were not to be danced to, or accompanied by other instruments, but just made interesting listening." Clyde Davenport (b. 1921), of Monticello, Ky., had the tune from his father, who picked it and other similar tunes up from a man named Will Phipps, an "old-timer" from Rock Creek, Tennessee (who is remembered for being buried with his fiddle in his coffin). Farther west, the title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. Mark Wilson (in the liner notes to Vol 1 of "Traditional Fiddle Music of Kentucky") points out that the tune "radically shifts" in fiddle versions from east to west across the state of Kentucky, until it seems that the only similarities between extremes are a similar ascending and descending lines over a drone 'A' chord.
***
A legend attached to the tune gives that it was written by a condemned man, one Callahan, just before he was executed by hanging; this is, of course, a centuries old tale primarily attached to the Scottish outlaw Macpherson (see "Macpherson's Farewell"), hanged in Banff in the year 1700. D. W. Wilgus, in his article "The Hanged Fiddler Legend in Anglo-American Tradition," extensively explores the "Callahan" legend, first collected in 1909 by Katherine Jackson French near Louden, Kentucky, from two boys who "played and sang 'Callahan's Confession.'" A report by E.C. Perrow in the Journal of American Folklore (25) in 1912 gave that "Some years ago an outlaw named Callahan was executed in Kentucky. Just before his execution he sat on his coffin and played and sang a ballad of his own composing, and, when he had finished, broke his musical instrument over his knee." This story, in almost exactly the same words, was related by elderly Bell County, Kentucky, fiddler Estill Bingham (1899-1990) to Bob Butler and Bruce Greene, also appearing in Suzy Jones Oregon Folklore (Bingham had moved to Oregon for a time before returning to Kentucky):
***
One I never have heard played nowhere only around amongst a few old
fiddlers there (i.e. Kentucky). It was called 'Callahan.' My dad played it, and they's a
story goes with it. Well, they had this man Callahan up to be hung. And he
had his casket made and brought there to the scaffold where they was aimin'
to hang him, and they asked him if he wanted any request, any last request-
and he was a fiddler so he said he'd like to play one more tune. So they
give him his fiddle and he set on the end of his casket and played that
tune. And he said, 'If they's anybody can play that tune any better 'n I
can, I'll give 'em my fiddle.' The story goes that nobody tried, and he
busted his fiddle over the end of his casket.
***
Elderly sources swear the Callahan story "really happened" in Clay County, Kentucky, though other locales also claim the honor. One such elderly source, one Oscar Parks of Deuchars, Indiana, recounted the story to Alan Lomax in 1938. Parks was originally from Livingston County, Kentucky, and had the tale from an old man in nearby Jackson County. According to this version John Callahan was being hanged for killing a man in the course of a feud. This Callahan offered his fiddle to anyone who would join him on the gallows and "sit down with him and play that tune1/4" and when no one dared for fear of being involved in the feud Callahan "busted that fiddle all to pieces overt that coffin" (Prior to his death Callahan supposedly married his sweetheart, Betty Larkin, and lived with her "for several months" in the jail in Manchester, Clay County, Kentucky--an interesting union of "Callahan" with the Southern play-party song "Betsy Larkin," "Betsy Diner" or "Rosa Betsy Lina"). Wilgus found there were Callahans (and indeed one John Abe Callahan) involved in feuds in Kentucky, albeit in Breathitt County, and none were recorded as having been hung.
***
Another version of the tale was supplied by a Mrs. Herman R. Staten of Paris, Kentucky, who wrote to the Archive of American Folksong soon after World War II to say that she was a Callahan descendent and that her fiddler-father and an elderly relative told her that the Callahan of the tale was an Isaac Callahan who died in the middle of the 19th century, and "knowing he was to hang, he built his coffin, and taking his fiddle he played while his sister danced upon his coffin." Similar to this is a note by A. Porter Hamblen which gives that Callahan was convicted of murdering a Jewish peddler and was hanged at Barbourville, Kentucky, on May 15, 1835--"At the hour of his execution he requested to be allowed to play a farewell on his violin. While seated on his coffin he played this tune which since has borne his name. He then handed the violin to the sherrif, was lead onto the gallows and the trap sprung, sending Callahan to his maker." Kentucky banjo player Pete Steele (living in Hamilton Ohio) told musicologist Alan Lomax in 1938 the Callahan tale with emphasis on the disposition of the fiddle. In this variant the condemed man sits on his coffin at the place of execution and declares as his last wish that he wants to play "Callahan," and further, that if anyone in the crowd can also play the tune then that individual will be given the fiddle. Someone does play "Callahan," the fiddle is transferred to a new owner and the event proceeds.
***
D.W. Wilgus says that some eastern Kentucky and West Virginia sources give the title as "Calloway" (see note below), and place the event in Madison, Boone County, W.Va., dated around 1850. Marion Thede published a version of the piece played by Oklahoma and Arkansas fiddlers as "The Last of Callahan" with the particularly western variant that Callahan was a horse thief caught by a posse and about to be summarily hung. While standing in a wagon underneath a tree limb with a noose around his neck, Callahan was asked for his last words. The outlaw requested instead to play the fiddle one more time, and with the noose still around his neck he played a tune, the likeness of which is remembered as "The Last of Callahan," and handed his fiddle down to one of the bystanders at the fateful event. See also notes for "MacPherson's Lament," "Coleman's March" and "Pennington's Lament." In the repertoire of Kentucky fiddler William H. Stepp, who recorded for the Library of Congress in 1937. Eastern Kentucky fiddler Luther Strong's version was transcribed for John and Allan Lomax's book Our Singing Country (1941).
***
Despite the assertion by Wilgus that "Calloway" is a variant of the "Callahan" title, it seems that most of the "Calloway" pieces are a family of (primarily) banjo tunes unrelated to "Callahan" (which itself has a wide variation in melodic contours). There is much variation in collected versions of both tunes, and perhaps a bit of overlap, however. Morgan Sexton (1911-1992) played a "Last of Callahan" in the banjo tuning associated with "Calloway" (eCGCD) that in fact resembles some of the "Calloway" tunes.
***
Source for notated version: Cyril Stinnet (Mo.) [Christeson]. R.P. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, Vol. 2), 1984; pg. 18. Columbia (15570, 78 RPM), Roane County Ramblers (eastern Tenn., as "Callahan Rag" {1929}). County 403, Roane County Ramblers. County 788, Clyde Davenport - "Clydescope: Rare & Beautiful Tunes from the Cumberland Plateau" (1986). Gennett 16087 (78 RPM), Fiddlin' Doc Roberts & Asa Martin (1930. An unrealeased master). Marimac 9009, Dave Spilkia - "Old Time Friends" (1987). Old Homestead OHCS191, Dykes Majic City Trio (eastern Tenn.), originally recorded for Brunswick/Vocalation 5181 (1927). Rounder CD-0376, George Lee Hawkins - "Traditional Fiddle Music of Kentucky, Vol. 1" (1997). Victor 19450 (78 RPM) {as "Callahan's Reel"} Fiddlin Cowan Powers (1877-1952?, Russell County, S.W. Va. {1924}).
CILLE CHOIRILL (Cairell's Bell). Scottish, Slow Air (3/4 time) and Pipe March (6/8 time). C Major. Standard. One part. The air was composed by Kenneth Kennedy, with the pipe march setting by Pipe Major Stewart (Mrs.). According to Neil (1991), the title is taken from the name of the ancient burial ground in the Braes of Lochaber, and is named for Saint Cairell. Cairell was originally an Irish missionary who crossed the Irish sea in small hide-covered frame boats, called coracles, to Scotland around 600 A.D., accompanied by some followers. After proselytising in Scotland for some time he returned to his native Ireland to live in the monastery at Clonkeen-Kerrie, where he died. Though "a humble and unostentatious man, small in stature, with poor health but strong in spirit," Cairell's ministry in Scotland was successful and there are a number of sites in that country associated with him, including Glen Urquhart, Appin, Tayniult, and Ruthven parish in Banffshire, "where both a cairn and a well are named after him." The graveyard bearing the Saint's name is the resting place of many generations of Highlanders, including some of the composer's ancestors who struggled at Culloden and with Wolfe at Quebec, and the similarly ancient church is thought to have been built by Cameron of Lochiel sometime in the 1400's to atone for his sins.
**
Oh where in the whole world, such beauty and grace,
As Cille Chairill in the braes of Lochaber,
'Neath the green mossy mounds many clans lie asleep,
All around are the hills they did wander.
In this heaven on earth rest ancestors blest;
Their children so true, shall never forget
Till the hills fade away and the last tune is played,
With love, they will always remember.
**
Neil (The Scots Fiddle), 1991; No. 155, pg. 201.
CONNEMARA RAKE, THE. AKA and see "All Around the World," "Cooley's," "Doherty's," "Grehan's," "John Doherty's," "Johnny Doherty's," "Jolly Beggar," "The Knotted Chord" [2], "Matt Molloy's," "The Mistress," "Mot Malloy," "Tinker Doherty's," "The Wise Maid" [1].
COOLEY'S (REEL) [2]. AKA and see "All Around the World," "The Connemara Rake," "Doherty's," "Grehan's," "John Doherty's," "Johnny Doherty's," "Jolly Beggar," "The Knotted Chord" [2], "Matt Molloy's," "The Mistress," "Mot Malloy," "Tinker Doherty's," "The Wise Maid" [1].
CUCKOO'S NEST [14] (Nead na Cuaiche" or "Nead an Cuaic"). See "Cuckoo Hornpipe." AKA and see "All Around," "Captain Moss's," "Come Ashore," "Come Ashore, Jolly Tar, With Your Trousers On," "Coo Coo's Nest," "I do confess thou art sae fair," "Jacky Tar" (Hornpipe), "The Mower," "The Mountain Top," "An Spealadoir" (The Mower), "The Trowsers On," "The Yellow Heifer." British Isles, Old-Time, Bluegrass; Hornpipe, Reel, Breakdown. D Major (Brody, Carlin {setting #1), Kerr, Moylan, Phillips/1995 {setting #1}: D Dorian (Roche, 1st setting): G Major (Harding, Merryweather & Seattle, Mulvihill, O'Neill/Krassen & 1001, Phillips/1995 {setting #2}, Roche {setting 2}: E Aeolian (O'Neill/Krassen -1st setting): A Dorian (Phillips): A Major (Carlin, setting #2). Standard. AB (Begin): AABB (Brody, Harding, Kerr, Moylan, Phillips, Roche, O'Neill, Phillips and Carlin {1st settings}): AABC (Mulvihill): AABBCC (Kennedy, Merryweather & Seattle, O'Neill/Krassen, 1001 & 1915, Roche, and Carlin {2nd settings}).
***
An extremely popular English melody known throughout the British Isles and British North America whose title, the 'cuckoo's nest,' commonly referred to female pubic hair and accompanying anatomy. It dates to at least the early 18th century. James Aird's printing in his Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, Vol. 1 (1782, pg. 66) includes an interesting fourth strain, not found in other sources. Matt Seattle (1987, 1994) believes the tune to originally have been a Scots Measure in D Minor with the title "Come Ashore Jolly Tar (with) Your Trousers On," but notes that many versions of this tune exist, with quite substantial variation between them, in major and minor keys (he remarks that the Northumbrian William Vicker's late 18th century setting is evidently minor, despite the key signature). The title appears in numerous 18th and 19th century dance collections, and made Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes, which he published c. 1800. In Jacobite Relics (1819) James Hogg prints a song to the melody, commenting: "It must have been a great favourite in the last age, for about the time when I first began to know one tune from another, all the old people that could sing at all, could sing "The cuckoo is a bonny bird." He prints the following words to the tune:
***
The cuckoo's a bonny bird when he comes home,
The cuckoo's a bonny bird when he comes home;
He'll fley away the wild birds that hank about the throne,
My bonny cuckoo when he comes home.
***
The Cuckoo's Nest is also the name of a Scottish country dance, which, though increasingly rare, was danced in parts of the country (e.g. West Berwickshire) through the 19th century.
***
The 18th century Munster poet Eoghan Rua O Suilleabhain used the tune for his poem "An Spealadoir." Doolin, north County Clare tin whistle player Micho Russell also associated the tune with a 'spailpin,' or wandering harvest laborer (he called the tune "The Man that cuts the hay with the Scythe"). Bayard (1944) and Breathnach (1985) both cite the collector Father Henebry (A Handbook of Irish Music, pgs. 170-1) who was convinced that the third part of the Irish versions was modern (i.e. in his time, c. 1900), and "was tastelessly added to the original two parts or the air." Breathnach (1985) also notes that many songs were written to the air, and gives a verse from Seán Ó Dálaigh's collection of a rural love ballad popular in Munster:
***
Tá páircín bheag agamsa
de bhán, mhín, réidh;
Gan claí, gan fál, gan falla léi,
ach a haghaidh ar an saol;
Spealodóir do ghlacfainnse,
Ar task na d'réir an acara,
Bé acu sud do b'fhearr leis,
nó páigh in aghaidh an lae.
(Literal translation by Paul de Grae:)
I have a small little field
white, smooth, ready;
without fence, without hedge, without wall,
but its face to the world:
I'd take a mower
on a task or by the acre,
whichever he'd prefer,
or paid by the day.
***
Breathnach thinks the "An Spealdoir" (by which it is commonly known in Ireland) title stems from this verse.
***
In America, the melody was included in New Windsor, Connecticut, musician Giles Gibbs' MS collection of 1777, Henry Beck's flute manuscript of 1785 (pg. 56), and Clement Weeks' collection of dances made in 1783. It was even preserved in a chime clock of the period manufactured by New Windsor, Connecticut, clockmaker Daniel Burnap. The tune remains a popular staple at New England contra dances to this day. In other American traditions, the title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. Similarly, in modern times in the United States the tune has been assumed into Texas fiddling tradition, probably derived from Canadian or Midwestern sources (Guthrie Meade & Mark Wilson).
***
Sources for notated versions: "loosely based on the playing of Dave Swarbrick" (England) [Phillips/1989]; piper Seamus Ennis (Ireland) [Breathnach]; from "an old music book of 1723" [Bunting]; from a MS collection by fiddler Lawrence Leadley, 1827-1897 (Helperby, Yorkshire) [Merryweather & Seattle]; Ruthie Dornfeld and James Chancellor [Phillips/1995]; accordion player Johnny O'Leary (Sliabh Luachra region of the Cork-Kerry border), recorded at a recital at Na Píobairí Uilleann, February, 1981 [Moylan]; fiddler Dawson Girdwood (Perth, Ottawa Valley, Ontario) [Begin]. Aird (Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs), volume I, No. 190 (appears as "Come ashore Jolly Tar"). Begin (Fiddle Music in the Ottawa Valley: Dawson Girdwood), 1985; No. 22, pg. 37. Breathnach (CRE III), 1985; No. 221, pg. 101. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 81. Carlin (Master Collection), 1984; pgs. 163-164, No.'s 291-292 (arrangements by John Kimmel). Harding's All Round Collection, 1905; No. 52, pg. 16. Jarman, Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes; No. or pg. 23. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book), Vol. 1, 1951; No. 27, pg. 14 [note for note the same as Raven's version]. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 4; No. 282, pg. 30. Merryweather & Seattle (The Fiddler of Helperby), 1994; No. 28, pg. 35. Mulvihill (1st Collection), 1986; No. 26, pg. 96 (appears as "Cuckoo's Nest No. 1," identical to O'Neill's 1850 2nd setting). O'Neill (1915 ed.), 1987; No. 321, pg. 158. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; pg. 205 (two settings). O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; Nos. 1733 & 1734, pg. 322. O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1907/1986; No. 913, pg. 156. O'Sullivan/Bunting, 1983; No. 110, pgs. 157-158. Phillips (Fiddlecase Tunebook), 1989; pg. 14. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 2, 1995; pg. 188. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 177 (appears as "The Cuckoo's Nest {New}" and is the same version as O'Neill's second setting). Roche Collection, 1982; Vol. II, pg. 19 and Vol. 3, pg. 60, No. 170. Russell (The Piper's Chair), 1989; pg. 26 (appears as "The Man that cuts the Hay with the Scythe"). Sannella, Balance and Swing (CDSS). Stanford-Petrie (Complete Collection), 1905; No. 1206. Seattle (William Vickers), 1987, Part 2; No. 289. Folkways FS 3809, Dan White and John Summers- "Fine Times at Our House." Fretless 103, "Clem Myers: Northeast Regional Old Time Fiddle Champion 1967 & 1970." Fretless 201, Jerry Robichaud- "Maritime Dance Party" (1978). Front Hall 017, Michael and McCreesh- "Dance, Like a Wave of the Sea" (1978. Learned from the playing of Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbrick). Kicking Mule 204, Pat Dunford- "The Old-Time Banjo In America." Rounder 0046, Mark O'Conner- "National Junior Fiddle Champion." Rounder 0060, Brother Oswald and Charlie Collins- "Oz and Charlie." Sonet SNTF 764, Dave Swarbrick and Friends- "The Ceilidh Album." Tara Records 1009, Seamus Ennis - "The Fox Chase" (1977).
T:Cuckoo's Nest, The [14]
L:1/8
M:C|
R:Hornpipe
S:O'Neill - 1001 Gems (913)
K:G
dc|BABA GBdg|fdcB cedc|BABG FGAB|c2A2 A2dc|
BABA GBdg|fdcB cedc|BABG FGAc|B2G2G2:|
|:Bc|dBGB dBGB|dcBA G2 AB|cAFA cAFA|cBAG F2BA|
GABc d2g2|fdcB cedc|BABG FGAc|B2G2G2:|
|:Bc|dggf gabg|afd^c d2 de|=fede ^fgaf|gfdB cedc|
BABA GBdg|fdcB cedc|BABG FGAc|B2G2G2:|
DOHERTY'S (REEL) [2]. AKA and see "All Around the World," "Cooley's," "The Connemara Rake," "Doherty's," "Grehan's," "John Doherty's," "Johnny Doherty's," "Jolly Beggar," "The Knotted Chord" [2], "Matt Molloy's," "The Mistress," "Mot Malloy," "Tinker Doherty's," "The Wise Maid" [1].
DINGLE REGATTA. AKA and see "Jazzing with Meaig Leary," "Tom Billy's Favourite." English, Jig; Irish, Slide (12/8 time). Ireland, West Kerry. G Major. Standard. AABB (Cranitch, Mac Amhlaoibh & Durham): AABBCC (Kuntz, McNulty, Tubridy). The "Dingle Regatta" name comes from Seán Ó Riada, according to guitarist Paul de Grae, who used it as part of the score for his film The Playboy of the Western World. It was the signature tune for Ó Riada's band, Ceoltóirí Cualann, from which developed Ireland's most famous traditional band, the Chieftains, for their first radio appearances on Radio Éireann in the early 1960's (Glatt, The Chieftains, 1997). Unfortunately, the tune as played by the group was 'totally inaccurate':
***
Paddy Moloney smiles at the memory. 'I gave that tune to Seán
spontaneously at one of the rehearsals but unfortunately I mixed
up two tunes and got the second part of it wrong. It didn't matter
though because it blended beautifully and become our theme tune
that was played at the beginning of every show Ceoltóirí Cualann
ever did. (pg. 47).
***
"Dingle Regatta" has become a 'pub tune' if ever there was; one hearing and you think you've known it all your life. A pub session tradition has grown up around the tune in which the third part is sometimes sung with out words, though in many circles the 'ya-da-duh-da-da-da' singing is by now considered a hackneyed bore. Kevin Finnegan, formerly of the Liverpool Céilí Band has recently remarked that this 'dittying' to the melody originated as a joke. He says:
***
The members of the band got along famously and when playing at ceili's
etc. and did many strange things to enjoy the 'craic'. For example, it was
not unusual for us to suddenly start changing seats while in the middle of
a tune. It brought a great response from dancers when they'd look up to the
stage and see Eamon Coyne (fiddle) walking around to change chairs with
Frank Horan(button box) who was sitting behind him. Or to see Charlie
Lennon (fiddle) switching places with Sean Murphy(banjo). It brought a
great sense of camaraderie and fun to the group. Another favourite activity
of each of the players was to suddenly stand up and straight back down
again in sequence across the stage. This might be condemned by some
'purists' but it always added to the 'craic' and certainly didn't hurt the
musical ability of the band - we still won two All-Irelands and countless
other honours. As part of the craic the "hi-ho" stuff started in the early sixties
as just another part of the fun we had playing together. It was not confined to
the "Dingle Regatta" - as you will hear if you listen to the two LP's we made
in the mid-sixties with Decca Records. In fact, like changing chairs, we did
it fairly regularly with a number of tunes but I never heard another band
do it until after our records came out. When we were in London recording
the Lp's we started the Hi-Ho as a laugh during the recording session and
never intended for it to come out on the final record - but the producer
loved it and asked us to leave it on that particular track. That's the
story of the Hi-ho sound. Of course it was always enhanced by the fact
that most of us did partake of a few sups of the 'black milkshake'
throughout the night so I'm sure that the bobbing up and down, the
chair switching and the hi-ho were somewhat as a result of our love
of the 'porter' !!!
***
An untitled quadrille (no. 45b) in John Moore's c. 1837-1840 MS (Ashman, 1991) resembles parts of this tune. Cranitch (Irish Fiddle Book), 1996; No. 21, pg. 133. Kuntz, Private Collection. Mac Amhlaoibh & Durham (An Pota Stóir: Ceol Seite Corca Duibne/The Set Dance Music of West Kerry), No. 68, pg. 40. McNulty (Dance Music of Ireland), 1965; pg. 18. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, Vol. 1), 1999; pg. 28. Topic, - "Kerry Fiddles" (appears as a two-part tune called "Tom Billy's Favourite").
T:Dingle Regatta, The
L:1/8
M:6/8
K:G
dBd e2d|BAB d2B|A2A AGA|B2A G2B|dBd e2d|BAB d2B|AGA B2A|G3 G2B:|
|:d2 d def|g3 gfg|a2a aga|b2a gfe|d2d def|g2g gab|a2g f2e|1 def g2e:|2 def g2d||
|:g3 ded|BdB G3|FGA DEF|G2B def|g3 ded|BdB G3|FGA DEF|1 G3 G2d:|2 G3 G2B||
FIRE ON/IN THE MOUNTAIN [1]. AKA and see "Sambo," "Hog-Eye," "Betty Martin." Old-Time, Bluegrass; Breakdown. USA, widely known. A Major ('A' part) & D Major ('B' part). Standard, AEAE or ADAE. AAB (Brody, Krassen): AABB (Lowinger): AABB' (Phillips/1994). The tune usually goes at breakneck speed, giving rise to popular folklore for the reason for its name: the fiddler plays so fast the fiddle catches on fire and lights up the woods (Lowinger, 1974). The title may be Celtic in origin: Scottish clans often used blazing bonfires on highland hills as gathering signals (ironically, this also may be the origin for the Ku Klux Klan's blazing crosses). Krassen (1973) notes his 'B' part has similarities with a 78 RPM recording of Pope's Arkansas Mountaineers' "Hog-eyed Man," and Bayard (1981) also recognizes the similarity between the second parts of the same tunes, though a closer match to "Fire On the Mountain" he believes to be "Betty Martin," which is "reminiscent all through." Guthrie Meade (1980) links the Kentucky version of the tune (which also goes by the name "Big Nosed Hornpipe") to the "Sally Goodin'" family of melodies. Winston Wilkinson, in the Southern Folklore Quarterly (vol. vi, I, March, 1942), gives a bar-for-bar comparison of the tune with a Norse 'halling' tune, set by the Norwegian composer Greig and published in Copenhagen in 1875 (Norges Melodier, 1875 & 1922, iv, pg. 72). The tunes are so close as to be almost certainly cognate. Bayard records the tune's earliest American publication date is 1814 or 1815 in Riley's Flute Melodys (where it appears as "Free on the Mountains"), and as "I Betty Martin" in A. Shattuck's Book, a fiddler's manuscript book dating from around 1801. The piece was recorded in the early 1940's from Ozark Mountain fiddlers by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph for the Library of Congress. Lowe Stokes (1898-1983), one of the north Georgia band 'The Skillet Lickers' fiddlers, remembered it as having been fiddled by his father.
***
Verses are sometimes sung to the melody, especially in the variants by other names such as "Betty Martin," "Pretty Betty Martin" and "Hog-eye." Wilkinson (1942) says that the following verse made its way into some editions of Mother Goose:
***
Fire on the mountains, run, boys, run,
Fire on the mountains, run, boys, run.
***
Other verses (some of which are floating) have been:
***
Fire on the mountain, run boy run;
Sal, let me chaw your rosin some.
***
Fire on the mountain, run, boys, run;
Fire on the mountain till the day is done.
***
Fire on the mountain, water down below;
Never get to heaven 'less you jump Jim Crow.
***
Fire on the Mountain, fire on the hillside
Fire on the Mountain, run, boys, run.
***
Old Uncle Cyrus fished all night,
Never caught a fish on a crawfish bite.
***
Old mother Taylor she drinks whiskey,
Old mother Taylor she drinks wine.
Old mother Taylor she got drunk,
Swung across the river on a pumpkin vine.
***
Two little Indians lying in bed,
One turned over and the other one said,
Fire on the mountain coming son,
Fire on the mountain run boy run.
***
Two little Indians and their squaw
Sittin' on a mountain in Arkansas.
***
All little Indians gonna drink whisky
All little Indians gonna get drunk.
***
Sources for notated versions: Highwoods String Band (N.Y.) [Brody]; Gid Tanner & the Skillet Lickers (Ga.) [Krassen]; Clayton McMichen (Ga.) [Kaufman]; James H. "Uncle Jim" Chisholm (Greewood, Albermarle County, Virginia) [Wilkinson]. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 106. Kaufman (Beginning Old Time Fiddle), 1977; pgs. 76-77. Krassen (Masters of Old Time Fiddling), 1973; pg. 72. Lowinger (Bluegrass Fiddle), 1974; pg. 17. Phillips (Fiddlecase Tunebook), 1989; pg. 18. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 85. Wilkinson, Southern Folklore Quarterly, Vol. VI, pg. 9). Spandaro (10 Cents a Dance), 1980; pg. 39. Briar 4202l, The Kentucky Colonels- "Living In the Past." Brunswick 470 (78 RPM), The Red-Headed Fiddlers (1929). CMH 9006, Benny Martin- "The Fiddle Collection." Columbia 15185-D (78 RPM), Riley Puckett (fiddled by Clayton McMichen). County Records, Kyle Creed and Fred Cockerham. Flying Fish 065, Buddy Spicher- "Me and My Heroes" (appears as the third tune of 'Fiddle Tune Medley'). King Records (78 RPM), Curley Fox (Greysville, Tennessee). Library of Congress Records, The Red-Headed Fiddlers - "Dance Music, Breakdowns and Waltzes." Morning Star 45004, Ted Gossett's String Band (western Ky.) - "Wish I Had My Time Again" (originally recorded Sept., 1930, probably with fiddling by Tommy Whitmer instead of Ted Gossett, although the recording was issued under the band name Buddy Young's Kentuckians). OKeh 45068 (78 RPM), John Carson. Rounder 0023, Highwoods String Band- "Fire On the Mountain." Rounder 0035, Fuzzy Mountain String Band- "Summer Oaks and Porch" (1973. Learned from Henry Reed, Glen Lyn, Va.). Rounder 0197, Bob Carlin - "Banging and Sawing" (1985. Appears as "Far in the Mountain," learned from the Red-Headed Fiddler's record). Rounder C-11565, Bob Potts & Walt Koken - "Rounder Fiddle" (1990). Starday SLP 235, Curly Fox {Ga.} (1963). Stoneway 148, E.J. Hopkins- "Fiddle Hoedown." Vetco LP 104, Clayton McMichen - "The Wonderful World of Old-Time Fiddlers" (orig. rec. 1928). In the repertoire of black string band John Lusk Band (as "Sambo") from the Cumberland Plateau region of Ky./Tenn.
T:Fire on the Mountains
L:1/8
M:2/2
S:James H. "Uncle Jim" Chisholm, Greenwood, Albermarle County, Va.
K:A Mixolyidan
efed c2A2|B2G2B2d2|efed c2A2|B2G2 A4:|
|:efed c2d2|e2f2g2g2|efed c2d2|e2a2 a4:|
GREHAN'S. AKA and see "All Around the World," "Cooley's," "The Connemara Rake," "Doherty's," "Grehan's," "John Doherty's," "Johnny Doherty's," "Jolly Beggar," "The Knotted Chord" [2], "Matt Molloy's," "The Mistress," "Mot Malloy," "Tinker Doherty's," "The Wise Maid" [1].
IRISH GIRL, THE [3]. Irish, Air (4/4 time). A Major. Standard. One part. "This beautiful air, and the accompanying words, I have known since my childhood. I have copies of the song on broadsheets, varing a good deal, and much corrupted. The versions I give here of air and words are from my own memory, as sung by the old people of Limerick whin I was a child. More than half a century ago I gave this air to Dr. Pertie: and it is included in the Stanford-Petrie collection of Irish music, with my name acknowledged. But the words, as I give them here, have hitherto never been published though I have seen very corrupt versions in print" (Joyce). This melody served as the vehicle for many a folksong in the English speaking world, and versions have been collected in Canada, America and Australia. Cazden (et al, 1982) notes that several lumbercamp ditties were sung to it, including "Peter Emberley," some versions of "The Jam at Gerry's Rock," "The Farmer's Son and the Shanty Boy," and his Catskill Mountain (New York) collected "Adieu to Prince Edward's Isle." Phillips Barry identifies the tune strain for another Irish song in Petrie's collection, #498, "The Maid of Timahoe."
***
As I walked out one evening down by a river side,
While gazing all around me an Irish girl I spied;
A rosy red was on her cheeks, and coal-black was her hair;
And costly were the robes of gold this Irish girl did wear.
***
Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Song), 1909; No. 382, pg. 190.
T:Irish Girl [3]
L:1/8
M:C
S:Joyce - Old Irish Folk Music
K:A
E|A3B c2E2|=G2A2 ED CD|E2 FG A2A2|A4 z2B2|c2A2c2d2|(e3c) d2 ed|
C2 BA AG ED|E4 z2 AB|c2A2c2d2|e2 ec d2 ed|c2B2 AG ED| E4 z2 (3EFG|
A3B c2E2|=G2 A^G ED CD|E2 FG A2A2|A4 z2||
JOHN DOHERTY'S REEL [1] (Ríl Sheáin Uí Dhochartaigh). AKA and see "All Around the World," "Cooley's," "The Connemara Rake," "Doherty's," "Grehan's," "John Doherty's," "Johnny Doherty's," "Jolly Beggar," "The Knotted Chord" [2], "Maids of Mullaghmore," "Matt Molloy's," "The Mistress," "Mot Malloy," "Tinker Doherty's," "The Wise Maid" [1]. Irish, Reel. Ireland, County Donegal. D Major. Standard. AB. John Doherty was a famous fiddler from County Donegal, born into a family of hereditary musicians and travelling tinsmiths in 1900. The family travelled extensively throughout Donegal plying their trade and sharing music with the community; they were said to have had a vast repertoire. Only three brothers, Simey, Mickey and John, were ever recorded, with John the best known. Source for notated version: fiddler Paddy Glackin (Ireland) [Breathnach]. Breathnach (CRE III), 1985; No. 149, pg. 70. Gael-Linn Records CEF 018, John Kelly & Willie Clancy - "Seoda Ceoil I" (1968). Gael-Linn CEF060, "Paddy Glackin." Green Linnett GLCD 1137, Altan - "Island Angel" (1993).
JOHNNY DOHERTY'S REEL [1]. AKA and see "All Around the World," "Cooley's," "The Connemara Rake," "Doherty's," "Grehan's," "John Doherty's," "Johnny Doherty's," "Jolly Beggar," "The Knotted Chord" [2], "Matt Molloy's," "The Mistress," "Mot Malloy," "Tinker Doherty's," "The Wise Maid" [1].
JOLLY BEGGAR [2]. AKA and see "All Around the World," "Cooley's," "The Connemara Rake," "Doherty's," "Grehan's," "John Doherty's," "Johnny Doherty's," "Jolly Beggar," "The Knotted Chord" [2], "Matt Molloy's," "The Mistress," "Mot Malloy," "Tinker Doherty's," "The Wise Maid" [1]. Irish, Reel. Shanachie 79009, "Planxty." Shanachie 79012, Planxty - "The Planxty Collection" (1974).
KATY HILL [1]. AKA- "Going Around the World," "Sally Johnson." Old-Time, Bluegrass; Breakdown. USA; Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, northeast Alabama, Missouri, Nebraska. G Major. Standard. AABB (Christeson, Lowinger, Phillips): AB (Brody). North Carolina fiddler Tommy Jarrell told an interviewer in 1982 he thought the melody derived from "Piney Woods Gal," and that "Sally Johnson" was in turn derived from "Katy Hill": "There's three tunes played just about like that, right there" (Peter Anick, "An Afternoon with Tommy Jarrell," Fiddler Magazine, Spring 1995). The tune was popularized by Tennessee's Fiddlin' Arthur Smith, but it was also known as a signature tune of north Georgia fiddler Lowe Stokes (1898-1983). Stokes recalled his father playing the tune but he actually learned it from Alabama fiddler Joe Lee (b. 1883, Etowah County, Alabama), a man who influenced that generation of north Georgia fiddlers including the great Clayton McMichen. Lee was, Stokes declared in an interview printed in 1982 (in Tony Russell's Old Time Music), the "best old time fiddler I ever heard, but he couldn't win a prize to save his life," due to the degree of the performance anxiety he suffered from when on stage. The tune was listed in reports (1926-31) of the De Kalb County (northeast Alabama) Annual (Fiddlers') Convention (Cauthen, 1990).
***
Randolph County, West Virginia, fiddler Woody Simmons (b. 1911) told his version of the tale of the great bluegrass fiddler Chubby Wise's audition with Bill Monroe to Goldenseal magazine in 1979. Wise, who lived in Florida, heard on Saturday night that Monroe's regular fiddler, Big Howdy Forrester, was going to be inducted into the army on Monday. He drove to Nashville that night, sought out Monroe's venue, and asked to see the bandleader. He was shown in back behind a curtain and there was Monroe:
***
He went in there and asked...'I hear you need a fiddle player.' Bill said, 'Yes I do.' Said, 'Can you play?' Said, 'Yes.' Said, 'How about playing me a hoedown.' He said, 'All right.' Said he played Katy Hill. Monroe said to him, he said, 'How about playing one of my songs that I sing, and let me sing and you play it.' And he said he done Footprints in the Snow. Bill said, 'Where's your clothes at?' So he fiddled for him for several years" (Mountains of Music, John Lilly ed., 1999, pg. 23).
***
Sources for notated versions: Alan Block [Phillips]: Bob Walters (Burt County, Nebraska) [Christeson]: Kenny Baker [Brody, Phillips]. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 154. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, Vol. 1), 1973; pg. 100. Lowinger (Bluegrass Fiddle), 1974; pg. 20. Phillips (Fiddlecase Tunebook), 1989; pg. 25. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 130. Caney Mountain Records CEP 213 (privately issued extended play LP), Lonnie Robertson (Mo.), c. 1965-66. CMH 6237, Paul Warren- "America's Greatest Breakdown Player." Columbia 15620-D (78 RPM), 1930, Lowe Stokes (North Georgia). County 538, Charlie Monroe- "On the Noonday Jamboree- 1944" (appears as "Going Around the World"). County 745, John Ashby (Va.) - "Down on Ashby's Farm." County 750, Kenny Baker- "Grassy Fiddle Tunes." Heritage XXIV, Smokey Valley Boys - "Music of North Carolina" (Brandywine, 1978). Heritage XXXIII, The Puryear Brothers Band - "Visits" (1981. Learned from the Ithaca, N.Y., Correct Tone String Band). RCA Camden CAL-719, Bill Monroe- "The Father of Bluegrass Music." Rounder 0089, Oscar and Eugene Wright - "Old-Time Fiddle and Guitar Music from West Virginia" (learned from Fiddlin' Arthur Smith). Rounder CD 0371, Mac Benford & the Woodshed All-Stars - "Willow" (1996). Voyager 301, Bill Long- "Fiddle Jam Session." Voyager 340, Jim Herd - "Old Time Ozark Fiddling."
T:Katy Hill
M:2/4
L:1/16
Q:122
C:Trad.
R:Reel
A:Missouri
D:As recorded by Cyril Stinnett on his album "Cyril Stinnett Plays His
D:Favorite Old Time Tunes.'
Z:B. Shull, trans.; R.P. LaVaque, ABC
K:G
d2-|:d2g(a bg)a(g|eg)d(g ea)ge|d(eg)(a bg)a(g|e)d-[dg][eg]- [d3g3]e-|!
gdg(a bg)a(g|eg)d(g ef)g(a|ge)d(B A)(GEG)|(DE)GB A([GB][G2B2]):|!
|:[G3B3]G A(GE)(F|G)(AB)d e(fge)|(dB)GB A(GE)(G|DE)GB A[GB][G2B2]|!
[G3B3]G A(GE)(F|G)(AB)d e(fga)|(ge)d(B A)(GE)G|(DE)GB A([GB][G2B2]:|!
[G3B3]G A(GE)(F|G)(AB)d e(fga)|(ge)d(B A)(GE)G|(DE)GB A(FG2:|!
KNOTTED CHORD, THE [2]. AKA and see "All Around the World," "Cooley's," "The Connemara Rake," "Doherty's," "Grehan's," "John Doherty's," "Johnny Doherty's," "Jolly Beggar," "The Knotted Chord" [2], "Matt Molloy's," "The Mistress," "Mot Malloy," "Tinker Doherty's," "The Wise Maid" [1]. Caoimhin Mac Aoidh asserts that the "Wise Maid" became known in some areas as "The Knotted Chord" after being printed under this title in a Comhaltas Celtiori Eirinnen publication in the 1970's.
MACPHERSON'S LAMENT. AKA and see "Antarctic Ice," "Macpherson's Rant," "Macpherson's Farewell," "McFarsance's Tes(ta)ment," "MacFossett's Farewell," "The Freebooter." Scottish (originally), English; Air or Lament. England, Northumberland. F Major (Gow, Neil): G Major (Hardie, Skinner): D Major (Lerwick): A Major (Carlin). Standard. AB (Skinner): ABCD (Hardie): AABBCCDD (Gow, Neil): ABCDEF (Lerwick). Though there is no proof, the melody is popularly thought to have been composed by one of Scotland's first so called fiddle composers, the legendary James Macpherson, "on the eve of execution, by Himself, 1700" (Skinner). It appears in a manuscript by an anonymous publisher, c. 1730, under the title "MacFossett's Farewell," and, still earlier, in the Margaret Sinkler Manuscript (1710) under the title "McFarsance's Tes(ta)ment." MacPherson was born in Banffshire about 1675, the son, it is said, of a beautiful gypsy woman and a Highland laird, MacPherson of Invershire, Inverness-shire. He was raised by his father who unfortunately died young, at which time he went to live with his mother (whose good looks he had inherited, though perhaps he acquired his immense physical presence and strength from his father). As MacPherson grew to adulthood he was lured to the wilder life and became the leader of a lawless gypsy roving band, and he developed a reputation as a freebooter who operated in the counties of Aberdeen, Banff and Moray. Highwaymen were not rare in Scotland, and once he was captured and condemned it is likely he would have been forgotten, but MacPherson insured his lasting fame with a grand gesture on the cold November morning of his execution (11/7/1700) on the scaffold at Market Cross in Banff.
***
Though various legends differ in the details the main thread has MacPherson, with his fiddle in his hand, stepping onto the platform whereupon he took up his bow and proceeded to play his last communication to the world, his rant (or sometimes three tunes: "MacPherson's Rant," "MacPherson's Pibroch" and "MacPherson's Farewell"). At the conclusion of his performance he offered his violin to the assembled spectators (or, as one version goes, "to anyone in the crowd who would think well of him"), but either no one was brave enough to take it from the hands of a condemned man, or he had no well-wishers in attendance, or no one wished to implicate themselves by receiving the instrument. He looked around scornfully, lifted the fiddle and broke it over his knee in a grand gesture of contempt, though (as if the shattering were not dramatic enough) some versions have him dashing the instrument over the head of his executioner and flinging himself headlong off the scaffold and into oblivion. At least one version has him throwing the pieces of the instrument into his awaiting grave, though the broken remains of the fiddle he supposedly played that day can be seen in the Macpherson Clan Museum at Newtonmore.
***
It seems the best legends are those that embroider true facts, and that a freebooter named MacPherson was hanged in Banff in 1700 is a matter of record. It is a matter of belief, however, that he composed and played the rant which now bears his name. Alburger (1983) finds that there is no contemporary evidence that the outlaw was a fiddler, much less a composer:
***
Turning to the trial records, published in 1846, one finds this sole reference
to MacPherson and anything musical: 'M'Pherson...wes one night in the
house at that tyme, and drunk with the res, and danced all night.' The only
musician mentioned in this account is Peter Broune, who 'went sometymes
to Elchies, and played on the wiol' and 'got money sometyms for playing on
the wiol...' (He may have been one of the 'Browns of Kincardine' referred to
later in this chapter as early strathspey players and composers.) Nor is the
earliest broadside helpful. 'The Last Words of James Macpherson, Murderer',
printed about 1705, contains nothing about the dramatic gesture with which
he is thought to have ended his life, and nothing about fiddling. Apparently
there is a later version, which adds to the title the words 'To its own proper
tune'. It is quite likely that the tune was written after the event to suit the
broadside, for it fits the words perfectly...It may be that over the years
tradtional memory fused MacPherson's story with the musical facts about
Peter Broune, who was on trial at the same time.
***
There is another legend also connected with the execution which states that the local powers that were, being cognisant that a reprieve was on the way, moved the town clock ahead one hour so that it would arrive only after the hanging. Neil (1991) reports that the magistrates of the town were punished for this perfidious act for many years in that they were forced to keep the town clock 20 minutes behind the right time, and remarks that even to this day jests are still made about the veracity of the time in Banff. Collinson (1966, pgs. 210-211) also gives a similar thorough treatment of the legend of the highwayman and his melody.
***
The title appears in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes ("The Northern Minstrel's Budget"), which he published c. 1800. Robert Burns also wrote a famous song to the tune, called "MacPherson's Farewell," which begins
***
Farewell, ye dungeons dark and strong,
The wretch's destinie!
MacPherson's time will not be long
On yonder gallows-tree.
Sae rantingly, sae wantonly,
Sae dauntingly gaed he,
He play'd a spring, and danc'd it round
Below the gallows-tree.
***
D.K. Wilgus, in his article "The Hanged Fiddler Legend in Anglo-American Tradition," finds evidence of an earlier MacPherson in Ireland with an almost identical story. He cites a chapbook called The Lives and Actions of the Most Notorioius Irish Highwaymen Tories and Rapparees, from Redmond O'Hanlon to Cahier Na Gappul, printed in Dublin in the early 19th century which contains a section entitled "Some Passages of the Life of Strong John Macpherson, a notorious Robber." The chapbook relates that the Irish highwayman, at the age of nineteen inherited:
***
A pretty little income1/4which he made a shift to spend in the company of
pert women and gamesters, in less than three years, during which he was
always a leading man at hurlings, patrons, and matches of foot-ball1/4He
was accounted in his time the strongest man in the nation; he could hold
a hundred weight at arms' length in one hand, and would make little or
nothing of twisting a new horse-shoe round like a gad; yet nothwithstanding
all this activity he was soon reduced to poverty, and so, from one step after
another, brought to the gallows1/4He was never known to murder anybody;
nay he was very cautious of striking unless in his own defence; though in
his time he committed more robberies single handed by far than Redmond
O'Hanlon did, with whom he was acquainted, but with none of his gang.
However, he was at last taken by treachery, and after being tried and found
Guilty was despatched by the common finisher of the law about 1678. As
he was carried to the gallows, he played a fine tune of his own composing
on the bagpipe, which retains the name of Macpherson's tune to this day.
***
Carlin (Master Collection), 1984; No. 131, pg. 81. Gow (Complete Collection), Part 1, 1799; pg. 4. Hardie (Caledonian Companion), 1992; pg. 115. Lerwick (Kilted Fiddler), 1985; pg. 76-77. Neil (The Scots Fiddle), 1991; No. 80, pg. 107. Skinner (The Scottish Violinist, includes the 'traditional' and 'unwritten' melodies), pg. 40.
T:MacPherson's Lament
L:1/8
M:C
S:Gow - 1st Repository
K:F
(C/D/E)|F3G F2A2|GFGA {A}G2FE|F3G (AG)(FE)|{E}D4 D2 (C/D/E)|F3G F2A2|
{A}G>FGA {A}G2FE|F2 ED (GE)(FD)|C4 C2:|
|:d2|c2F2c2d2|c3A (GA)Bd|c2F2(c2d2)|D4 ~D2d2|c2F2c3A|{A}c3A (GB)AG|
F2 ED (GE)(FD)|C4 C2:|
|:(c/d/e)|f3g f2a2|{a}gfga {a}g2 fe|f3g (ag)fe|d4 d2 (c/d/e)|f3g f2a2|{a}gfga {a}g2fe|
f2 ed (ge)(fd)|c4c2:|
|:a>g|f2F2 (BA)(GF)|{AB}c2 F2F2 a>g|f2 F2 (c2d2)|D4 ~D2 a>g|
f>F (F2 {EF}A>)F (F2{EF})|{=B}c3A G2A2|F2 EF (GF)(ED)|C4 C2:|
MATT MOLLOY'S [1]. AKA and see "All Around the World," "Cooley's," "The Connemara Rake," "Doherty's," "Grehan's," "John Doherty's," "Johnny Doherty's," "Jolly Beggar," "The Knotted Chord" [2], "Matt Molloy's," "The Mistress," "Mot Malloy," "Tinker Doherty's," "The Wise Maid" [1]. Irish, Reel. D Major. Standard. AABB. A version of the tune usually known as "The Wise Maid." Sources for notated versions: fiddler Sean McGuire (Ireland) [Miller & Perron]; flute player Matt Molloy [Bulmer & Sharpley]. Bulmer & Sharpley (Music from Ireland), Vol. 4, No. 19. Miller & Perron (Irish Traditional Fiddle Music), 1977; Vol. 1, No. 12 (appears as "Mot Malloy").
MISTRESS, THE. AKA and see "All Around the World," "Cooley's," "The Connemara Rake," "Doherty's," "Grehan's," "John Doherty's," "Johnny Doherty's," "Jolly Beggar," "The Knotted Chord" [2], "Matt Molloy's," "The Mistress," "Mot Malloy," "Tinker Doherty's," "The Wise Maid" [1].
SOLDIER'S JOY [1] (Lutgair An Sigeadoir/t-Saigdiura). AKA and see "French Four" [3], "I Am My Mamma's Darlin' Child," "John White," "The King's Head," "The King's Hornpipe," "(I) Love Somebody," "Payday in the Army," "Rock the Cradle Lucy." Old-Time, Bluegrass, American, Canadian, English, Irish, Scottish; Breakdown, Scottish Measure, Hornpipe, Reel, Country Dance and Morris Dance Tune. D Major (almost all versions): G Major (Bacon, Bayard-Simmons). Standard or ADAE. AB (Athole, Bayard-Simmons, Shaw): AABB (most versions): ABCDE (Cooke {Ex. 54}). One of, if not the most popular fiddle tune in history, widely disseminated in North America and Europe in nearly every tradition; as Bronner (1987) perhaps understatedly remarks, it has enjoyed a "vigarous" life. There is quite a bit of speculation on just what the name 'soldier's joy' refers to. Proffered thoughts seem to gravitate toward money and drugs. In support of the latter is the 1920's vintage Georgia band the Skillet Lickers, who sang to the melody:
***
Well twenty-five cents for the morphene,
and fifteen cents for the beer.
Twenty-five cents for the old morphene
now carry me away from here.
***
Bayard (1981) dates it to "at least" the latter part of the 18th century, citing a version that has become standard in Aird's 1778 collection (Vol. 1, No. 109_) and Skillern's 1780 collection (pg. 21). John Glen (1891) and Francis Collinson (1966) maintain the first appearence in print of this tune is in Joshua Campbell's 1778 A Collection of the Newest and Best Reels and Minuets with improvements. It has been attributed to Campbell himself but Collinson notes it is hardly likely as it is a well known folk dance tune in other countries of Europe. There is also a dance by the same name which is "one of the earliest dances recorded in England, but no date of origin has been established. It is still done in Girton Village as part of a festival dance. The tune is also well known in Ireland" (Linscott, 1939). The melody was used in North-West England morris dance tradition for a polka step, and also is to be found in the Cotswold morris tradition where it appears as "The Morris Reel," collected from the village of Headington, Oxfordshire. The Scots national poet Robert Burns set some verses to the tune which were published in his Merry Muses of Caledonia. In the first song of Burns' cantata, The Jolly Beggars, by the soldier, is to the tune of "Soldier's Joy." Early versions of "Soldier's Joy" can be traced to a Scottish source as far back as 1781; variants can be found in Scandanavia, the French Alps, and Newfoundland (Linda Burman-Hall, "Southern American Folk Fiddle Styles," Ethnomusicology, Vol. 19, #1, Jan. 1975).
***
In America the melody is ubiquitous. It was cited as having commonly been played for country dances in Orange County, New York, in the 1930's (Lettie Osborn, New York Folklore Quarterly), and Bronner (1987) confirms it was a popular piece at New York square dances in the early 20th century. The title appears in a repertoire list of Norway, Maine, fiddler Mellie Dunham (the elderly Dunahm {b. 1853} was Henry Ford's champion fiddler in the late 1920's). Musicologist Charles Wolfe (1982) says it was popular with Kentucky fiddlers. The tune was recorded for the Library of Congress by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, from the playing of Ozark Mountain fiddlers in the early 1940's, and, for the same institution by Herbert Halpert in 1939 from the playing of Mississippi fiddlers John Hatcher, W.E. Claunch and Stephen B. Tucker. It was also recorded by legendary Galax fiddler Emmett Lundy, and is listed as one of the tunes played at a fiddlers' convention at the Pike County Fairgrounds, Alabama (as recorded in the Troy Herald of July 6, 1926) {Cauthen, 1990}. Arizona fiddler Kenner C. Kartchner said: "Every fiddler plays this. Some not so good" (Shumway). Burchenal prints a New England contra dance of the same name with the tune. Tommy Jarrell, the influential fiddler from Mt. Airy, North Carolina, told Peter Anick in 1982 that it was a tune he learned in the early 1920's when he first began learning the fiddle, at which time it was known as "I Love Somebody" in his region. Soon after it was known in Mt. Airy as "Soldier's Joy" and, after World War II, as "Payday in the Army." Another North Carolina fiddler, African-American Joe Thompson, played the tune in CFGD tuning. Gerald Milnes (1999, pg. 12) remarks that tune origins were of significant value to West Virginia musicians who often tried to trace tunes to original sources. It was the first tune learned by Randolph County, W.Va., fiddler Woody Simmons (b. 1911). Braxton County fiddler Melvin Wine (1909-1999), says Milnes, used family lore to attribute the tune to his great-grandfather, Smithy Wine, of Civil War era. Smithy, it seems, had been detained by the Confederates in Richmond under charges of aiding Union soldiers. Although imprisoned, his captors found out he was a fiddler and made him play for a dance, and Smithy later associated the tune with this incident, calling it "Soldier's Joy." For further information see Bayard's (1944) extensive note on this tune and tune family under "The King's Head." During a Senate campaign in the 1960's the piece was played to crowds by Albert Gore Sr., the fiddling father of the Vice President during the Clinton administration (Wolfe, 1997).
***
In England, the title appears in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes ("The Northern Minstrel's Budget"), which he published c. 1800. The novelist Thomas Hardy, himself an accordionist and fiddler, mentions the tune in his Far From the Madding Crowd:
***
'Then,' said the fiddler, 'I'll venture to name that the right
and proper thing is 'The Soldier's Joy' - there being a
gallant soldier married into the farm - hey, my sonnies,
and gentlemen all?' So the dance begins. As to the merits
of 'The Soldier's Joy', there cannot be, and never were,
two options. It has been observed in the musical circles
of Weatherbury and its vacinity that this melody, at the
end of three-quarters of an hour of thunderous footing,
still possesses more stimulative properties for the heel
and toe than the majority of other dances at their first opening.
***
At the turn into the 20th century the melody was in the repertoire of fiddler William Tilbury (who lived at Pitch Place, midway between Churt and Thursley, Surrey), the last of a family of village fiddlers who had learned his repertoire from an uncle, Fiddler Hammond (died c. 1870), who had taught him to play and who had been the village musician before him. The author of English Folk-Song and Dance concludes that "Soldier's Joy" was enjoyed in the tradition of this southwest Surry village about 1870, and was one of a number of country dances which survived well into the second half of the 19th century (pg. 144).
***
Some of the lyrics which have been sung to the tune are:
***
Chicken in the bread tray scratchin' out dough,
Granny will your dog bite? No, child, no.
Ladies to the center and gents to the bar,
Hold on you don't go too far.
***
Grasshopper sittin on a sweet potato vine, (x3)
Along come a chicken and says she's mine.
***
I'm a-gonna get a drink, don't you wanna go? (x3)
Hold on Soldier's Joy.
***
Twenty-five cents for the malteen,
Fifteen cents for the beer;
Twenty-five cents for the malteen,
I'm gonna take me away from here.
***
Love somebody, yes I do, (x3)
Love somebody but I won't say who.
***
Refrain
Dance all night, fiddle all day,
That's a Soldier's Joy. (Kuntz)
***
In Newfoundland, it is sometimes known as "John White" and sung accompanied by the fiddle or accordion:
***
Did you see, did you see, did you see John White?
Did you see, did you see, did you see John White?
Did you see, did you see, did you see John White?
He's gone around the harbour for to stay all night.
He's gone around the harbour for to get a dozen beer.
He's gone around the harbour and he won't be coming here.
He's gone around the harbour for to get a cup of tea.
If you sees him will you tell him that I wants he?
***
Sources for notated versions: John Carson and The Skillet Lickers (North Georgia) [Kuntz]; J.S. Price (Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma) [Thede]; Ben Smith (Dixon, Missouri) [Christeson]; Willie Woodward (Bristol, N.H.) [Linscott]: Floyd Woodhull (1976), Woodhull's Old Tyme Masters (1941), Pop Weir (c. 1960) {three versions from central New York State} [Bronner]; Bobbie Jamieson (Cullivoe, Yell, Shetland) [Cooke]; George Sutherland (Bressay/Vidlin, Shetland) [Cooke]; Lorin Simmons (Prince Edward Island, Canada, 1930's), James Marr (elderly fiddler from Missouri, 1949), twenty southwestern Pa. fifers and fiddlers [Bayard]; Richard Greene with Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys [Phillips]; a c. 1837-1840 MS by Shropshire musician John Moore [Ashman]; Elliot Wright (b. 1935, Flat River, Queens County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]; fiddler Dawson Girdwood (Perth, Ottawa Valley, Ontario) [Begin].
Adam, 1928; No. 2. Ashman (The Ironbridge Hornpipe), 1991; No. 86b, pg. 35. Bacon (The Morris Ring), 1974; pg. 197. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; Appendix No. 1A-B, pgs. 571-572, and No. 332A-S, pgs. 303-310. Begin (Fiddle Music from the Ottawa Valley: Dawson Girdwood), 1985; No. 47, pg. 56. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 262. R.P. Bronner (Old-Time Music Makers of New York State), 1987; No. 12, pgs. 71-72 and No. 25, pg. 110. Burchenal (American Country Dances, Vol. 1), 1918; pg. 6. Carlin (English Concertina), 1977; pgs. 40-411. Cazden (Dances from Woodland), 1945; pg. 19. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers' Repertory, Vol. 2), 1984; pg. 61. Cole (1001 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 24. Cooke (The Fiddle Tradition of the Shetland Isles), 1986; Ex. 54, pg. 112 and Ex. 55, pg. 113. DeVille, 1905; No. 76. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 49. Harding Collection (1915) and Harding's Original Collection (1928), No. 20. Honeyman (Strathspey, Reel and Hornpipe Tutor), 1898; pg. 9. Howe (School for the Violin), 1851; pg. 37. Howe (Diamond School for the Violin), pg. 41. Jarman (Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes), No. or pg. 23. Kaufman (Beginning Old Time Fiddle), 1977; pg. 40. Karpeles & Schofield (A Selection of 100 English Folk Dance Airs), 1951; pg. 7. Kennedy (Fiddler's Tune Book), Vol. 1, 1951; No. 4, pg. 2. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; Set 1, No. 6, pg. 3. Krassen (Appalachian Fiddle), 1973; pg. 15 and 45 (latter includes a 'A' part variation by Charlie Higgins {Galax, Va}). Kuntz (Ragged but Right), 1987; pg. 295-296 (two versions). Lerwick (Kilted Fiddler), 1985; pg. 21. Linscott (Folk Songs of Old New England), 1939; pg. 110-111. Lowinger (Bluegrass Fiddle), 1974; pg. 22. McGlashan (Collection of Scots Measures), c. 1780; pg. 32. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; pg. 38. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; pg. 183. O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; No. 1642, pg. 305. O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1907/1986; No. 868, pg. 150. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; pg. 71. Phillips (Fiddlecase Tunebook), 1989{A}; pg. 38. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 227 (two versions). Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 166 (appears as "King's Head"). Reiner (Anthology of Fiddle Styles), 1979; pg. 37 (includes several variations). Robbins, No. 56. Roche Collection, 1982, Vol. 2; No. 216, pg. 12 (appears as a hornpipe). Ruth (Pioneer Western Folk Tunes), 1948; No. 7, pg. 4 (an alternate title is given as "King's Head"). Shaw (Cowboy Dances), 1943; pg. 383. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 150. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964; No. or pg. 43. Sym, 1930; pg. 13. Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; pg. 118. Trim (Thomas Hardy), 1990; No. 43. Wade (Mally's North West Morris Book), 1988; pg. 17. White's Excelsior Collection, 1907; pg. 72. Bluebird 5658-B (78 RPM), Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers (North Ga.) {1934}. Caney Mountain Records CEP 210 (extended play LP, privately issued), Lonnie Robertson (Mo.), c. 1965-66. Columbia 191-D (78 RPM), Samantha Bumgarner {recorded as "I Am My Momma's Darlin' Child"). Columbia 15538 (78 RPM), Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers. County 405, "The Hillbillies." County 506, The Skillet Lickers- "Old-Time Tunes. County 514, Gid Tanner's Skillet Lickers- "Hell Broke Loo"se in Georgia" (Originally recorded in 1934). County 756, Tommy Jarrell- "Sail Away Ladies." Edison 52370 (78 RPM), 1928, John Baltzell (appears as "Soldier's Joy Hornpipe") {Baltzell was a native of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, as was minstrel Dan Emmett (d. 1904). Emmett returned to the town in 1888, poor, but later taught Baltzell to play the fiddle}. Flying Fish 102, New Lost City Ramblers - "20 Years/Concert Performances" (1978). Folk Legacy Records FSA-17, Hobart Smith - "America's Greatest Folk Instrumentalist." Folkways FA 2381, "The Hammered Dulcimer as played by Chet Parker" (1966). Folkways FA 2492, New Lost City Ramblers - "String Band Instrumentals" (1964. Learned from Hobart Smith). Fretless 132, "Ron West: Vermont Fiddler." June Appal 007, Tommy Hunter - "Deep in Tradition" (1976. Learned from his grandfather, fiddler James W. Hunter, Madison County, N.C.). Library of Congress (2738-B-2), 1939, recording by Herbert Halpert of the Houston Bald Knob String Band (Franklin County, Va.). Mississippi Department of Archives and History AH-002, Stephen B. Tucker - "Great Big Yam Potatoes: Anglo-American Fiddle Music from Mississippi" (1985). Morning Star 45003, Taylor's Kentucky Boys - "Wink the Other Eye: Old Time Fiddle Band Music from Kentucky" (1980. Originally recorded in 1927). Revonah RS-924, "The West Orrtanna String Band" (1976). Rounder 0070, The Kentucky Colonels- "1965-1967." Rounder 0073, The White Brothers- "Live in Sweden." Rounder 1003, Fiddlin' John Carson- "The Old Hen Cackled and the Rooster's Goin' to Crow." Tradition TLP 1007, Lacey Phillips - "Instrumental Music of the Southern Appalachians," 1956. United Artists 9801, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken." Voyager VRCD 344, Howard Marshall & John Williams - "Fiddling Missouri" (1999). Bob Smith's Ideal Band - "Ideal Music" (1977). "Fiddlers Three Plus Two." "The Caledonian Companion" (1975).
X:1
T:Soldiers' Joy [1]
L:1/8
M:C|
R:Country Dances
B:The Athole Collection
K:D
dB|AFDF AFDF|A2d2d2cB|AFDF AFDF|G2E2E2FG|AFDF AFDF|
A2d2d2fg|afdf gece|d2D2D2||
ag|fdfg a2gf|ecef g2ag|fdfg a2 gf|edcB A2ag|fdfg a2gf|ecef g2fg|
afdf gece|d2D2D2||
X:2
T:Soldier's Joy
L:1/8
M:C|
S:Kuntz - Ragged but Right
N:From the playing of Fiddlin' John Carson
K:D
(3dcB|A2 FF D2 FF|A2 BA d2 dB|ABAG FGFD|E2 E4 (#G|
A2) FF DEFD|A2 BA d3 (e|f2) ff efec|d2 d4 (3dcB|A2 FF D2 FF|
ABAF dBAF|ABAG FGFD|E2 E4 (^G|A2) FE DEFD|A2 BA d3e|
f2 ff efdc|d2 d4||
|:A2|d2 f2 abaf|e2 ef g2 ge|d2 df abaf|edcB A3A|
d2f2 abaf|edef g2 ge|fafd egec|d2 d4:|
TINKER DOHERTY. AKA and see "All Around the World," "Cooley's," "The Connemara Rake," "Doherty's," "Grehan's," "John Doherty's," "Johnny Doherty's," "Jolly Beggar," "The Knotted Chord" [2], "Matt Molloy's," "The Mistress," "Mot Malloy," "Tinker Doherty's," "The Wise Maid" [1].
WANT TO GO TO MEETING AND GOT NO SHOES. Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Mississippi. A Major. AEAC#. AABBC. The melody of the first phrase is similar to "Johnson Gals." The tune is better known as "Calico" from the rhyme:
***
Don't care where in the world I go,
Can't get around for the calico.
***
Tom Rankin (1985) believes the title "Want to go to Meeting and Got No Shoes" is "almost certainly" the second line of a rhyme as well. The source, Frank Kittrell (b. 1871) of Lauderdale County, Mississippi, learned the tune from his uncle David Kittrell of the same county and recalled going to a party when he was ten years old (c. 1881) and hearing his uncle fiddle it while a cousin seconded on the straws. In 1939, when he recorded the tune, he told one of the collectors that, "Nowadays, they are playing 'Turkey in the Straw' and all this classical stuff." Mississippi Department of Archives and History AH-002, Frank Kittrell - "Great Big Yam Potatoes: Anglo American Fiddle Music from Mississippi" (1985. Originally recorded for the Library of Congress in 1939).
WISE MAID, THE [1] (An Ghearrchaile Chríonna). AKA and see "All Around the World," "Cooley's," "The Connemara Rake," "Doherty's," "Grehan's," "John Doherty's," "Johnny Doherty's," "Jolly Beggar," "The Knotted Chord" [2], "Matt Molloy's," "The Mistress," "Mot Malloy," "Tinker Doherty." Irish, Reel. D Major. Standard. AABB (Brody, Cranitch, Flaherty, Moylan, Mulvihill, Taylor): AA'BB (Breathnach). Taylor (1992) remarks the tune "probably ranks amongst the top twenty most widely-known Irish reels." The tune is associated with Donegal fiddler John Doherty, though he probably did not compose it (despite its being attributed to him by Larry McCullough in his Whistle Tutor). The melody was popularized by Galway accordion player Joe Cooley, according to both Caoimhin Mac Aoidh and Peter Wood, as well as by its appearance on an album by the band Planxty. Sources for notated versions: Galway accordion player Joe Cooley (Ireland) [Breathnach]; fiddler Michael Lennihan (b. 1917, Kilnamanagh, in the Frenchpark area of County Roscommon) [Flaherty]; accordion player Johnny O'Leary (Sliabh Luachra region of the Cork-Kerry border), recorded in concert at Na Píobairí Uilleann, November, 1990 [Moylan]; set dance music recorded at Na Píobairí Uilleann in the 1980's (Taylor/Yellow); Jack Coen [Mulvihill]. Breathnach (CRE III), 1985; No. 158, pg. 73. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 293. Cranitch (Irish Fiddle Book), 1996; No. 52, pg. 145. Flaherty (Trip to Sligo), 1990; pg. 89. Moylan (Johnny O'Leary), 1994; No. 168, pg. 97. Mulvihill (1st Collection), 1986; No. 200, pg. 54. Taylor (Crossroads), 1992; No. 36, pg. 26. Taylor (Music for the Sets: Yellow Book), 1995; pg. 2. Treoir II, 4; pg. 11 (appears as untitled tune). Green Linnet 1022, Garrai Eon II Ceili Band- "Irish Music: The Living Tradition, Vol. 2." Green Linnet SIF-1067, The Tannahill Weavers - "Land of Light" (1986). Gael-Linn Records CEF 044, Joe Cooley - "Cooley" (1975). Nimbus NI 5320, Ciaran Tourish et al. - "Fiddle Sticks: Irish Traditional Music from Donegal" (1991). Polydor 2383 397, Planxty- "Planxty Collection." Shaskeen - "My Love is in America."
T:Wise Maid, The
T:Doherty's
R:reel
C:trad
B:The Fiddler's Fakebook
M:C|
L:1/8
Q:1/2=90
K:D
|:"D"~F3G FEDE|FAAB AFED|d2 (3efg fdec|"A"dBAF BEED|
"D"~F3G FEDE|FAAB AFED|d2 (3efg fdec|[1"A"dBAG "D"FDDE:|
[2"A"dBAG "D"FDDA||
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