BALLINDOWN BRAES. Irish, Air (3/4 time). Ireland, Ulster. G Minor. Standard. AB. "I have known this air and part of the song from boyhood days, when I learned them from an Ulster girl. But Mr. McKenzie's setting is better than mine" (Joyce).
***
Being young like myself-O, he said he would be
Both father and mother and all things to me;
He would dress me in silks and in satins so fine,
And the bright gold and silver in my tartan should shine.
Cho:
But false was his heart-O, and false were his ways;
He decoyed me far far from sweet Ballindown Braes.
***
Source for notated version: "Mr. J. McKenzie of Newtownards, a great lover of Irish Music and of the corresponding folk songs, sent me the (air) about 30 years ago" (i.e. 1875). Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Songs), 1909; No. 322, pg. 150.
T:Ballindown Braes
L:1/8
M:3/4
S:Joyce - Old Irish Folk Music
K:G Minor
GA|B2B2G2|F2F2G2|B2B2c2|d4 Bc|d2f2c2|d3 cBG|c3B G2|G4 GA|
B2B2G2|F2F2G2|B2B2c2|d4 Bc|d2g2c2|d3 cBG|c3B G2|G4||
GA|B2D2D2|F2D2D2|B2B2c2|d4 Bc|d2f2c2|d3 cBG|c3B G2|G4||
CAPTURE OF SERINGAPATAM, THE. Scottish. This melody appears in William Campbell's 16th Book of Strathspey Reels, Waltz's, and Irish Jiggs (c. 1801), though it was not composed by him but by Duncan MacIntyre. MacIntyre was a Scotsman who had gone to India and who probably served as a Master of Ceremonies to the Governor-General's Court, though little else is known of him. There was a Battle of Seringapatam in 1809, a great victory for the British in honor of which the Honourable East India Company awarded medals for all those who took part--gold for generals, silver for all other officers, bronze for non-commissioned officers and tin for privates (Farwell, 1981).
DRUNKEN HICCUPS [1]. AKA- "Drunkard's Hiccups," "Drunken Hiccoughs." AKA and see "Rye Whiskey," "Jack of Diamonds," "Way Up on Clinch Mountain," "Clinch Mountain," "The Mocking Bird" (Pa.), "My Name is Dick Kelly" (Ire.), "The Lame Beggar" (Ire.), "The Cuckoo" (Ford). Old-Time, Texas Style; Air, Waltz, Jig, and Song Tune (3/4 time). USA; Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, Arizona. A Major. AEAC# (Brody, Jarrell, Reiner & Anick, Shumway): AEAE (Ford). AABCC (Brody, Ford, Thede): AA'BB'CC'DD' (Reiner & Anick, Shumway). Paul Clayton identifies the tune as "old and of English origin." Arizona fiddler Kartchner called it a "favorite from the South." The tune was recorded for the Library of Congress from Ozark Mountain fiddlers in the early 1940's by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph. It was listed by the Tuscaloosa News of March 28, 1971, as one of the specialty tunes of Tuscalosa, Alabama, fiddler "Monkey Brown," who frequently competed in fiddlers' contests in the 1920's and 30's (Cauthen, 1990), and it was recorded by Herbert Halpert for the Library of Congress in 1939 on two separate occasions by Mississippi fiddlers Charles Long and W.E. Claunch. Mt. Airy, North Carlolina, fiddler Tommy Jarrell knew the melody as a show piece in a repertoire heavy with dance tunes, having learned it from his father, Ben Jarrell (who recorded it with Frank Jenkins in 1927). Ben Jarrell, according to Tommy, had the tune from "old man" Houston Galyen at Low Gap, North Carolina. Bayard (1981) states it was a vocal piece before it was an instrumental one, and identifies the following songs from the British Isles and America as using the tune: "Johnnie Armstrong," "Todlen Hame," "Bacach," "Robi Donadh Gorrach," "The Wagoner's Lad," "Clinch Mountain," "The Cuckoo," "Rye Whiskey," "Jack of Diamonds," "Saints Bound for Heaven," "Separation," "John Adkins' Farewell." Instrumental variations from the British Isles he has identified include "Drunk at Night and Dry in the Morning" (noted variously in 3/4 and 6/8 time) and "Lude's Lament." Two and a half pages of the song can be found in "The Oxford Book of Light Verse." In Pennsylvania, reported Bayard, it was customary for fiddlers to sing the repeated line:
***
Oh, I will never get drunk anymore!
***
to the first (or sometimes second) strain. Most American versions include a part that is supposed to suggest hiccups.
***
I'm a rambler and a gambler a long ways from home,
And them that don't like me can leave me alone.
***
I'll take up my fiddle and rosin my bow,
I'll make myself welcome wherever I go.
***
I'll eat when I'm hungry and drink when I'm dry,
If a tree don't fall on me I'll live till I die.
***
Its beefsteak when I'm hungry and whiskey when I'm dry,
Money when I'm hard up, sweet heaven when I die.
***
I'll cross the wide ocean my fortune to try,
And when I get over I'll sit down and cry.
***
It isn't the long journey that troubles me so,
Its leavin' the darlin' I've courted so long.
***
Hic-cough, O Lawdy, how bad do I feel,
Hic-cough, O Lawdy, how bad do I feel.
***
Rye whiskey, rye whiskey, you're no friend to me,
You killed my poor daddy, goddam you try me.
***
Raw whiskey, raw whiskey, raw whiskey, I cry,
Sweet heaven, sweet heaven, whenever I die. (Thede)
***
Rye Whiskey, rye whiskey, rye whiskey I crave,
If I don't get rye whiskey I'll go to my grave.
***
I eat when I'm hungry, and drink when I'm dry,
And if whiskey don't kill me I'll live till I die. (Ford)
***
Way out on Clinch Mountain I wander alone,
Drunk as the devil and can't find my home.
***
Oh Lordy, how drunk I do feel {Hic}
Oh Lordy how sleepy I feel. (Clayton)
***
Played cards in England, I've gambled in Spain,
Goin' back to Rhode Island, Gonna' play my last game.
***
I'll tune up my fiddle, and rosin the bow,
Make myself welcome, wherever I go.
***
Jack o' diamonds, jack o' diamonds, I know you from old,
Robbed by poor pockets of silver and gold.
***
Corn whiskey and pretty women, they've been my downfall,
Beat me and they bang me, but I love them for all.
***
My shoes is all tore up, my toes're stickin out,
Don't get some corn whiskey, I'm agoin' up the spout.
***
Gonna' beat on the counter, or I'll make the glass ring,
More brandy, more brandy, more brandy to bring.
***
Gonna' drink I'm gonna' gamble, my money is my own,
Them that don't like me can leave me alone. (T. Jarrell)
***
Sources for notated versions: Benny Thomasson (Texas) [Brody]; 'old man' Houston Galyen (Low Gap, N.C.) via Ben Jarrell via his son Tommy Jarrell (Mt. Airy, N.C.) [Reiner & Anick]; Louise and W.S. Collins (Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma) [Thede]; Kenner C. Kartchner (Arizona) [Shumway]; Emery Martin (Dunbar, Pa., 1946) [Bayard]; John Wolford (elderly fiddler from Fayette County, Pa., 1944) [Bayard]; Mary Ann Rogers (elderly fiddler from Greene County, Pa., 1930's) [Bayard]. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 646, pgs. 566-567. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 92. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 126. Reiner & Anick (Old Time Fiddling Across America), 1989; pg. 93. Ruth (Pioneer Western Folk Tunes), 1948; No. 17, pg. 8. Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; pg. 54-55. County 519, Reaves White County Ramblers - "Echoes of the Ozarks, Vol. 2." County 723, Tommy Jarrell - "Down at the Cider Mill" (appears as "Jack of Diamonds"). County 756, Tommy Jarrell (N.C.) - "Sail Away Ladies" (1976). Rounder 0421, Bruce Molsky - "Big Hoedown" (1997. Appears as "Clyde's Hiccups" as version was from Clyde Davenport). Voyager 304, Ora Spiva- "More Fiddle Jam Sessions" (appears as "Rye Whiskey"). County 724, Benny Thomasson (Texas) - "Country Fiddling." Tradition Records TLP1007, Hobart Smith - "Instrumental Music of the Southern Appalachians" (1956). Recorded for Victor in 1928 by Jilson Setters (as Blind Bill Day) {b. 1860, Rowan County, Ky.} under the title "Way Up on Cinch Mountain."
T:Drunkard's Hiccoughs
T:Rye Whiskey
L:1/8
M:3/4
S:Viola "Mom" Ruth - Pioneer Western Folk Tunes (1948).
K:G
(GA)|:B2G2 (GE)|D2B,2D2|E2G2G2|B4(GA)|B2G2 (GE)|D2B,2D2|
E2G2A2|G4 (GA):|
|:G2A2 (Bc)|d2G2A2|B2c2B2|A4 (GA):|
B2G2(GE)|D2B,2D2|E2G2A2|G4 B,2||
|:C[CE] [CE][CE][CE][CE]|B,[B,D] [B,D][B,D][B,D][B,D]|
E[B,G [B,2G2] [B,2G2]|[G4B4] B,2|C[CE] [CE][CE][CE][CE]|
B,[B,D] [B,D][B,D][B,D][B,D]|E2G2A2|[B,4G4]:|
GOLD AND SILVER. AKA and see "Silver and Gold Two-Step."
GOLD AND SILVER WALTZ. American?, Waltz. D Major. Standard. AB. 'A' part composed by Franz Lehar, 'B' part anonymous. Source for notated version: Johnny Givens [Hinds]. Hinds/Hebert (Grumbling Old Woman), 1981; pg. 29. Alcazar Dance Series ALC 201, Jerry Robichaud - "Maritime Dance Party" (1978). Fretless FR201, Jerry Robichaud - "Maritime Dance Party."
RYE WHISKEY [1]. AKA and see "Drunken Hiccups." Old-Time, Waltz or Song tune. USA; Arkansas, Arizona. A Major. AEAC#. The tune is from an old and distinguished family originating in the British Isles, but well-known in America (see notes for "Drunken Hiccups"). The tune features pizzicato, or plucked, notes. Arizona fiddler Kenner C. Kartchner, who knew the tune, "converted the usual EAEA tuning to standard" (Shumway). The usual tuning however, is AEAC#. The tune was recorded for the Library of Congress from musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph from Ozark Mountain fiddlers in the early 1940's. The title is from a song set to the tune:
**
Rye whiskey, rye whiskey, rye whiskey I cried,
If I don't have rye whiskey I surely will die.
Other lyrics go:
**
I'll eat when I'm humgry, I'' drink when I'm dry;
If the hard times don't kill me I'll live till I die.
**
Beefsteak when I'm hungry, red liquor when I'm dry,
Greenbacks when I'm hard up and religion when I die.
**
Jack o' diamonds, jack o' diamonds, I know you of of old,
You've robbed my poor pockets of silver and gold.
**
Oh Whiskey, you villian, you've been by downfall;
You've kicked me, you,ve cuffed me, but I love you for all.
**
If the ocean was whiskey and I was a duck,
I'd dive to the bottom and get one sweet suck.
**
But the ocean ain't whiskey and I ain't a duck,
So we'll round up the cattle and then we'll get drunk.
**
An interesting black variant was printed by the African-American collector Thomas Talley in his 1922 book Negro Folk Rhymes, although the song mostly appears in white collections. Talley's version, called "I'll Eat When I'm Hungry," goes:
**
I'll eat when I'se hongry,
An' I'll drink when I'se dry;
An' if de whitefolks don't kill me,
I'll live till I die.
**
In my liddle log cabin,
Ever since I'se been born;
Dere hain't been no nothin'
'Cept dat hard salt parch corn.
**
But I knows whar's a henhouse,
An' de tucky he charce;
An' if ole Mosser don't kill me,
I cain't never starve.
**
County 202, "Eck Robertson: Famous Cowboy Fiddler." Marimac 9054, The Ill-Mo Boys - "Fine as Frog Hair" (1995).
SILVER AND GOLD TWO-STEP. Old-Time, Canadian; Two-Step or Polka. USA; Nebraska, New England. D Major. Standard. AB (Christeson): ABB (Messer): AABB (Welling). Tony Parkes and Steve Woodruff (1980) suspect the tune may be of French-Canadian origin. Source for notated verison: Bob Walters (Burt County, Nebraska) [Christeson]. R.P. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, Vol. 1), 1973; No. 196, pg. 145. Messer (Way Down East), 1948; No. 96. Messer (Anthology of Favorite Fiddle Tunes), 1980; No. 183, pg. 125. Sannella, Balance and Swing (CDSS). Welling, 1976; pg. 6. Alcazar Dance Series FR 203, Rodney Miller - "New England Chestnuts" (1980. Learned from caller Duke Miller). F&W Records 1, "F&W String Band." Smithsonian Folkways SFW CD 40126, Rodney Miller - "Choose Your Partners: Contra Dance & Square Dance Music of New Hampshire" (1999. This version learned from caller Ralph Page, who "probably learned it from a recording made by the Canadian fiddler Don Messer").
SILVER THREADS AMONG THE GOLD. Bluegrass, Air. USA, Mo. D Major (Brody): G Major (McMahan). Standard. AA'B. The tune was also featured by Curly Fox on his WSM radio broadcasts. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 257. County 770, Kenny Baker- "Frost on the Pumpkin." Missouri State Old Time Fiddlers Association 001, Pete McMahan (Mo.) - "Ozark Mountain Waltz."