AULD LANG SYNE. Scottish, Air (2/4 time) or Strathsepy. F Major (Neil): A Major (Stewart-Robertson). Standard. AABB. Robert Burns (1759-1796) had the air to which he wrote his famous lyrics from an old man's singing, and immediately wrote it down upon hearing as he thought it "exceedingly expressive" and which he later remarked "has often thrilled through my soul." The song was sent by him to Johnson for inclusion in the Scots Musical Museum with a note that it was an old song with additions and alterations (Neil, 1991). Fuld (1966) states that the extent of Burns' responsibility for the words and tune has always been controversial, and states that it is "generally agreed that he was not the author of the words of the first verse," which he points out is the only one everyone knows. According to Robert Chambers [Scottish Songs Prior to Burns, 1890], the earliest printing of a song called "Old-Long-Syne" [sic] with the famous opening line is in James Watson's Scots Poems, Part III, pg. 71 (Edingburgh, 1711). Chambers wrote that he song appears "as early as the reign of Chas. I, its associations conveyed in a song of many (10) stanzas", finally "brought together (in Watson's book) in a song of many stanzas." In fact, there were ten stanzas given in Scots Poems. These early printings, including Burns' version, were to melodies other than the air famous in modern times (interestingly, Burns wrote another song to the "Auld Lang Syne" melody that is substantially the one we know today, which he called "O Can Ye Labor Lea, Young Man," also known as "I Fee'd a Man at Martinmas," found in the Scots Musical Museum [Edinburgh, 1792-1793]).
***
Fuld finds identifying motifs for the modern melody for "Auld Lang Syne" in Playford's "The Duke of Bucclugh's Tune" in Appolo's Banquet (1687), and subsequently and more elaborately as "The Miller's Wedding" (in Bremner's Scots Reels, c. 1765), "The Miller's Daughter," "The Lasses of the Ferry," "Sir Alexander Don's Strathspey," "Roger's Farewell," and the "Overture" to William Shield's opera Rosina (London, 1783). The words and the present melody were first printed together in 1799 in George Thompson's A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs (London), but, Fuld states, "it is not clear whether Thomson or Burns brought the words and melody together," and it is not clear exactly which air Burns heard the aforementioned old man singing.
***
Stewart-Robertson prints a strathspey version of the tune arranged by John MacAlpin of Killin, for dancing. Ludwig van Beethoven arranged a setting of "Auld Lang Syne" early in the 19th century.
***
As a young man Mark Twain thought to learn music and tried first one instrument, then another, before finally settling down with an accordion. After determining its rudiments, he learned the popular air "Auld Land Syne," and for about a week he continued to torture his unwilling listeners with the melody, when he, being of an ingenious turn of mind, endeavored to improve upon the original melody by adding some variations of his own device. Just as he finished the tune with a suitable flourish, his landlady stepped into his room and said, "Do you know any other tune but that, Mr. Twain?" He told her meekly he did not. "Well then," said she, "stick to it just as it is; don't put any variations on it; because it is rough enough on the boarders the way it is now." As it happened, half the boarders left anyway, while the other half would have had not the landlady discharged Twain first. The aspiring musician went from house to house, but none would undertake to keep him after one night's music, so, at least, in sheer desperation he went to board with an Italian lady--Mrs. Murphy, by name. He says:
***
The first time I stuck up the variations, a haggard care-worn,
cadaverous old man walked into my room and stood beaming
upon me a smile of ineffable happiness. Then he placed his hand
upon my head, and looking devoutly aloft, he said with feeling
unction: "God bless you, young man! God bless you! for you
have done that for me which is beyond all praise. For year I
have suffered from an incurable disease, and knowing my doom
was sealed, and that I must die, I have striven with all my power
to resign myself to my fate, but in vain--the love of life was too
strong within me. But heaven bless you, my benefactor! For since
I heard you play that tune and those variations, I do not want to
live any longer--I am willing to die--in fact, I am anxious to die."
And then the old man fell upon my neck and wept a flood of happy
tears. I was surprised at these things, but I could not help giving the
old gentleman a parting blast, in the way of some peculiarly lacerating
variations, as he went out of the door. They doubled him up like a
jackknife, and the next time he left his bed of pain and suffering he
was all right, in a metallic coffin.
***
At last Twain gave up the instrument, and from then on gave amateur musicians a wide berth. Ashman (The Ironbridge Hornpipe), 1991; No. 72b, pg. 30. Neil (The Scots Fiddle), 1991; No. 189, pg. 244. Stewart-Robertson (Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 1.
T:Auld Lang Syne
L:1/8
M:C
N:"As arranged by John McAlpin, Killen"
B:The Athole Collection
S:Strathspey
K:A
E|A2A>c B>AB>c|AAA>a f2f>a|e<cc>A B>AB>c|A>FE>F A2A:|
|:a|e<cc>A B>AB>c|e<cc>e f>ga>f|e>cc>A B>AB>c|A>FE>F A2A:|
BASHFUL BACHELOR, THE [2] (An Baitsiléir Cúthail). AKA and see "Don't bother me," "The Moving Bog of Allen," "The Moving Bogs" (Na Portaigh Chreathacha), "Obelisk Hornpipe," "Rachel Rae," "Shaw's Reel," "Where Did You Find Her?" "The Wily Old Bachelor." Irish (originally), Canadian; Hornpipe. Canada, Prince Edward Island. G Major. Standard. AABB. Sources for notated versions: fiddler Paddy Cronin (Ireland) [Breathnach]; Wilfred Gotell, b. 1927 (Georgetown, Central Kings County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]. Allan's Irish Fiddler, No. 83, pg. 21. Breathnach (CRE III), 1985; No. 214, pg. 98. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; pg. 60. Outlet Records OAS 3002, Paddy Cronin - "Kerry's Own Paddy Cronin" (1977).
BIG JOHN McNEIL(L)/McNEAL. AKA and see "John McNeil/MacNeil." Canadian, American, Scottish; Reel. Canada, widely known. USA; New England, Missouri. A Major. Standard (or infrequently AEAE). AABB (Gibbons, Messer, Sweet): AABB' (Miller & Perron): AA'BB' (Begin, Perlman, Phillips). Though now known as a Canadian standard it originally was a reel composed (as "John McNeil") by the brilliant Scottish fiddler Peter Milne (1824-1908), one of J. Scott Skinner's teachers and early playing partners, who earned his living playing in theaters until his opium addiction (he abused laudanum, originally prescribed for rheumatism) reduced him to busking on ferry-boats crossing the Firth of Forth. He died in unpleasant circumstances in a mental institution. John McNeil was apparently a famous Highland dancer at the turn of the century. The melody was in the repertoire of Cyrill Stinnett, a fiddler who epitomised the 'North Missouri Hornpipe Style' of playing, who apparently learned it and other tunes from listening to Canadian fiddlers broadcasting on the radio from Canada. A similar melody is "Lord Ramsey's Reel." Perlman (1996) notes the tune is a popular tune on Prince Edward Island, and a favorite vehicle for stepdancing in Prince County, PEI, on the eastern part of the island. Sources for notated versions: Mex Sexsmith (British Columbia), who learned this "classic" reel in the 1940's from radio broadcasts and records by Don Messer and His Islanders (who recorded it in 1942) [Gibbons]; Jay Unger (West Hurley, New York) via Bud Snow (Putnam County, New York) who also learned it from Canadian fiddler Don Messer [Fiddle Fever]; Dawson Girdwood (Perth, Ontario) [Begin]. Francis MacDonald (b. 1940, Morell Rear, North-East Kings County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]. Begin (Fiddle Music in the Ottawa Valley: Dawson Girdwood), 1985; No. 5, pg. 19. Gibbons (As It Comes: Folk Fiddling From Prince George, British Columbia), 1982; No. 11, pgs. 28-29. Messer (Anthology of Favorite Fiddle Tunes), 1980; No. 12, pg. 79. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddlers Repertoire), 1983; No. 133. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; pg. 96. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, Vol. 1), 1994; pg. 23. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964; pg. 77. Condor 977-1489, "Graham & Eleanor Townsend Live at Barre, Vermont." Flying Fish FF 247, "Fiddle Fever" (1981). Fretless 101, "The Campbell Family: Champion Fiddlers." MCA Records MCAD 4037, "The Very Best of Don Messer" (1994). Rounder 0320, Bob Carlin & John Hartford - "The Fun of Open Discussion" (taught to Hartford in his early years by Missouri fiddler Gene Goforth).
T:Big John McNeil
L:1/8
M:C|
K:A
A,2CE FE CE|AE CE FE CE|A,2CE FE CE|FA GF ED CB,|
A,2CE FE CE|AE CE FE CB,|A,C B,D CE DF|EF Bd cA A2:|
|:eA fA eA cd|eA fA e2 (3agf|eA fA eA ce| de dc B2 cd|
eA fA eA cd|eA fA e2 fg|ag fe fe dc|1 de fg a2 cd:|2 BA GF ED CB,|]
BLUE MOUNTAIN HORNPIPE. Canadian, Reel. Canada; Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island. A Major. Standard. AABB (Messer): AA'BB' (Perlman). Credited to Cape Breton musician Cecil MacEachern, though popularized in the mid-20th century by the great Maritime fiddler Don Messer, who was born in New Brunswick. MacEachern was a member of Messer's Islanders band (who broadcast from Charlottetown, PEI) for some time. The tune is named for a mountain in Cape Breton. Source for notated version: Dennis Pitre (b. 1941, St. Felix, West Prince County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]. Messer (Anthology of Favorite Fiddle Tunes), 1980; No. 118, pg. 73. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; pg. 103.
COME YE OWER FRAE FRANCE. AKA and see "The Keys of the Cellar," "The Marchioness of Tweed-dale's Delight." English, Old Hornpipe (3/2 time). G Dorian. Standard. One part. Note: The song is a satire of the Hanoverian King George I ("Geordie Whelps"), who became King of England and Scotland in the 18th century. George transplanted to England an assortment of mistresses and characters, the fromer being impoverished gentlewomen from Germany, providing Jacobite songwriters with a broad target and much ribald glee. Several of these imported characters come in for derision: Madame Kilmansegge, Countess of Platen, is referred to as "The Sow" in many Jacobite songs, while the King's favorite mistress, the lean and haggard Madame Schulemburg (afterwards named Duchess of Kendall) was given the name of "The Goose". She is the
"goosie" in "Come Ye Ower Frae France," while the "blade" is one Count Koningsmark. John, Earl of Mar, was nicknamed "Bobbing John," an interesting character in Scottish history. Mar (1675-1732) was a disaffected Tory minister who had served as one of the Scots commissioners during the Union negotiations (to unite the kingdoms of Scotland and England), however, once it was passed he came to understand it was a terrible mistake. To remedy this he raised the Jacobite standard at Braemar in 1715 on behalf of James, the Old Pretender and became one of the leaders of the rebellion. Opposed by the The Duke of Argyll with 35,000 government troops, Mar and his clansmen fought at Sheriffmuir near Stirling in November, 1715. Although at first it appeared that the 'Highland Charge' would carry the day, the Hanoverian professionals wavered but held and eventually gained the upper hand, driving the Highlanders back into the mountains. By February, 1716, the rebellion was quelled and Mar sailed with James for France and permanent exile.
***
CAM YE O'ER FRAE FRANCE
***
Cam ye o'er frae France?
Cam ye down by Lunnon? (Lunnon = London)
Saw ye Geordie Whelps
And his bonny woman?
Were ye at the place
Ca'd the Kittle Housie? (Kittle Housie = Cat House or Brothel)
Saw ye Geordie's grace
Riding on a goosie?
***
Geordie he's a man
There is little doubt o't;
He's done a' he can
Wha can do without it?
Down there came a blade
Linkin' like my lordie; (Linkin' = tripping along)
He wad drive a trade
At the loom o' Geordie.
***
Though the claith were bad, (claith = cloth)
Blythly may we niffer; (niffer = haggle)
Gin we get a wab, (wab = length of cloth)
It makes little differ.
We hae tint our plaid, (tint = lost)
Bannet, belt and swordie,
Ha's and mailins braid -- (ha's and mailins = houses and farmlands)
But we hae a Geordie!
***
Jocky's gane to France,
And Montgomery's lady;
There they'll learn to dance:
Madame, are ye ready?
They'll be back belyue (belyue = quickly)
Belted, brisk and lordly;
Brawly may they thrive (brawly = well)
To dance a jig wi' Geordie!
***
Hey for Sandy Don!
Hey for Cockolorum!
Hey for Bobbing John,
And his Highland Quorum!
Mony a sword and lance
Swings at Highland hurdie; (hurdie = buttock)
How they'll skip and dance
O'er the bum o' Geordie!
***
Loesberg (Traditional Folksongs and Ballads of Scotland, Vol. 1), No. 1. COOK 038, Ewan MacColl - "Black and White." HR 102, Tannahill Weavers - "The Old Woman's Dance." Ossian OSS 103, Ewan MacColl - "The Jacobite Rebellions." Shanachie 79045, Steeleye Span - "Parcel of Rogues." Dick Gaughan - "No More Forever."
T:Come Ye Ower Frae France
L:1/4
M:3/2
K:G Dorian
BG GD G2|BG GB A/B/c/A/|BG G>D G2|{cB}AF FA A/B/c/A/|
Gg g>^f g2|Gg ga b/a/g|Gg a/g/f/e/ f2|{d}cA FA d/c/B/A/:|
COURTING THEM ALL ("Ag Suirid Iad Go Leir," "Ag Suirí Leo ar Fad" or "Da Siurad Go Leir"). AKA and see "The Bashful Bachelor Hornpipe," "Courting Them All," "Don't Bother Me," "The Moving Bogs (of Allen)," "Miss Rae's Reel," "Obelisk Hornpipe," "Rachel Rae," "Shaw's Reel," "Where Did You Find Her?" "The Wily Old Bachelor." Irish, English; Reel. D Major. Standard. AABB' (Breathnach, Kennedy, O'Neill/Krassen, Raven): AB (O'Neill/Krassen & 1001). Source for notated version: fiddler Kevin Burke & accordion player Jackie Daly (Ireland) [Breathnach]. Breathnach (CRE III), 1985; No. 199, pg. 58. Kennedy (Fiddler's Tune Book), Vol. 2, 1951; pg. 13 (appears as "Rachel Rae"). O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; pg. 149. O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; No. 1489, pg. 275. O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1907/1986; No. 713, pg. 126. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 178 (appears as "Rachel Rae"). Mulligan Records LUN 039, Keving Burke & Jackie Daly - "Eavesdropper" (1981).
T:Courting Them All
L:1/8
M:C|
R:Reel
S:O'Neill - 1001 Gems (713)
K:D
F|DF (3ABc d2 (3ABc|d2 fd ecAc|d2 Ac BAGF|EFGE FDDE|DF (3ABc d2 (3ABc|
d2 fd ecAc|d2 Ac BAGF|EFGE FD D2||c|d2 fd (3fga fd|g2 bg ecAc|d2 fd (3fga fd|
efge fddc|d2 fd (3fga fd|g2 bgt ecAc|d2 Ac BAGF|EFGE FD D2||
DON'T BOTHER ME (Na Bi A'm Bodarad). AKA and see "The Bashful Bachelor (Hornpipe)," "Courting Them All," "The Moving Bog(s of Allen)," "Miss Rae's Reel," "Obelisk Hornpipe," "Rachael Rae," "Shaw's Reel," "Where Did You Find Her?" "The Wily Old Bachelor." Irish, Reel. D Major. Standard. AAB (O'Neill/1850): AABB' (O'Neill/Krassen). O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; pg. 122. O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; No. 1342, pg. 251.
FLOP-EARED MULE [1]. AKA and see "Karo," "Asheville" (western N.C. title), "Big-Eared Mule," "Long-Eared Mule" (Don Messer's {Canada} title), "Lop-Eared Mule" (Pennsylvania), "Bluebell Polka," "College Schottische," "Detroit Schottische," "Ranger's Hornpipe," "Monkey in the Barbershop," "Hell Over the Mountain," "Peach Tree Limb," "Comin' Over the Mountain," "Hell Amongst the Slavish," "D-A Quadrille" (N.Y.). Old-Time, Bluegrass, Canadian, American; Schottische, Quadrille, Breakdown. USA, Widely known. G Major ('A' part) & D Major ('B' part) [G Major in Galax, Va., tradition]. Standard or ADAE. AAB. Mark Wilson (1978) believes the tune is a polka of probable Central-European origin, while Ford (1940) says the tune is derived from the "College Schottische," which it closely resembles. Actually, melodies from several traditions sound similar, as, for example, a Ukranian-American 78 RPM record from 1930 (Victor V-21034) called "Dowbush Kozak," the Irish tunes "The Curlew Hills" and "Little Pet Polka," as well as the English "Bluebell Polka." Bronner (1987) states that northern United States fiddlers often mentioned to him that the piece was an old-time tune for a schottische dance, also called "The Barn Dance," popular in New York state before World War II, though apparently that form of the tune was popular elsewhere in the country at the time (for example, Arizona fiddler Kenner C. Kartchner mentioned he played the melody in the early 1900's as a schottishe). Paul Gifford remarks that it seems reasonable to assume that Flop-eared Mule was derived from the "Detroit Schottische," a three-part melody written and published in 1854 by Adam Couse, a dancing master who owned a music store in Detroit. Other sources remark on the piece's popularity as a vehicle for the quadrille before the turn of the century. Bayard (1981 & 1944) believes "Flop-Eared Mule" to be a fairly modern tune, perhaps from the early 19th century, extremely popular in the South, and speculated that the tune spread north from there. It was recorded for the Library of Congress by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph in the early 1940's from Ozark Mountain fiddlers. The tune was in the repertories of Buffalo Valley, Pa., dance fiddler Harry Daddario, and of Black fiddler Cuje Bertram {Ky.} (as "Big-Eared Mule"). Sources for notated versions: Charles Hagan (Oakland, California) [Thede]; John Dingler and Milo Kouf, 1977 (New York State) [Bronner]; Robert Crow, Claysville, Pennsylvania, September 13, 1943 (learned in that region) [Bayard]; Clark Kessinger (W.Va.) [Phillips]. Adam, 1928; Nos. 25 & 34. Bayard (Hill Country Tunes), 1944; No. 56. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 164A-S, pgs. 101-107. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 108. Bronner (Old Time Music Makers of New York State), 1987; No. 42, pg. 162. Christeson (Old Time Fiddler's Repertory, Vol. 1), 1973; pg. 110. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 121 & 157. Howe (Diamond School for the Violin), 1861; pg. 56 (appears as "Detroit Schottische"). Messer (Anthology of Favorite Fiddle Tunes), 1980; pg. 44 (appears as "Long-Eared Mule"). Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, Vol. 1), 1994; pg. 89. Reiner (Anthology of Fiddle Styles), 1977; pg. 22 (appears as a schottisch). Ruth (Pioneer Western Folk Tunes), 1948; No. 24, pg. 10. Sannella, Balance and Swing (CDSS). Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; pg. 129. Bluebird 5658B (78 RPM), Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers (1934). Brunswick 346 (78 RPM), Lonnie Austin (1929). Cassette C-7625, Wilson Douglas - "Back Porch Symphony." County 733, Clark Kessinger- "The Legend of Clark Kessinger." County CO-CD-2711, Kirk Sutphin - "Old Roots and New Branches" (1994). Elektra 217, Weisberg and Brickman- "Folk Banjo Styles." F&W Records 4, "The Canterbury Country Orchestra Meets the F&W String Band." Folkways 8826, Per's Four--"Jigs and Reels." Folkways FA 2336, Clark Kessinger- "Fiddler." King 787, Reno and Smiley- "Banjo Special." Living Folk LFR-104, Allan Block - "Alive and Well and Fiddling." MCA Records MCAD 4037, "The Very Best of Don Messer" (1994). Paramount 3171 (78 RPM), 1929, Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers. Prize 498-02, Carl Jackson- "Bluegrass Festival." Recorded Anthology of American Music (1978) - "Traditional Southern Instrumental Styles." Rounder 0021, "Ola Belle Reed." Rounder Records, Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers - "The Kickapoo Medecine Show" (appears as 1st tune of the Kickapoo Medecine Show skit).
FOLDING DOWN THE SHEETS. AKA and see "Hanging Out the Sheets" (Ky. title), "Mackilmoyle," "Missouri Hornpipe," "Republican Spirit." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; southwestern Va., West Virginia, Kentucky. D Major. Standard or ADAE. AABB. A somewhat-similar tune, perhaps a version of the melody, appears under the title "Republican Spirit" in George P. Knauff's Virginia Reels, volume I (1839), and elsewhere the tune appears in mid-nineteenth century Elias Howe volumes as "Missouri Hornpipe." Canadian fiddlers, such as Don Messer, have a version of the melody (most similar in the 'B' parts) and call it "The Mackilmoyle." Most modern sources learned the tune from the playing of southwest Virginia fiddler Henry Reed (Glen Lyn, Va.), however, another set of "Folding Down the Sheets" was recorded in 1954 by Wyatt Insko from the playing of Floyd Burchett in Pike County, Kentucky. Reed told Alan Jabbour that he learned the tune from his mentor, Old Man Quince Dillion (who had been a fifer in the Mexican War), and from John Dillion and an unidentified "Falls", but that "all of 'em played it." Sources for notated versions: Henry Reed (Glen Lyn, Va.) [Krassen]; Henry Reed via Alan Jabbour with the Hollow Rock String Band [Phillips]. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 110. Krassen (Masters of Old Time Fiddling), 1983; pg. 91-92. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 91. Spandaro (10 Cents a Dance), 1980; pg. 8. Cassette C-7625, Wilson Douglas - "Back Porch Symphony." Kicking Mule 209, Bob Carlin- "Melodic Clawhammer Banjo." Kanawha 311, Hollow Rock String Band- "Traditional Dance Tunes." June Appal 028, Wry Straw - "From Earth to Heaven" (1978. Learned from Pete Vigour and Ellen Scherer).
T:Folding Down the Sheets
L:1/8
M:4/4
K:D
|:af|edcB ABc2 |dBAF D2EF|G4 F4|EDE2 A2:|
|:edef gfgf|Ace2 a4|A2a2A2g2|1edef e4:|2ede2d2|]
T:Folding Down the Sheets
L:1/8
M:4/4
S:Henry Reed, from a transcription by Alan Jabbour
K:D
(a/g/|f/)e/d/B/ e/d/c/A/ dF A/F/A/(d/|B/)G/B/(B/ A/)F/A/F/ A,2 D (a/g/|
f/)d/f/d/ e/c/e/c/ d[FA] A/F/A/d/|[D/B/]G/B/[G/B/] [D/A/]F/(A/F/) A,2 D2|
[A>e>](f g/f/)(g/f/) [A/e/]c/(e/f/4g/4) aa|c(e/c/ Bg (f/d/)(e/c/ d)d|
e(e/f/ g/f/)(g/f/) [A/e/]c/(e/f/4/g/4) aa|[c2e2] Bg f/d/e/c/ d2||
[A>e>]g|fd[Ae]c dF A/F/A/(d/|B/)G/B/(G/ D/F/)(A/F/) A,2 D2 e>(g|
f)d (e/c/)(e/c/) dF (A/F/)(A/d/)|(B/G/)(B/G/) (D/F/)(A/F/) A,2 D2|
e>(e/4f/4 g/f/)(g/f/) (e/c/)(e/f/) [A2a2]|[c2e2] [Bf]g f/d/(e/B/4c/4 d2)|
(e>f g/f/)[B/g/]f/ [A/e/]g/(e/f/) a2|[c2e2] Bg (f/d/)(e/c/ d)||
FORKED DEER, (THE). AKA - "Forked Buck," "Forky Deer," "Forked-Horn Deer," "Forked Deer Hornpipe," "Long-Horned Deer." AKA and see "Deer Walk," "Bragg's Retreat," "Van Buren." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Widley known. D Major. Standard or ADAE. AABB (most versions): AA'BB (Phillips) {Many older versions have several more parts than the two that are commonly played in modern times. Clay County, W.Va., fiddler Wilson Douglas, heir to an older tradition, plays the tune in three parts, as did his mentor French Carpenter. Roscoe Parish of Coal Creek, Va., also had a third part. Blind northeastern Kentucky fiddler Ed Hayley played a five part version, as did Charlie Bowman and Kentuckian J.W. Day}. John Johnson, an itinerant man originally from West Virginia who had artistic talent in several areas, had a version that had six parts, played ABACCDEFDEF (son of a jailer, he was said to have "fiddled his way in and out of most jails from West Virginia to Abiline"). Johnson (1916-1996) visited Kanawha County, West Virginia, fiddler Clark Kessinger (1896-1975) just a week before he died, an encounter from which he remembered:
***
I went and played the fiddle for him, played The Forked Deer.
Clark said, "That's not The Forked Deer." "Well," I said, "I
don't know whether it's The Forked Deer or not, but I learned
it from a record Arthur Smith made when I was a kid, and I
know the tune's way older than I am." And Clark said, "That
ain't The Forked Deer." But you see, I play six parts of The
Forked Deer and he just played two. So I suppose that's the
reason why he said that wasn't The Forked Deer. I learned that
whole tune just like Arthur Smith played it. I've heard lots of
other fiddlers put just two parts to it. (Michael Kline, Mountains of Music, John Lilly ed. 1999).
***
R.P. Christeson (1973) notes that the tune bears considerable resemblance to a Scottish tune named "Rachel Rae," which can be found in some of the older Scottish tune collections (and which in America was printed in such collections as White's Solo Banjoist, Boston, 1896). He notes that some fiddlers play the first part of this tune differently than the Missouri version he gives, and use a portion of "The Forked Deer" as published in George Willig's or George P. Knauff's Virginia Reels (Vol. 1, No. 4, Baltimore, c. 1839)--which appears to be the first time the "Forked Deer" tune appears in print. It has been suggested (by William Byrne) that the title "Forked Deer" is a corruption of 'Fauquier Deer', referring to the name of a county in northern Virginia. Others believe it may have derived from association with the Forked Deer River in Tennessee. Apparently, it was asserted in a fictionalized traveller's account (published in the late 1880's by Dr. H.W. Taylor) entitled "The Cadence and Decadence of the Hoosier Fiddler" that the title referred to a Deer river and its tributaries (i.e. 'the forks of the Deer'). John Hartford and Pat Sky have speculated the original title may have been "Forked Air," meaning a crooked melody. Indeed, Paul Tyler reports the "Forked Air" title was used in a 1950 notebook in which A. Hamblen noted down tunes played by his grandfather and brought to Brown County, Indiana, from Virginia in 1857. The tune, as "Forkadair," appears in W. Morris's Oldtime Viloin Melodies: Book No. 1, and the "Forkedair Jig" is a title Gerry Milnes (1999) says was used in a minstrel-era version.
***
Miles Krassen (1973) remarks the tune is very popular through most of the southern Appalachians, though it was not played for the most part by Galax, Va., style bands. Tommy Jarrell, quintessential Round Peak (near Mt.Airy, N.C./Galax, Va.) fiddler learned the tune in Carroll County, southwestern Virginia, where he listened to his father-in-law, Charlie Barnett Lowe play it on the banjo with local fiddlers Fred Hawkes and John Rector. It is one of the tunes mentioned in the humorous dialect story "The Knob Dance," published in 1845, set in eastern Tenn. (C. Wolfe), and was also known before the Civil War in Alabama, having been recalled by Alfred Benners in Slavery and Its Results as played by slave fiddler Jim Pritchett of Marengo County. The tune was mentioned by William Byrne who described a chance encounter with West Virginia fiddler 'Old Sol' Nelson during a fishing trip on the Elk River. The year was around 1880, and Sol, whom Byrne said was famous for his playing "throughout the Elk Valley from Clay Courthouse to Sutton as...the Fiddler of the Wilderness," had brought out his fiddle after supper to entertain (Milnes, 1999). Charles Wolfe (1982) remarks it was popular with Kentucky fiddlers, especially in eastern Kentucky (a remark probably based on recordings of regional fiddlers Ed Hayley and J.W. Day). It was one of the few sides cut in the first recorded session of American fiddle music in June, 1922, for Victor--a duet between Texas fiddler Eck Robertson and Henry Gilliland (though unissued). The tune was recorded for the Library of Congress by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph in the early 1940's from the playing of Ozark Mountain fiddlers. Alternate titles "Forked-Horn Deer" and "Forked Deer Hornpipe" appear in a list he compiled of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes.
***
Ira Ford's (1940) rather preposterous story of the origins of the title is as follows: "The old dance tune, 'Forked Deer', is easily traceable to the days of powder horns, bullet molds and coonskin caps. Like many other very old tunes of American fiddle lore, it had its origin on the isolated frontier and this one has been traced to the first settlers along the Big Sandy River, the border line of Virginia and Kentucky. In the family which preserved this tune, the story, handed down through several generations, credits the authorship to a relative, a noted fiddler of pioneer days. This kinsman was also a famous hunter. There was a spirit of friendly rivalry in the hunt, much the same as there were championships in other lines of activities, and he had established a reputation as a champion deer hunter by always bringing in a forked deer. The forked deer, or two-point buck, was considered prime venison. As a token of admiration for the hunter as well as the fiddler, his friends set the following words to this popular dance tune which comes down to us as 'Forked Deer'.
***
There's the doe tracks and fawn tracks up and down the creek
The signs all tell us that the roamers are near,
With the old flint-lock rifle Pappy's gone to watch the lick,
With powder in the pan for to shoot the forked deer.
***
Sources for notated versions: J.P. Fraley (Ky.) and The Highwoods String Band (N.Y.) [Brody]: Will Hinds (Haskell County, Oklahoma) [Thede]: George Helton (Dixon, Missouri) [Christeson]; Frank George and John Rector (W.Va., Va.) [Krassen]; Charlie Bowman (Ga.?) [Phillips/1989]. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 110. R.P. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, Vol. 1), 1973; pg. 64. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 45 (the first part is similar to some versions of "Grey Eagle"). Frets Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 7, July 1981. Johnson (The Kitchen Musician: Occasional Collection of Old-Timey Fiddle Tunes for Hammer Dulcimer, Fiddle, etc.), No. 2, 1982/1988; pg. 5. Krassen (Appalachian Fiddle), 1973; pg. 43 (includes one 'B' part variation). Phillips (Fiddlecase Tunebook: Old Time), 1989; pg. 20. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 91. Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; pg. 135. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; pg. 80. Cassette C-7625, Wilson Douglas - "Back Porch Symphony." Columbia 15387 (78 RPM), Charlie Bowman (1929). Condor 977-1489, "Graham & Eleanor Townsend Live At Barre, Vermont." County 202, "Eck Robertson: Famous Cowboy Fiddler." County 527, Charlie Bowman (East Tennessee) and His Brothers- "Old-Time Fiddle Classics, Vol. 2." County 707, Major Franklin- "Texas Fiddle Favorites." County 756, Tommy Jarrell- "Sail Away Ladies" (1976. Learned from Fred Hawks, though Tommy's father Ben Jarrell also played it). Flying Fish FF-009, Red Clay Ramblers - "Stolen Love" (1975). Flying Fish FF-055, Red Clay Ramblers - "Merchant's Lunch" (1977). Front Hall FHR-021, John McCutcheon - "Barefoot Boy with Boots On" (1981. "Inspired by" J.P. Fraley and Tommy Hunter). June Appal 007, Tommy Hunter- "Deep in Tradition" (1976. Learned from his grandfather, James W. Hunter of Madison County, N.C.). Kanawha 301, French Carpenter (W.Va.). Library of Congress (2742-A-3), 1939, by H.L. Maxey (Franklin County, Va.) {as "Forky Deer"}. Marimac 9000, Dan Gellert & Shoofly - "Forked Deer" (1986. Ed Haley's version, "without the 5th part"). Missouri State Old Time Fiddlers' Association, Cyrill Stinnett (1912-1986) - "Plain Old Time Fiddling." Morning Star 45003, Taylor's Kentucky Boys - "Wink the Other Eye: Old Time Fiddle Band Music from Kentucky, Vol. 1" (1980. Originally recorded in 1927 for Gennett). Ok 45496 (78 RPM), The Fox Chasers. Rounder 0037, J.P. and Annadeene Fraley- "Wild Rose of the Mountain." Rounder 0045, Highwoods String Band- "Dance All Night." Rounder 1010, Ed Haley- "Parkersburg Landing" (1976). Rounder 0047, Wilson Douglas- "The Right Hand Fork of Rush's Creek" (1975. Learned from French Carpenter, the tune appears as "Forked Buck"). Rounder 0058, John Rector (western Va.) - "Old Originals, Vol. II" (1978). Rounder 0194, John W. Summers - "Indiana Fiddler." Vetco 506, Fiddlin' Van Kidwell- "Midnight Ride." Vetco 102 (reissue), Jilson Setters (under the name Blind Bill Day). Victor 21407 (78 RPM), Jilson Setters (Blind Bill Day, b. 1860 Rowan Cty., Ky.), 1928. Voyager 340, Jim Herd - "Old Time Ozark Fiddling." Also recorded by Frank George and John Summers, French Carpenter and Uncle Am Stuart (b. 1856, Morristown, Tenn.){for Vocalation in 1924 under the title "Forki Deer"}.
T:Forked Deer
L:1/8
M:C|
K:D
|:(3ABc|defg a2fa|g2gb agfe|defg a2fa|gfed cABc|defg a2fa|g2gb agfe|
dAFD GBAG|FDEF D3:|
|:(A|A2)A2c4|ABAF E2 EF|A2AB c2cA|BAFE FD3|A2A2c4|ABAF E2FE|
D2ED FDGD|FDEF D3:|
HIGHLAND HORNPIPE. AKA and see "High Level Hornpipe," "Velocipede Hornpipe." American (?), Hornpipe. B Flat major ('A' part) & F major ('B' part). Standard. AABB. Cole (1001 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 90 (and pg. 110 as "Velocipede Hornpipe"). MCA Records MCAD 4037, "The Very Best of Don Messer" (1994).
HOP HIGH LADIES (THE CAKE'S ALL DOUGH). AKA and see "(Miss) McCloud's Reel," "Mrs. MacLeod Raasay," "Miss McLeod's Reel," "Did You Ever Go To Meetin' Uncle Joe, Uncle Joe?" "Did You Ever See the Devil, Uncle Joe?" "Hop Light Ladies," "Uncle Joe," "Hop Up My Ladies," "Green Mountain," "Knickerbocker Reel," "Billy Boy," "Sally's Hornpipe," "Walk Jaw Bone," "Whitewash Station." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Widely known. G Major (usually - Thede published an odd version in G ['A' part] and D ['B' part). Standard. AB. An American 'old-time' version of the Scottish "Miss McCloud's/Miss McLeod's Reel," the main difference being that the old-time version resolves to the tonic on the cadence, while the Scottish tune generally ends on the dominant. The title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. Wade and Fields Ward (Galax, Va.) recorded the tune in 1937 for Alan Lomax (AAFS #1363). Various lyrics to the tune go:
***
Hop high ladies for the cake's all dough (x3)
I don't mind the weather so the wind don't blow
***
The cow kicked Nelly in the belly in the barn
The cow kicked Nelly in the belly in the barn
The cow kicked Nelly in the belly in the barn
And another little snort wouldn't do us any harm
***
Did you ever see the devil, Uncle Joe, Uncle Joe (3x)
Well, I don't mind the weather if the wind don't blow.
***
Did you ever go to meeting, Uncle Joe, Uncle Joe (3x)
Well, I don't mind the weather if the wind don't blow.
***
How'd ya like the weather, Uncle Joe, Uncle Joe (3x)
Huh? What'd you say?
***
Hop high ladies and the cakes all dough (3x)
I don't mind the weather if the wind don't blow.
***
Tennessee entertainer Uncle Dave Macon did not always sing the three repeat lines of the chorus, "Hop High Ladies, (for) cake's all dough," but sometimes substituted instrumental fragments to hold the rhythm. Tom Paley says that Macon's last line occasionally went something like (it is not clear on the recording):
***
How I get enough time, my Lord, I never will know.
***
These words are from the Memphis Jug Band (who called the tune "Whitewash Station"):
***
If you want to go to heaven
I tell you what to do
You put on your sock, a boot or a shoe
You place a bottle of corn in your right hand
That'll send you right over to the Promised Land
***
And if you meet the Devil
You ask him "How'd ya do"
"I'm on my way to heaven don'tcha wanna go too?"
You know there's a place
That'll do just as well
It's called a Whitewash Station
Ten miles from hell.
***
Source for notated version: W.S. Collins (Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma) [Thede]. Ruth (Pioneer Western Folk Tunes), 1948; No. 13, pg. 6 (appears as "Don't You Want to Go to Heaven, Uncle Joe?"). Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; pg. 99. Folkways FA 2494, "Sing Songs of the New Lost City Ramblers" (1978). Philo 1042, Boys of the Lough (with old-time mandolinist Kenny Hall) - "The Piper's Broken Finger" (1976). Vocalation 5154 (78 RPM), Uncle Dave Macon.
T:Hop Light Ladies
T:Hop High Ladies
T:Don't You Want to Go to Heaven, Uncle Joe?
L:1/8
M:2/4
S:Ruth - Pioneer Western Folk Tunes (1924)
K:G
G/A/B/c/ d/B/G/A/|BB/A/ BA|GA/B/c/ d/B/G/B/|AA/B/ Az|
G/A/B/c/ d/B/G/A/|BB/A/ Bd|e>d e/f/g/d/|BA Gz:|
|:Gg e/f/g/d/|BB/A/ BA|Gb e/f/g/e/|a>b a2|Gg e/f/g/d/|BB/A/ Bd|
e>d e/f/g/d/|BA G2:|
|:G/G/ g/g/ e/e/g/g/|BB/c/ BA|G/G/ g/g/ e/e/g/g/|a>b a2|G/G/ g/g/ e/e/g/g/|
BB/A/ Bd|e>d e/f/g/d/|BA G2:|
JOHNNY WAGGONER. AKA and see "Waggoner," "Wagner's Hornpipe," "Tennessee Waggoner" and related tunes. Canadian, Breakdown. C Major. Standard. AABB. Perlman (1996) suggests the tune was introduced to Prince Edward Island fiddlers by the Maritime radio and TV performer Don Messer. Source for notated version: Angus McPhee (b. c. 1920, Mt. Stewart, Queen's County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]. Messer (Way Down East), 1948; No. 1. Messer (Anthology of Favorite Fiddle Tunes), 1980; No. 1, pg. 4. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; pg. 120.
JOSH CAMPBELL'S HORNPIPE. Scottish, Hornpipe. A Mixolydian. Standard. AABBCC'DD. Composed by Scottish born highland piper Ian Crane, now livingin West Valley City, Utah. Crane states the tune was supposed to have been the first in a series named after friends, though upon reflection says, "I don't know why I named it after him, because we never did get along very well." Cook (Night in the Kitchen Collection), 1996; pg. 31.
LAMPLIGHTER'S HORNPIPE [1]. AKA and see "Merry Soldier." American, Canadian, Scottish; Hornpipe. USA; New York, Maine. A Major (most versions): G Major (Shaw). Standard. One part (Burchenal): AB (Bronner): AABB (Cole, Ford, Phillips, Ruth, Shaw, Sweet): AA'BB' (Kerr). The first strain is similar to the first strain of "Key West Hornpipe." It was cited as having commonly been played for country dances in Orange County, New York, in the 1930's (Lettie Osborn, New York Folklife Quarterly), and Bronner (1987) says it is more popular with old-time fiddlers in New York State than the literature on tune collecting shows. He thinks its features suggest an 18th century British Isles derivation (a safe guess)./ Burchenal (1918) uses the tune for two New England contra dances she prints alongside, one called the "Boston Fancy" and the other the "Lamplighter's Hornpipe;" Tolman and Page, in the "Country Dance Book" also have a dance they call the "Lamplighter's Hornpipe" which is similar to the dance given as "Lamplighter's Hornpipe" in Elias Howe's 1858 Ball-Room Hand Book (pg. 85). Tony Parkes and Steve Woodruff (1980) find the tune in Elisha Belknap's (Framingham, Mass.) 1784 manuscript, though it may have been added around the year 1800, and remark that both dance and tune were very popular in the mid-19th century. Bronner (1987) indicates the tune was often an alternate for dances which call for "Durang's Hornpipe," while Briggs suggests it for "Jefferson and Liberty," an easy contra dance. The tune was listed in the repertoire of Maine fiddler Mellie Dunham (the elderly Dunham was Henry Ford's champion fiddler in the mid-1920's). Sources for notated versions: Les Weir, 1976 (New York State; learned from his father) [Bronner]; Ruthie Dornfeld, Ron West [Phillips]. Bronner (Old-Time Music Makers of New York State), 1987; No. 28, pg. 117. Burchenal (American Country Dances, Vol. 1), 1918; pg. 39 (appears as "Boston Fancy" [1]) and pg, 49. Cole (1001 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 93. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 85. Jarman (Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes); No. or pg. 28. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 2; No. 342, pg. 38. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddlers Repertoire), 1983; No. 108. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 2, 1995; pg. 204 (two versions). Ruth (Pioneer Western Folk Tunes), 1948; No. 21, pg. 9. Sandvik (Folke-Musik i Gudbrandsdalen), 1919 & 1948; pg. 79. Shaw (Cowboy Dances), 1943; pg. 389. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1954/1981; pg. 64. Alcazar Dance Series FR 203, Rodney Miller - "New England Chestnuts" (1980). Fretless 132, "Ron West: Vermont Fiddler." MCA Records MCAD 4037, "The Very Best of Don Messer" (1994).
T:Lamplighter's Hornpipe
L:1/8
M:C|
K:A
|:ec ec ea gf|ec ec ea gf|e2 ce fe dc|d2B2B2cd|ec ec ea gf|
ec ec ea gf|ef de cA BG|E2A2A2cd:|
|:ed cd e2fe|dc Bc d2 ed|cA cA dc BA|GA Bc B2cd|ed cd e2 fe|
dc Bc d2ed|ca Ac BA GB|A2c2A2cd:|
LIBERTY. AKA and see "Reel de Ti-Jean" (Canadian), "Tipsy Parson," "Raccoon and the Possum," "Liberty Two-Step," "Liberty Hornpipe." Old-Time, Bluegrass; Breakdown. USA, Widely known. D Major. Standard. AABB. According to Paul Wells, the first recordings of the tune were by Texas fiddler Bob Wills, though Tommy Jackson also made a recording for Dot Records that may have helped popularize the tune. Paul Tyler notes that "Liberty" seems to be the "hoedown" of choice among Cajun fiddlers. Source for notated version: Jack Harris (East Texas) [Christeson]. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 168. R.P. Carlin, 1977; pg. 23. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, Vol. 1), 1973; pg.61. Frets Magazine, "Byron Berline: The Fiddle," December 1986; pg. 56. Phillips (Fiddlecase Tunebook), 1989; pg. 28. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 140. Reiner (Anthology of Fiddle Styles), 1979; pg. 78. Sannella, Balance and Swing (CDSS). Welling (Hartford Tunebook), 1976; pg. 4. Apex AL 1613, "The Best of Don Messer and his Islanders, Vol. 6" (appears as "Liberty Two-Step"). Front Hall 010, Fennigs All Stars- "The Hammered Dulcimer Strikes Again." Gennett 6447 (78 RPM), 1928, the Tweedy Brothers (Harry, Charles, and George, from Wheeling, W.Va., who played twin fiddles and piano). Heritage 048, Golden River Grass - "Georgia Fiddle Bands" (Brandywine, 1982). Kicking Mule, Art Rosenbaum- "Five String Banjo." Missouri State Old Time Fiddlers Association 001, Pete McMahan - "Ozark Mountain Waltz." Rounder 0016, Vasser Clements- "Crossing the Catskills."
T:Liberty
M:C|
L:1/8
R:reel
K:D
"D"f2A2 f2A2| fgfe d2ef|"G"g2B2 g2B2| gagf e2de| "D"f2A2 f2A2|
fgfe d2ef| "G"gfed "A"cABc| "D"d2f2 d4:|
|:"D"A2AB AGFE| DFAd f2d2| A2AB AGF2| "A"E3F E2FG|
"D"A2AB AGFE| DFAd f2ef| "G"gfed "A"cABc| "D"d2f2 d4:|
LITTLE BURNT POTATO. AKA - "Burnt Potato." American, Canadian, Irish; Single Jig. USA; New England, New York, Missouri. Canada; Maritimes, Ontario. D Major. Standard. AB (Begin): AABB (Brody): AA'BB' (Bayard, Carlin, Messer, Miller & Perron, Perlman, Phillips). "Little Burnt Potato" was popularized by Canadian Maritime radio and TV fiddler Don Messer. The tune has been characterized as Irish in origin, though Perlman (1996) attributes it to Nova Scotia fiddler Colin Boyd. It was in the repertoire of Cyril Stinnett (1912-1986), a fiddler who epitomized the "North Missouri Hornpipe Style," and who knew many Canadian tunes from listening to late-night radio when northern stations came in loud and clear. Omer Marcoux's version is a combination of "Blackberry Quadrille" and "Little Burnt Potato." Sources for notated versions: Bradley Grimshaw (northern N.Y.; 1958) [Bayard]; Dawson Girdwood (Perth, Ottawa) [Begin]; transplanted French-Canadian fiddler Omer Marcoux {1898-1982} (Concord, N.H.), who identified the tune as "Irish" [Miskoe & Paul]; Francis MacDonald (b. 1940, Morell Rear, North-East Kings County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 573, pg. 510. Begin (Fiddle Music in the Ottawa Valley: Dawson Girdwood), 1985; No. 1, pg. 15. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 170. Carlin (Master Collection), 1984; No. 235, pg. 137. Messer (Anthology of Favorite Fiddle Tunes), 1980; No. 157, pg. 106. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddlers Repertoire), 1983; No. 24. Miskoe & Paul (Omer Marcoux), 1994; pg. 45. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; pg. 131. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 2, 1995; pg. 371. F&W Records 6, The Fireside String Band-- "Square Dance Tunes for a Yankee Caller." Fretless 119, Rodney and Randy Miller- "Castles in the Air." Fretless 122, William Santos- "Ole Time Fiddling 1976."
T:Little Burnt Potato
L:1/8
M:6/8
K:D
a^ga bag|afd A2d|f2a g2f|e3 Bcd|e2f e2d|cAc a2a|1 a^ga ba=g|f3 fg^g:||2 a^ga b2c| d3 a2g||:f2A f2A|f3 f2e|dcd agf|g3 gef|gba gfe|dcB A3|1 a^ga ba=g|f3 a2g:||2 a^ga b2c|d3 d3||
MONEY MUSK/MONYMUSK. AKA and see "The Countess of Airly (early 18th century)," "Sir Archibald Grant of Monymusk('s Strathspey)." Scottish (originally), English, Irish, Canadian, Old-Time, American; Reel, Strathspey, Highland, Breakdown. USA; New York State, Ohio, Michigan, Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Maine, New Hampshire, Alabama. England; Shropshire, Northumberland. Ireland, Donegal. A Major (Ashman, Brody, Bronner, Christeson, Cole {reel}, Kennedy, Miller & Perron, O'Neill, Phillips, Raven, Sweet): G Major (Athole, Cole {strathspey}, Cuillerier, Ford, Gow, Honeyman, Hunter, Peacock, Phillips). Standard. One part (Burchenal): AB (Cole {strathspey version}, O'Neill/1850 & 1001): AAB (Gow, Hunter): AA'B (O'Neill/Krassen): AABB (Ashman, Brody, Ford, Kennedy, Linscott, Miller & Perron, Peacock, Raven, Sweet): AABB' (Athole, Kerr, Skye): AA'BB' (Cuillerier): ABC (Honeyman): AABBCC (Christeson): ABCCDD (Cole): AABBCCDD (Brody): AA'BB'CC'DD (Phillips/Block): AA'BCAA'BC' (Phillips/Miller). A pipe tune (written within the range of nine notes, with double tonic tonality) and the name of an Aberdeenshire, Scotland, estate. 'Moneymusk' is the English for the Gaelic 'Muine Muisc' meaning a noxious weed or bush. It was composed by Daniel (sometimes Donald) Dow (1732-1783) in 1776 and first appeared in his Thirty Seven New Reels, c. 1780, as "Sir Archibald Grant of Monymusk's Strathspey." Linscott (1939) says it was called "The Countess of Airly" in the early 18th century, and came from the village of Monymusk, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland." Bayard (1981) states that if Dow did "compose" the tune then he certainly had access to earlier models for it, for both "The Ruffian's Rant" and "Roy's Wife of Aldivalloch" are cognate. Alburger (1983) also identifies Daniel Dow (1732-83) as the composer of "Sir Archibald Grant of Monemusk's Reel," but says when the Gows published it in their 1799 Repository, Part First, they altered it rhythmically (by adding more 'Scots snaps' and smoothing out some dotted patterns for variety) and shortened the name to "Monymusk, A Strathspey." Dow was born in Kirkmichael, Perthshire, and became a music teacher in Edinburgh where he taught, among other instruments, the guitar. His compositions were well received in his lifetime and survive today. When he died at the age of 51 in the winter of 1783 he was buried in the Canongate Churchyard; a concert to benefit his widow and children was given shortly after his death in St. Mary's Hall, Niddry's Wynd, where he had often given his own concerts over the years.
***
Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, fiddlers, who retained the old Scottish tradition, play the tune as a strathspey in G Major, as set in older collections. There were some Scottish fiddlers, skilled enough on their instruments to vary the playing of such tunes and venture further afield musically than the usual 'fiddle keys'. When Jamie Duncan tried it, however, he was taken to task by a fiddling tailor:
***
I've keepit dacent company a' my days and I'm nae gaun to change my
ways noo. At this moment Jamie Duncan's playing 'Mony Musk' in
four flats, and I say that the man that wad do that is fit for ony kin' o'
rascality.
***
Caoimhin MacAoidh (1997) has remarked that "Moneymusk" was absorbed into Irish tradition through the Ulster counties, but was played as far south as Clare and Cork. In Donegal (in the north of Ireland) this and other strathspeys were converted into a form called the 'highland,' similar to a strathspey but with a less pronounced rhythm. Donegal fiddlers play the tune in the key of 'A' Major. Fintan Vallely, in his book Blooming Meadows (1998), writes that in Donegal "Moneymusk" was "strikingly converted from a strathspey to the high-rhythm, house-dance variant, The Highland."
***
Paul Gifford reports that Money Musk (called "manimasca") was one of the dances at a nobleman's ball in Moldavia sometime after 1812, and that the music was not unlikely
played by Jewish musicians.
***
In America the tune was published in 1796 by B. Carr in Evening Amusements (Philadelphia), and soon became a staple of the dance circuit. A country dance called "Money Musk," danced in New England, has remained the same for two centuries, though one phrase has been dropped from the tune while the dance measures stayed the same, thus "cramming 32 measures of dance in to 24 measures of music" (Tony Parkes/Steve Woodruff). In some New England dance circles this dance was traditionally danced immediately after the break, and, for example, presumably this was so when it was danced in August, 1914, at the 150th anniversary celebration of the founding of the town of Lancaster, N.H. (where it was listed on a playbill). Peter Yarensky remembers that it used to be the first dance after the break for years at New Hampshire dances, and that "some people would line up for Money Musk before the break even began..." By the 1970's the tune dance was considered a "chestnut" and it is rarely performed today in New England. Ford also prints a version of the contra dance (pg. 214), though without a source reference. Paul Gifford remembers seeing the dance on the card at Lincoln's Inaugural Ball. The melody appears in George P. Knauff's Virginia Reels, volume I (1839) under the title "Killie Krankie," which title was actually the title of the dance "Money Musk" was associated with at the time. The melody was cited as having commonly been played for Orange County, New York, country dances in the 1930's (Lettie Osborn, New York Folklore Quarterly), and it appears in a repertoire list of Mainer Mellie Dunham (an elderly fiddler who was Henry Ford's champion fiddler in the late 1920's). In contrast to New England, in the Southern Appalachians the tune is very rare (Krassen, 1973), though not unknown. It was recorded as one of the tunes played by fiddler Ben Smith, a Georgian in the Twelfth Alabama Infantry in the Civil War (as listed by Robert Emory Park in Sketch of the Twelfth Alabama Infantry, 1906) {Cauthen, 1990}. In the Midwest "Moneymusk" was much more common and the title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. Missouri fiddlers still play the tune (it was known as a difficult piece and a "big tune" in Mo. fiddle contests up until the 1970's, according to Howard Marshall, though its popularity has waned in recent years). Interestingly, Marshall notes "Moneymusk" is known as an "Irish" tune, a thought perhaps derived from its transmission through Scots-Irish immigrants to the mid-South American highlands, and thence to the Mid-West. Early-recorded American versions include that by Jasper Bisbee (for Edison), who was born in 1843, Col. John Pattee (for Columbia), born in 1844, Henry Ford's Orchestra, and North Carolina fiddler Dad Williams.
***
Sources for notated versions: Bob Walters (Burt County, Nebraska) [Christeson]; Highwoods String Band (N.Y.) and Delaware Water Gap [Brody]; Lewis L. Jillson (Bernardston, Mass.) [Linscott]; Henry Reed (W.Va) [Krassen]; John Baltzell (Ohio, 1923) [Bronner]; Archie Thorpe, c. 1940 (Hornell, N.Y.) [Bronner]; Steffy (Pa., 1949), William Shape (Greene County, Pa., 1944), James Morris (Greene County, Pa., 1944), and Samuel Losch (Juniata County, Pa., 1930's) [Bayard]; Alan Block and Ron West (Vt.) [Phillips]; Rodney Miller (N.H.) [Phillips]; a c. 1837-1840 MS by Shropshire musician John Moore [Ashman]; Joshua Campbell's 1788 Collection [RSCDS]. Adam, 1928; No. 59. Ashman (The Ironbridge Hornpipe), 1991; No. 40a, pg. 14. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 343A-D, pgs. 329-331. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 194-195 (two versions). Bronner (Old-Time Music Makers of New York State), 1987; No. 5, pgs. 32-33 (includes variations), and No. 18, pg. 87. Burchenal (American Country Dances, Vol. 1), 1918; pg. 55. Cahusac (Pocket Companion...Flute), Vol. 2, c. 1798, pg. 35. Cazden (Dances from Woodland), 1945; pg. 15. Cazden, 1955; pg. 31. R.P. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers Repertory), Vol. 1, 1973; pg. 15. Cole (1001 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 31 & pg 128. Cuillerier (Joseph Allard: Cinquante airs traditionnels pour violon), 1992; pg. 11. Emmerson (Rantin' Pipe and Tremblin' String), 1971; No. 63, pg. 153. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 52. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 1, 1799; pgs. 10-11. Harding Collection (1905, 1932) and Harding Original Collection (1928); No. 44. Honeyman (Strathspey, Reel and Hornpipe Tutor), 1898; pg. 13 (Strathspey). Howe (School for the Violin), 1851; pg. 21. Howe (Diamond School for the Violin), 1861; pg. 41. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 84 (two settings). Jarman (Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes), No. or pg. 28. Kennedy (Fiddler's Tunebook), Vol. 2, 1954; pg. 17. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 2; No. 116, pg. 14. Kimball, Sackett's Harbor. Krassen (Appalachian Fiddle), 1973; pg. 70-71. Linscott (Folk Songs of Old New England), 1939; pg. 98. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; pg. 12. McGlashan, 1781; pg. 19. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddler's Repertoire), 1983; No. 107. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; pg. 125. O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; No., 1361, pg. 254. O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1907/1986; No. 614, pg. 111 ("Irish style"). Peacock (Peacock's Tunes), c. 1805/1980; No. 8, pg. 2. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 155 (two versions). Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 171. Robbins, 1933; Nos. 120 and 177. Robinson (Massachusetts Collection of Martial Music), 2nd ed., 1820; pg. 53. Royal Scottish Country Dance Society, Book 11, No. 2. Ruth (Pioneer Western Folk Tunes), 1948; No. 20, pg. 9. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 158. Surenne (Dance Music of Scotland), 1852; pg. 8. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1965/1981; pg. 61. Sym, 1930; pg. 5. White's Unique Collection, 1896; No. 54. White's Excelsior Collection, 1907; pg. 27. Adelphi 2004, Delaware Water Gap- "String Band Music." Alcazar Dance Series FR 203, Rodney Miller - "New England Chestnuts" (1980). Celtic CX022 (78 RPM), "Little" Jack MacDonald. CLM 1006, Carl MacKenzie (appears as "Sir Archibald Grant of Mony Musk Strathspey"). Decca 14023 (78 RPM), Alex "Alick" Gillis/The Inverness Serenaders. Edison 51354 (78 RPM), John Baltzell (Ohio), 1923. Edison 51381 (78 RPM), Jasper Bisbee (Michigan), 1923. F & I 001, Fiddlesticks & Ivory - "Ghillies On The Golden Gate." F&W Records 3, "Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra." Folkways RBF 115, Joseph Guilmette - "Masters of French Canadian Music, Vol. 4" (originally recorded 1931). Fretless 118, Marie Rhines- "The Reconcilliation." John Edwards Memorial Foundation JEMF-105, Ron West - "New England Traditional Fiddling" (1978). June Appal 007, Tommy Hunter- "Deep in Tradition" (1976. Learned from a Library of Congress recording). Living Folk LFR-104, Allan Block - "Alive and Well and Fiddling." Missouri State Old Time Fiddlers' Association, Cyril Stinnett - "Plain Old Time Fiddling." Philo 1010, Jean Carignan- "Hommage a Joseph Allard." Rodeo RLP 75, John A MacDonald - "Marches, Strathspeys, Reels and Jigs of the Cape Breton Scot." Rounder 0045, Highwoods String Band- "Dance All Night." RTE Records, Jimmy Lyons - "The Donegal Fiddle." Rounder, Walt Koken - "Finger Lakes Ramble." Smithsonian Folkways SFW CD 40126, Bob McQuillen & Old New England - "Choose Your Partners: Contra Dance & Square Dance Music of New Hampshire" (1999). TAC002, Don Bartlett & The Scotians - "Play Favourites" (as Sir Archibald Grant Of Monymusk). Victor 263527-b (78 RPM), Joseph Allard.
X:1
T:Money Musk
L:1/8
K:G
e|"G"d<GB>G d>Gc>e|"G"d<GB>G "D"A/B/A c>e|
"G"d<GB>G "G/B"B/c/d d>g|"C"e>c"D"A>d "G"B<G G:|!
f|"G"g2d>g B>gd>f|"G"g>d"Am"c>g "G/B"B>g"D"A>f|
"G"g>de>g "G/B"d>gB>g|"C"e>c"D"A>d "G"B<GG>f|!
f|"G"g>dd>g B>gd>f|"G"g>d"Am"c>g "G/B"B>g"D"A>f|
"G/B"g>d"C"e>g "G/B"d>g"Am"c<g|"G/D"B<g"D"A>c "G"B<G G|!
|:g|"G"G/G/G B>G B/dG/ c<e|"G"G/G/G B<g "D"A/A/A c<e|
"G"G/G/G B<G "G/B"B/c/d d<g|{de}"F"=f>c A/B/c "G"B<G G:|!
z/d/|"G"g>d B<g d<gB>d|"G"g>d "Am"c<g "G/B"B<g"D"A>d|
"G"g>d B<g "G/B"d<gB<g|"C"e/f/g "D"A/B/c "G"B<GG>d|!
"G"g>d B<g d<gB>d|"G"g/f/e "G/B"d<g "G"B<g"D"A>d|
"G"g>d "C"e<g "G/B"d<g"Am"c<g|"G/D"B<g"D"A<g "G"B<G G|]
X:2
T:Monymusk
L:1/8
M:C
R:Strathspey
B:The Athole Collection
K:C
e|d<G B>G d>G c<e|d<G B>G (3ABA c>e|d<G B>G B<d d>g|
e>cA>d ~B<GG:|
|:f|g>dB>g d>gB>g|g>dB>g c>gA>f|1 g>de>g d>gB>g|e>cA>d B<GG:|2
g>de>g d<bc<a|B<gA<g B<GG||
X:3
T:Money Musk
M:2/4
L:1/16
Q:122 C:Trad.
S:from Cyril Stinnett
R:Reel
A:Missouri
B:transcribed in OTFR as #18
D:taken from the playing of Cyril Stinnett
Z:B. Shull, trans.; R. P. LaVaque, ABCs
K:A (
e2|:e)Acf ecdf|eAc(A Bc)d(f|e)(Ac)d eag(e|f)dBe cAAe|! eAcf ecdf|eAc(A Bc)d(f|e)(Ac)d eaf(e|f)dBe cAAA|! |Aeae (fg)ae|ceae B(Bc)(B|A)cae (fg)ae|fdBe cAAA|! Aeae (fg)ae|ceae B(Bc)(B|A)cae (fg)ae|fdBe cAAe-|! |a-e)(fa) (ea)ce|aedb caBe|(aef)a (ea)ce|fdBe cAAe|! (ae)(fa) (ea)ce|aedb caBe|(aef)a (ea)ce|fdBe cAAA|! |a2c'(a ba)c'b|(ae)ac' (bc')d'b)|a(ec')a f(ad)(c'|bd')bg a2c'(b-|! -a-e)ac' (ba)c'b|(ae)ac' (bc')(d'b)|a(ec')a f(ad')(c'|bd')bg a2(c'a):|
X:4
T:Moneymusk
M:4/4
L:1/8
O:Probably a version from Teelin, County Donegal.
K:A
af || eAcA e2 (3agf | eAdc BEGB | eAcA e3a | fdBa (3gfe (3agf | eAcAe2(3agf |\
eAcA Bcdf | eccB cdea | fdBc defg || a2ea ceA2 | aAce fBB2 | a2ea ceA2 |\
dcBc defg | a2ea ceA2 | aAce fBBe | (3agf (3gfe (3fed (3cBA | (3fga (3gfe fgaf ||
MISS McLEOD'S/MacLEOD's REEL [1] ("Cor Ingean Ni Mic Leod" or "Cor Mhic Leoid"). AKA and "Billy Boy," "The Cake's All Dough," "Did You Ever See the Devil Uncle Joe?" "Enterprise and Boxer," "The Enterprising Boxer," "The Girl with the Handsome Face," "Green Mountain," "Hop Up Ladies," "Hop High Ladies," "Hop Light Ladies," "John Brown," "May Day," "Miss MacLeod of Ayr," "MacLeod's Reel," "McLeod's Reel," "Miss McCloud," "Misses McCloud's Reel," "Mistress McCloud's Jig," "Mr. McLaw'd." "Mrs. McLeod of Raasay's Reel," "Mrs. MacLeod Raasay," "Nigger in the Woodpile" (Pa.), "Old Mammy Knickerbocker" (Pa.), "The Virginia Reel," "Walk Jaw Bone." Irish, Scottish (originally), American, Old-Time; Reel and Breakdown. Ireland, County Donegal. G Major (most versions): A Major (Ashman, Roche, Songer): F Major (Hardings). Standard. AABB. A universal favorite in the British Isles and North America. Apparently the tune was first printed in Gow's Strathspey Reels of 1809 (pg. 36), with the note "An original Isle of Skye Reel. Communicated by Mr. McLeod."
***
It was popular as long ago as 1779 in Ireland as its playing is mentioned in an account by a foreign visitor named Berringer or Beranger of a "cake" dance (i.e. where the prize was a cake) he participated in while visiting in Connacht. O'Neill (1913) relates Beranger's observations somewhat differently and gives that it was one of six tunes played by Galway pipers in 1779 for the entertainment of the traveller. In modern times in Ireland the tune was included in a famous set of the late Donegal fiddlers, brothers Mickey and Johnny Doherty, who played it as the last tune after "Enniskillen Dragoons" and "Nora Criona" (Wise Nora), though sometimes they substituted "The Piper of Keadue" for "Miss McLeod's." The whole set was played in the rare AAAE tuning, which required playing in position (Caoimhin MacAoidh).
***
The title "Peter Street" appears in a list of tunes in his repertoire brought by Philip Goodman, the last professional and traditional piper in Farney, Louth, to the Feis Ceoil in Belfast in 1898 (Breathnach, 1997). The reel was mentioned in an account of one of the old pipers of County Louth, a man named Cassidy, as recorded by William Carleton in his Tales and Sketches of the Irish Peasantry, published in 1845. Breathnach (1997) believes the first name of this piper was Dan, and that he was blind. Carleton, born in 1794, was a dancing master who taught in the 1820's, and was engaged to teach the children of the 'dreadful' Mrs. Murphy. It seems that Carleton:
***
having spent several nights at piper Cassidy's house weighing up the local
dancers ...was impelled by vanity to show them how good a dancer he was
himself. He asked one of the handsomest girls out on the floor, and, in
accordance with the usual form, faced her towards the piper, asking her to
name the tune she wished to dance to. Receiving the customary reply, 'Sir,
your will is my pleasure,' Carleton called for the jig Polthogue. He next
danced Miss McLeod's Reel with his partner, and then called for a hornpipe,
a single dance, this is, one done without a partner. It was considered
unladylike for girls to do a hornpipe. The College Hornpipe was his choice
for this dance. (pg. 59)
***
Charlie Piggott, in his book Blooming Meadows (1998) written with Fintan Vallely, relates that accordion player Johnny O'Leary was at the deathbed of his mentor, the famed Sliabh Luachra fidder Pádraig O'Keeffe, in St. Catherine's Hospital, Tralee. O'Keeffe was lucid until the end, and engaged in witty repartee with O'Leary:
***
'You know two great reels,' he said. 'Don't ever forget them.'
'What are they?' said I.
'"Miss McCloud" and "Rolling in the Ryegrass",' he said.
'You see, "Miss McCloud" is a great reel,' he said, 'but we're playing
it wrong.'
'How do you mean it?' says I.
'I'm at it now,' he says, 'but I suppose I won't be left alive to do it-
play it backwards. And,' he says, 'you'll never in your life hear a nicer
reel.'
Whether 'tis right or not, I don't know. He was just going to do it when
he died. He said he had a sister that had the first part of it done backwards
with a concertina and, Pádriag said, 'twas double nicer than the way we're
playing it. He was a genius, you know. He was a genius.
***
The melody has had a long history in America and has proved enduringly popular with fiddlers in many regions. Cauthen (1990) notes the tune's mention in the "Marion Standard" of April 30, 1909, which reported its having been played at a housewarming in Perry County, Alabama, in 1827. Bronner collected the tune from central New York fidders, who also knew it under the title "Virginia Reel" and, from one source, the "interchangable title" of "Campbells are Coming," a jig. Some confusion in his sources seems to stem from the interchangability of many triple and duple meter tunes under the "Virginia Reel" moniker, but Bronner states that versions of "Miss McLeod" in 12/8 time were "not uncommon" in his collecting experience. Samuel Bayard (1981) also wondered if "Miss McLeod" was a reworking of some set of the 6/8 time "The Campbells Are Coming," a family which includes (among others) "The Burnt Old Man" and "Hob or/and Nob." O'Neill (1913) has no doubts and states unequivocably that the 'McLeod' and 'Campbell' tunes either had a common origin or that the former was derived from the latter (or its Irish equivalent, "An Seanduine"). The title appears in a list of the repertoire of Maine fiddler Mellie Dunham (the elderly Dunham was Henry Ford's champion fiddler in the mid-1920's) and it was cited as having commonly been played for Orange County, New York, country dances in the 1930's (Lettie Osborn, New York Folklore Quarterly). Arizona fiddler Kenner C. Kartchner remembered the tune being played in the Flagstaff-Williams (Ariz.) area in 1903 (Shumway). The title (as "MacLeod's Reel") appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. A rendering of the tune under the title "Mistress McCloud's Jig" was recorded by him for the Library of Congress from fiddlers in that region in the early 1940's. Bayard (1981) noted that the tune was usually played in the British Isles with with the parts ending on the second of the scale, resulting in an "endless" or "circular" tune, while fiddlers in the Americas usually ended on the tonic. Also in the repertoire of Uncle Jimmy Thompson (Texas, Tennessee) as "McLeod's Reel."
***
Novelist and fiddler Thomas Hardy, of Devonshire, England, knew the tune and worked it into his novel The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886):
***
Farfrae was footing a quaint little dance with Elizabeth-Jane--an old
country thing, the only one she knew, and though he considerately toned
down his movements to suit her demurer gait, the pattern of the shining
little nails in the soles of his boots became familiar to the eyes of every
bystander. The tune had enticed her into it; being a tune of a busy,
vaulting, leaping sort--some low notes on the silver string of each fiddle,
then a skipping on the small, like running up and down ladders--'Miss
McLeod of Ayr' was its name, so Mr. Farfrae had said, and that it was
very popular in his own country [Scotland].
***
Words are sometimes set to the tune, especially in American variants. These words were collected in Scotland:
***
Macaphee turn yer cattle roon loch o' Forum (3 times)
Here and there and everywhere the kye are in the corn.
***
Waitin' at the shielin' o Mhaire bhan mo chroi (pronounced: varie van ma cree)
Waitin' at the shielin' o faur awa' tae sea
Hame will come the bonny boats Mhaire bhan mo chroi
Hame will come the bonny boys, Mhaire bhan mo chroi.
***
A curious alternate title for "McLeod's," "The Enterprising Boxer" is a miss-hearing of the name "Enterprise and Boxer," which refers to a naval engagement between two ships of those names.
***
Sources for notated versions: Michael Coleman (Co. Sligo/New York) [DeMarco and Krassen], John McDermott, (New York State, 1926) [Bronner], 8 southwestern Pa. fiddlers [Bayard]; a c. 1837-1840 MS by Shropshire musician John Moore [Ashman]; accordion player Johnny O'Leary (Sliabh Luachra region of the Cork-Kerry border), recorded at Na Piobairi Uilleann, October, 1984 [Moylan]. Adam, No. 20. Allan's Irish Fiddler, No. 69, pg. 17. American Veteran Fifer, 1927; No. 6. Ashman (The Ironbridge Hornpipe), 1991; No. 25a, pg. 6 (appears as "Mr. Mc Law'd a Popular Dance"). Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 249A-H, pgs. 211-213. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 192. Bronner (Old Time Music Makers of New York State), 1987; No. 4, pg. 26 (appears as 1st tune of "Virginia Reel Medley"). Burchenal (American Country Dances, Vol. 1), 1918; pgs. 10-11 (appears as "Virginia Reel" [2]). Cazden (Dances from Woodland), 1945; pg. 24. Cazden (Folk Songs of the Catskills), pg. 29. Cole (1001 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 29 (appears as "Miss McCloud's"). DeMarco and Krassen (Trip to Sligo), 1978; pgs. 38, 52, 66. Gale, No. 30. Hardings All Round Collection, 1905; No. 183, pg. 58. Hardings Original Collection and Harding Collection, No. 36. Howe (Diamond School for the Violin), 1861; pg. 44. Howe, 1951; pg. 34. Jarman (Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes), No. or pg. 10. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book), Vol. 1, 1951; No. 48, pg. 24 (appears as "May Day"). Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; pg. 5. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddlers Repertoire), 1983; No. 109. Moylan (Johnny O'Leary), 1994; No. 143, pg. 84. O'Malley, pgs. 10 & 22. O'Neill (1915 ed.), 1987; No. 275, pg. 140. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; pg. 134. O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; No. 1418, pg. 263. O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1907/1986; No. 655, pg. 117. Robbins, No. 96. Roche Collection, 1982, Vol. 1; No. 148, pg. 59. Ruth (Pioneer Western Folk Tunes), 1948; No. 112, pg. 39. Smith (Scottish Minstrel), Vol. 4, pg. 50. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; pg. 136. Surenne, pg. 11. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1965/1981; pg. 32. Trim (Thomas Hardy), 1990; No. 4 (appears as "Miss MacLeod of Ayr"). Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, Vol. 1), 1999; pg. 19. White's Excelsior Collection, pg. 42. White's Unique Collection, No. 170. Biograph 6003, The Bogtrotters- "The Original Bogtrotters" (appears as "Hop Up Ladies"). Brunswick (78 RPM), John McDermott (N.Y. state), 1926 (appears as 1st tune of "Virginia Reel Medley"). CCF2, Cape Cod Fiddlers - "Concert Collection II" (1999). County 201, The Old Virginia Fiddlers- "Rare Recordings" (appears as "Hop Light Ladies"). Davis Unlimited 33015, Doc Roberts- "Classic Fiddle Tunes" (appears as "Did You Ever See the Devil, Uncle Joe"). Gael-Linn CEF 045, "Paddy Keenan" (1975. Appears as "McLeod's Reel/Cor Mhic Leoid"). Glencoe 001, Cape Breton Symphony- "Fiddle." Globestyle Irish CDORBD 085, The Kerry Fiddle Trio - "The Rushy Mountain" (1994. Reissue of Topic recordings). Green Linnet 1023, Joe Shannon and Johnny McGreevy- "The Noonday Feast." Green Linnet SIF1122, Kevin Burke - "Open House" (1992). John Edwards Memorial Foundation JEMF-105, Uncle Joe Shippee - "New England Traditional Fiddling" (1978). June Appal 007, Thomas Hunter- "Deep in Tradition." Nimbus NI 5320, Ciaran Tourish et al. - "Fiddle Sticks: Irish Traditional Music from Donegal" (1991). Rounder 0057, Frank Dalton and George Wood- "Old Originals, Vol. 1" (appears as "Hop Light Ladies"). Rounder 0058, John Patterson- "Old Originals, Vol. II" (appears as "Did You Ever See the Devil, Uncle Joe?"). Shanachie 33001, Patrick J. Touhey- "The Wheels of the World." Tennvale 001S, Bob Douglas- "Old Time Dance Tunes Fron the Sequatchie Valley" (Appears as "Hop Light Ladies"). Tennvale 003, Pete Parish- "Clawhammer Banjo." Topic 12T309, Padraig O'Keeffe, Denis Murphy & Julia Clifford - "Kerry Fiddles." Transatlantic 341, Dave Swarbrick- "Swarbrick 2." Victor 20537 (78 RPM), Mellie Dunham, 1926 (appears as 1st tune of "Medley of Reels"). Mickey Doherty - "The Gravel Walks."
T:Miss McLeod's Reel
L:1/8
M:C|
K:G
|:G2 BG dG BG|GB BA Bc BA|G2 BG dG BG|A2AG (3ABc BA|
G2BG dG BG|GB BA Bc d2|(3efg ed Bd ef|ge dB Ac BA:|
|:G2 gf ed eg|B2BA BcBA|G2 gf ed Bd|ea ag fd ef|g2 gf ef ge|
dB BA Bc d2|(3efg ed Bd ef|ge dB Ac BA:|
MISS SUPERTEST'S VICTORY REEL. AKA and see "Uncle Herman's Hornpipe." Canadian?, Reel. D Major ('A' part) & A Major ('B' part). Standard. AABB. Composed by John Durocher. Source for notated version: New England dance caller Ted Sannella [Hinds]. Hinds/Hebert (Grumbling Old Woman), 1981; pg. 16. Ted Sanella, 1981 - Balance and Swing (CDSSA). Apex Records AL1616, "Don Messer's Jubilee."
OBELISK HORNPIPE. AKA and see "Bashful Bachelor Hornpipe," "Don't bother me," "The Moving Bog of Allen," "The Moving Bogs" (Na Portaigh Chreathacha), "Rachel Rae," "Shaw's Reel," "Where Did You Find Her?" "The Wily Old Bachelor." American, Hornpipe. G Major. Standard. AABB. Cole (1001 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 114.
OLD FRENCH. AKA and see "Little Old Man," "Rambler's Hornpipe." American, Canadian Reel (usually) or Hornpipe. USA, New England. D Major ('A' part) & A Mixolydian ('B' part). Standard. AABB (Brody, Carlin, Kaufman, Messer, Miller & Perron, Sweet): AA'BB' (Reiner & Anick). Popular belief has the title deriving from a remark by an old Vermont fiddler who, when asked its title, said it was "just an old French tune." Ken Perlman (1979), the tune appears to be unknown in Canada and is probably a northern New England composition in the Québec style. It is known in Canada, however, as attested by its appearance in Maritime fiddler Don Messer's repertoire, and although he himself could have picked it up from New England fiddlers it is likely it was in 'Down East' repertoire originally. Ottawa valley fiddlers know it as "Rambler's Hornpipe" or "Little Old Man." Sources for notated versions: Andy Woolf & Roaring Jelly [Reiner & Anick]; Ken Kosek [Phillips]. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 206. Carlin (English Concertina), 1977; pg. 26. Kaufman (Beginning Old Time Fiddle), 1977; pgs. 74-75. Messer (Way Down East), 1948; No. 30. Messer (Anthology of Favorite Fiddle Tunes), 1980; No. 47, pg. 32. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddler's Repertoire), 1983; No. 127. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 170. Reiner & Anick (Old Time Fiddling Across America), 1989; pg. 49. Sannella, Balance and Swing (CDSS). Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1965/1981; pg. 67. Tolman (Nelson Music Collection), 1969; pg. 13. Welling (Welling's Hartford Tunebook), 1976; pg. 10. Fiddler FRLP 001, Tom Doucet (Nova Scotia/eastern Mass.) - "The Down East Star." Philo 1008, "Kenny Hall."
T:Old French
L:1/8
M:C|
K:D
(3ABc|d2cd Bd AF|DF Ad f2ed|cd ef ge ce|de fd A2 (3ABc|
d2cd Bd AF|DF Ad f2ed|cd ef ge ce|d2f2d2:|
K:A
|:cd|ef ed c2A2|AE Ac e2 dc|B=G Bd gf ed|cA ce a2cd|
ef ed (3cdc A2|AE Ac e2 dc|B=G Bd gf ed|c2A2A2:|
RACHEL RAE. AKA and see "The Bashful Bachelor Hornpipe," "Courting Them All," "Don't Bother Me," "Jimmy Holmes' Favorite," "The Moving Bogs (of Allen)," "Miss Rae's Reel," "Obelisk Hornpipe," "Shaw's Reel," "Where Did You Find Her?" "The Wily Old Bachelor." Scottish, Reel. D Major. Standard. AB (Honeyman): AAB (Athole, Kennedy, Kerr, Raven, Skye): ABB' (Hardie). Attributed often to John Lowe and appearing in his Collection, Book 1, though with the footnote: "This favourite reel has been published in many collections, but none have subscribed the Author's name; it was composed by Mr. Lowe's father, many years ago, when he was teaching Dancing in Marykirk, Kincardineshire." MacDonald, in his Skye Collection opines "This excellent reel is in Mr. (John) Lowe's best style and very popular." Lowe was a dancing master in Marykirk whose famous reel first appeared in Archibald Duff's Collection of 1794 as "Raecheal Rea's Rant." His son was the Joseph Lowe who published a collection of melodies in the 1840's. Emmerson (1971) poses a class of Scottish reels defined by the rhythm quarter note-two eight notes-quarter note-two eight notes per measure. Tunes in this catagory include "Rachel Rae," "The Wind that Shakes the Barley," "Largo's Fairy Dance," and "De'il amang the Tailors." It has been suggested that the melody of "Rachel Rae" is the basis for the American old-time tune "Forked Deer." Bill Hardie (1986) thinks it is a "particulary suitable" tune to follow the triplet close of "Stirling Castle." See also "Archie Menzies" and "Sir David Davidson of Cantry" for other famous John Lowe compositions. Cameron's Selection of Violin Music (Glasgow), 1859; pg. 15. Hardie (Caledonian Companion), 1986; pg. 23. Honeyman (Strathspey, Reel and Hornpipe Tutor), 1898; pg. 7. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 215. Kennedy (Fiddler's Tune Book), Vol 2, 1954; pg. 13. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; Set 2, No. 2, pg. 4. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; pg. 32. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 178. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 89. Beltona 2103 (78 RPM), Edinburgh Highland Strathspey and Reel Society (1936). Fife Strathspey and Reel Society - "The Fiddle Sounds of Fife" (1980).
T:Rachel Rae
L:1/8
M:C|
R:Reel
B:The Athole Collection
K:D
A,|D2FA d2Ac|d2fd fedc|d2Ad BAGF|E2AE FDD:|
A|defg a2fd|g2bg e2cA|defg a2fd|Agfe fddA|defg fafd|g2bg eecA|
D2Ad BAGF|E2 AD FDD||
RAILROAD HORNPIPE. Canadian, Hornpipe. Apex AL 1613, "The Best of Don Messer and his Islanders, Vol. 6."
RUBBER DOLLY (BREAKDOWN) [1]. AKA - "Rubber Dolly Rag." AKA and see "Back Up and Push." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Texas, Arkansas, North Carlolina, Virginia, New York State. C Major (Phillips): A Major (Bronner). Standard or AEAE (for A Major version). AA (Bronner): AA'BB' (Phillips). The title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. According to Bronner (1987), "Rubber Dolly" was first collected as a Anglo-American children's game with the following words or variants (which may have come from a music-hall song of the 1890's):
***
My Mommy told me, she's going to buy a rubber dolly,
If I was good, So don't you till her I kissed a feller/soldier
Or she won't buy me a rubber dolly.
***
Bronner also says the tune has a similarity to an older British Isles melody called "Lord Alexander's Reel/Hornpipe," though he must have consulted other versions of the melody for his sources' version is somewhat obscure. It has been a favorite Texas or western swing piece in the 1930's and 40's, and has also been collected in the northeast. Source for notated version: Charley Hughes (New York State, 1973) [Bronner]. Bronner (Old-Time Music Makers of New York State), 1987; No. 40, pgs. 146-147 (includes variations). Phillips (Fiddlecase Tunebook), 1989; pg. 37. CMH Country Classics 9027, Johnny Gimble- "Texas Fiddle Collection," 1981. Disc D110, Woody Guthrie- "Hard Travellin.'" Old-Timey LP-101, Uncle Bud Landress "Old Time Southern Dance Music." Old-Timey LP-105, Harry Choates- "Western Swing."
SHAW'S REEL. AKA and see "Bashful Bachelor Hornpipe," "Don't bother me," "The Moving Bog of Allen," "The Moving Bogs" (Na Portaigh Chreathacha), "Obelisk Hornpipe," "Rachel Rae," "Where Did You Find Her?" "The Wily Old Bachelor." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Nebraska. G Major. Standard. AABB. Source for notated version: "Uncle" Bob Walters (Burt County, Nebraska) [Christeson]. Christeson (Old Time Fiddler's Repertory, Vol. 2), 1984; No. 137, pg. 85. Cole (1001 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 49.
SMASH THE WINDOWS [1] (Bris Na Fuinneogide/Fuinneoga). AKA and see "Jelly Jig" (American), "Roaring Jelly," "Smash the Windlass" (Shetland). Irish, English, Shetland, Canadian, American; Single Jig or Slide (12/8 time). Shetland, Island of Whalsay. USA, New England. Canada, Prince Edward Island. D Major. Standard. AAB (Miller & Perron, Moylan, O'Neill/1850, 1001 & 1915): AA'B (Phillips): AABB (Ashman, Kerr, Perlman): AABB' (Begin, Mulvihill). Martin Mulvihill gives this tune as an accompaniment for the dance The Haymakers' Jig. Sources for notated versions: a c. 1837-1840 MS by Shropshire musician John Moore [Ashman]; Danny Gardella [Phillips]; accordion player Johnny O'Leary (Sliabh Luachra region of the Cork-Kerry border) [Moylan]; Carl & Jackie Webster (Cardigan, Central Kings County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]; Dawson Girdwood (Perth, Ottawa Valley, Ontario) [Begin]; from the playing of piper Séamus Ennis (Dublin), who learned them from his father, a piper taught by Nicholas Markey who in turn had been taught by the renowned piper and pipemaker Billy Taylor of Drogheda and later Philadelphia [Breathnach]. Allan's Irish Fiddler, No. 35, pg. 9. Ashman (The Ironbridge Hornpipe), 1991; No. 60a, pg. 23. Begin (Fiddle Music from the Ottawa Valley: Dawson Girdwood), 1985; No. 39, pg. 51. Breathnach (Ceol V, No. 2), 1982. Breathnach (The Man and His Music), 1997; No. 4, pg. 72. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 259. Cole (1001 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 59. Gow (Repository). Gow (Beauties), 1819. Jarman (Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes); No. or pg. 11. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book), Vol. 1, 1951; No. 82, pg. 40. Kerr (Merry Melodies); Vol. 1 pg. 40. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 4; No. 192, pg. 22. Lowe (A Collection of Reels & Strathspeys), 1844. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddlers Repertoire), 1983; No. 11. Moylan (Johnny O'Leary), 1994; No. 223, pgs. 128-129. Mulvihill (1st Collection), 1986; No. 45, pg. 128. O'Neill (1915 ed.), 1987; No. 211, pg. 113. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; pg. 47. O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; No. 965, pg. 179. O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1907/1986; No. 386, pg. 78. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; pg. 137. Phillips (Fiddlecase Tunebook), 1989; pg. 43. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 2, 1995; pg. 380. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 107 (appears as "Roaring Jelly"). Ryan's Mammoth Collection. Apex AL 1613, "The Best of Don Messer and his Islanders, Vol. 6." Folkways FG 3575, Barry, Gorman, Ennis, and Heaney- "Irish Music in London Pubs." Front Hall 01, Fennigs All Stars- "The Hammered Dulcimer."
T:Smash the Windows
L:1/8
M:6/8
K:D
|: DED F2A|d2f ecA|G2B F2A|E2F GFE|DED F2A|d2f ecA|Bgf edc|ded d3:|/
[| a2f d2e|f2g agf|g2e c2d|e2f gfe|a2f d2e|f2g agf|g2e cde|d3 dfg|a2f d2e|
f2g agf|g2e c2d|e2f gfe|fed gfe|agf bag|fed cde|ded d2A|]
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:|
TRIP TO THE COTTAGE [1] (Turas Go Di'n Iosdan). AKA and see "The Self," "Turas 'un Tí." Irish, English; Double Jig. England; Dorset, Shropshire. G Major (most versions): A Major (Carlin). Standard. AABB (most versions): AABB' (Phillips): AABA (Trim). The title appears in a list of tunes in his repertoire brought by Philip Goodman, the last professional and traditional piper in Farney, Louth, to the Feis Ceoil in Belfast in 1898 (Breathnach, 1997). Sources for notated versions: a c. 1837-1840 MS by Shropshire musician John Moore [Ashman]; Don Woodcock and Dave Howard [Phillips]; accordion player Johnny O'Leary (Sliabh Luachra region of the Cork-Kerry border) [Moylan]. Allan's Irish Fiddler, No. 12, pg. 4. Ashman (The Ironbridge Hornpipe), 1991; No. 27a, pg. 7. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 465, pg. 443. Carlin (Master Collection), 1984; No. 242, pg. 140. Cole (1001 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 78. Harding's All Round Collection, 1905; No. 75, pg. 23. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book), Vol. 1, 1951; No. 84, pg. 41. Mallinson (Enduring), 1995; No. 25, pg. 10. Moylan (Johnny O'Leary), 1994; No. 136, pg. 79. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; pg. 25. O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1907/1986; No. 74, pg. 28. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 2, 1995; pg. 384. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 108 (appears as "The Self"). Roche Collection, 1982, Vol. 1; No. 82, pg. 37. Trim (Thomas Hardy), 1990; No. 44 (appears as "A Trip to My Cottage"). Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, Book Two), 1999; pg. 27. Edison 52499 (78 RPM), John H. "Dutch" Kimmel (accordionist from New York City), 1929.
T:Trip to the Cottage [1]
L:1/8
M:6/8
K:G
B|ded BGB|cBc AFA|DGG FAA|GBB ABc|ded BGB|cBc AFA|DGG FGA|BGF G2:|
|:d|gfe d^cd|edc Bcd|ecA BAG|FAG FED|gfe d^cd|edc Bcd|efg eag|fd^c d2:|
WHERE DID YOU FIND HER? [2]. AKA and see "Bashful Bachelor Hornpipe," "Don't bother me," "The Moving Bog of Allen," "The Moving Bogs" (Na Portaigh Chreathacha), "Obelisk Hornpipe," "Rachel Rae," "Shaw's Reel," "The Wily Old Bachelor." Irish, Hornpipe. G Major. Standard. AB. Mulvihill (1st Collection), 1986; No. 7, pg. 89.
WHITE COCKADE, THE [1] (An Cnota Bán). AKA and see "The Duke of Buccleugh's Tune," "The Ranting Highlander/Highlandman," "Fiddler's Morris," "A Highland Lad My Love Was Born," "The Highland Laddie," "The Lad With the White Cockade," "O, An Ye Were Dead, Guidman," "The Rose in the Garden" (a Kings County, PEI title), "White Cock Head." Scottish (originally), Irish, English, Canadian, American; Scottish Measure, Reel, March, or Country Dance. USA; New England, New Hampshire, Maine, southwestern Pa., New York, Michigan. Canada, Prince Edward Island. G Major. Standard. AB (Bayard, O'Neill/1850, Skye): AAB (Linscott): AABB (Athole, Breathnach, Brody, Carlin, Hardie, Hunter, Johnson, Kennedy, Miller & Perron, Morrison, O'Neill/1915, Raven, Shaw, Sweet, Trim). The tune in its original form is properly catagorized a Scottish Measure. One of the first printings of the air is in Playford's Apollo's Banquet of 1687 where it was called simply a "Scots tune," and another early title seems to have been "The Duke of Buccleugh's Tune." Bayard (1981) dates the tune to the latter 17th century (apparently due to the Playford publication), but admits it might be older, although Flood (1906) more decisively (though without documentation) identifies it as a popular air and song of 1615-1630. Linscott (1939) finds a relatively late printing by Herd in 1776, by which time the air was thoroughly established.
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A cockade was a ribbon in the shape of a rosette used as a decoration on hats, and thus was a convenient vehicle to display the wearer's loyalties in much the same manner as a button or a bumper sticker nowadays. It was used especially as a uniform decoration and to mark irregular troops in the 18th century and various colors represented different loyalties. A white cockade was associated with Jacobite rebels in 1715 and again for Bonnie Prince Charlie's uprising in 1745, in both Scotland and Ireland. The Americans, with a high percentage of both Scots-Irish and Irish in their ranks who identified with the earlier rebels, adopted the white cockade as their symbol during the Revolutionary War and when France entered the war they added the black cockade of that country's troops, forming the black and white "Alliance cockade" (Johnson, Scottish Fiddle Music in the 18th Century, 1984, and others). It is popularly though the title of the tune refers to a these Jacobite symbols. Jacobite associations to it dimmed by the end of the century, allowing the tune to be absorbed (like the Highlander's kilts) and used as a march in the British army in 1812 where it appears in a military musician's manuscript book of the period (Winstock). Other military citations include it as one of two stirring tunes (along with "St. Patrick's Day in the Morning") played by pipers attached to the Irish Brigade in the service of France which helped to turn the tide of battle against the English troops in the battle of Fontenoy on May 11, 1745 (O'Neill, 1913). Flood (1906) and O'Neill (1913) state it was probably the last appearance in battle of the Irish Piob mor (war pipes or great pipes, which did survive in Scotland) of any mention.
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The title is from a Jacobite song from the 18th century written by Muiris mac Daibhi mac Gerailt (Maurice FitzDavid FitzGerald) perhaps after, it has been variously suggested, the fashion of wearing white ribboned plumes in men's hats of the time or possibly to the white cockade which Dublin ladies wore in their hair to show their support of the House of Stewart. Breathnach (CRE II) reports that Seán Ó Dálaigh wrote a note to this song stating that it refers not, as many think, to a military cockade but rather to bouquets of ribbons worn by the young women of Munster at weddings and other such occasions early in the 17th century. This custom is referred to in a verse Ó Dálaigh attributes to the period poet Muiris Mac Gearailt:
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A chailín donn deas an chnota bháin,
Do bhuair is mheall mé le h-iomad grá;
Tair-se liom 's ná de/an me/ chrá,
Mar do thug mé greann dod' chnota bán.
***
Oh pretty brown girl of the white cockade,
Who grieved and charmed me with abundance of love;
Come with me and don't torment me,
Because I mocked your white cockade. [translation by Paul de Grae]
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The Scots poet Robert Burns rewrote the lyrics as "A Highland Lad my Love was
Born," but the tune itself seems to have been more popular than even his song, and it was often used as a vehicle for various songs about love, topography, and drinking (see "The Ranting Highlander," "The Highland Laddie," "Fiddler's Morris"). {As an aside, Burn's originally specified his lyric be sung to the tune of the song "O, and ye were dead, Guidman," which was written to the melody of "Watson's Scotch Measure"}. "White Cockade" was commonly played at Orange County, New York, country dances in the 1930's (Lettie Osborn, New York Folklore Quarterly). The tune is associated with a dance of the same name in New England, and one set appears in Linscott's Folk Songs of Old New England; Johnson also prints a Scottish contra dance to the tune. Burchenal (1918) gives the tune as commonly played in that region for the contra dance Camptown Hornpipe. It was listed in the repertoire of Maine fiddler Mellie Dunham (the elderly Dunham was Henry Ford's champion fiddler in the late 1920's). 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 English novelist Thomas Hardy, himself an accordion player and fiddler, mentions the tune in scene notes to his drama The Dynasts:
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It is a June Midnight at The Duke & Duchess of Richmond's. A band
of stringed instruments shows in the background. The room is crowded
with a brilliant assemblage of more than two hundred of the distinguished
people sojourning in the city on account of the war and other reasons, and
of local personages of State and fashion. The ball has opened with 'The
White Cockade.'
***
The author of English Folk-Song and Dance (pg. 144) found the tune in the repertoire of fiddler William Tilbury (who lived at Pitch Place, midway between Chrut and Thursley in Surrey), who, in his young days, used to play the fiddle at village dances. Tilbury learned his repertoire from an uncle, Fiddler Hammond, who died around 1870 and who was the village musician before him. The conclusion was that "The White Cockade" and similar old country dance tunes survived in tradition (at least in southwest Surrey) well into the second half of the 19th century. A jig form of the tune is known as "A Hundred Pipers and A'."
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Sources for notated versions: Dennis McClure (Willimantic, Conn.) [Linscott]; Clyde Lloyd (fifer from Indiana County, Pa., 1952), Hiram Horner (fifer from Westmoreland and Fayette Counties, Pa., 1960), Hogg (Pa., 1948), George Strosnider (fiddler from Greene County, Pa., 1930's) [Bayard]; flute and whistle Micho Russell, 1973 (Doolin, Co. Clare) [Breathnach]; Francis MacDonald (b. 1940, Morell Rear, North-East Kings County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]; tin whistle player Micho Russell (Doolin, County Clare) [Breathnach]. Adam, 1928; No. 16. Aird (Selections), 1778 (1782?), Vol. 1, No. 1 (appears as "The Ranting Highlandman," a title G. Farquhar Graham thought Aird found more prudent than "The White Cockade" as sentiments from the rising of '45 were still strong). American Veteran Fifer, 1927; No. 13, pg. 7. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), No. 174A-D, pgs. 125-126. Blake (Ye Ancient Song and Fife), 1974; pg. 26. Breathnach (CRE II), 1976; No. 115, pg. 63. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 291. Burchenal (American Country Dances, Vol. 1), 1918; pg. 18 (appears as "Camptown Hornpipe"). Cahusac's Pocket Companion for the Flute, 1795?, Vol. 1, pg. 40. Carlin (Gow Collection), 1986; No. 466. Cazden, Jigs, Reels and Squares, Vol. 1, pg. 20. Creighton, 1933; No. 85, pg. 183. DeVille, 1905; No. 73. Emmerson (Rantin' Pipe and Tremblin' String), pg. 124. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 109. Fraser (The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles), 1816; No. 126. Gow (Vocal Melodies of Scotland), 1822; pg. 35. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 2, 1802; pg. 19. Graham, 1908; pg. 219. Hardie (Caledonian Companion), 1992; pg. 29. Harding Collection (1915) and Harding's Original Collection (1928), No. 18. Howe (School for the Violin), 1851, pg. 33. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 313. Huntington, (William Litten's), 1977; pg, 17. Jarman (Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes); No. or pg. 22. JEFDSS, Vol. 1, pg. 94 (2nd half). JFSS, Vol. IV, pg. 159 (2nd half). Johnson (The Scots Musical Museum), 1787-1803, Vol. 3, No. 272 (apparently the first printing in Scotland). Johnson (Twenty-Eight Country Dances as Done at the New Boston Fair), Vol. 8, 1988; pg. 10. Joyce (Ancient Irish Music), 1873, No. 80. Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Song), 1909; No. 112. Keller (Giles Gibbs Jr., His Book for the Fife...1777), 1974, pg. 28. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book), Vol. 1, 1951; No. 60, pg. 29. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; No. 2, pg. 23 & pg. 40. Linscott (Folk Songs of Old New England), 1939; pgs. 117 & 120. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; pg 170. McDonald (The Gesto Collection), 1895; pgs. 6 & 126. McDonald (Highland Vocal Airs), 1784; pg. 33 (Dance No. 5). Miller & Perron (New England Fiddler's Repertoire), 1983; No. 105. Morrison (Twenty-Four Early American Country Dances, Cotillions & Reels, for the Year 1976), 1976; pg. 41. O'Daly, 1849, Vol. 1, pg. 50. O'Malley, 1919, pg. 41. O'Neill (1915 ed.), 1987; No. 108, pg. 61 (includes variations). O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; No. 1803, pg. 328. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; pg. 155. Preston, 1796, pg. 127. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 151. Ritson (Scottish Songs), Vol. II, pg. 430. Robbins, 1933, No. 82, pg. 26. Ruth (Pioneer Western Folk Tunes), 1948; No. 80, pg. 29. The Scottich Country Dance Book, 1930-57, No. 5 (tune 11). Shaw (Cowboy Dances), 1943; pg. 391. Smith (Scottish Minstrel), 1820-24, Vol. 1, pg. 21. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 147. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1965/1981; pg. 32. Thompson (Scottish Airs for the Voice), 1805, Vol. 4, No. 188. Tolman (Nelson Music Collection), pg. 168. Trim (Thomas Hardy), 1990; No. 6 (appears as "White Cock Head"). White's Excelsior Collection, 1907; pg. 72. Wilson (Companion to the Ballroom), 1840; pgs. 39 & 54. ALcazar Dance Series FR 204, Rodney Miller - "New England Chestnuts 2" (1981). Folkways FA 2381, "The Hammered Dulcimer as played by Chet Parker" (1966). Folkways FTS 31036, Roger Sprung- "Grassy Licks." North Star NS0038, "The Village Green: Dance Music of Old Sturbridge Village." Olympic 6151, The Scottish Festival orchestra- "Scottish Traditonal Fiddle Music" (1978). RCA 09026-60916-2, The Chieftains - "An Irish Evening" (1991). Transatlantic 337, Dave Swarbrick- "Swarbrick." Victor 20537 (78 RPM), Mellie Dunham (Me.), 1926 (appears as 2nd tune of "Medley of Reels").
T:White Cockade, The
L:1/8
M:C|
R:Country Dance
B:The Athole Collection
K:G
GA|B2B2B2 AB|G2B2B2 ge|d2B2B2 AG|B2A2A2 GA|B2 Bd cBAG|
A2B2g3a|bagf efge|d2B2B2:|
|:Bc|d2B2g2B2|d2d2d3e|d2B2g2fg|a2A2A2GA|B2Bd cBAG|A2B2g3a|
bagf efge|d2B2B2:|
WILY OLD BACHELOR, THE (An Seangiolla Criona). AKA and see "The Bashful Bachelor (Hornpipe)," "Courting Them All," "Don't Bother Me," "The Moving Bogs (of Allen)," "Miss Rae's Reel," "Obelisk Hornpipe," "Shaw's Reel," "Where Did You Find Her?" Irish, Hornpipe. G Major. Standard. AABB. O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; No. 1751. O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1907/1986; No. 923, pg. 158.
T:Wily Old Bachelor, The
L:1/8
M:C|
R:Hornpipe
S:O'Neill - 1001 Gems (923)
K:G
DC|G,DGA BGDB,|CEAB cAFD|B,DGA BGc>B|(3ABG (3FGE (3DEC (3B,CA,|
B,DGA BGDB,|CEAB cAFD|B,DGB ADEF|G2B2G2:|
|:ga|bgeg dgBg|dgBg dgBg|bgeg dgBg|fgab a2 ga|
bgeg dgBg|cBAB cdef|gdBG EcAF|G2B2G2:|