Van Eps' "Dixie Medley"

[Trapdoor2]

I can't recall if we've looked for these dots or not...and naturally, my collection is packed away.

I was listening to "Dixie Medley" today at lunch and marvelling at Mr. Eps facility with the jigs and reels. I know he recorded a wide variety of versions, some with "Suwanee River" done in tremelo fashion and some not.

Anyone have the dots to this ? I would like to see how it was arranged, esp. in comparison to today's methods. Would be a fun one to trot out in front of the bluegrassers, esp. since they all think they invented this stuff. ;-)

[Jody Stecher]

well, there's a two page version here: http://www.classicbanjo.com/tutors/VanEps/toc.htm

[Trapdoor2]

LOLOLOLOL!

That figures. Forgot about my own stuff already. I supplied that to Hal (and the seperate piano arr. book) way back when.

Thanks, Jody.

[Howard C. Malcolm]

Speaking of Dixie Medley, does anyone know for sure the titles to two of the tunes in the 1908 recording of Dixie Medley by Fred Van Eps?

The first unknown tune (the second tune in the medley) may be the A part of Durang's Hornpipe.

The second unknown tune (the fourth tune in the medley) may be Too Young Too Marry.

I have listened to Dixie Medley dozens of times and have always wondered what the names of these two tunes were.

Both of these mystery tunes are notated in the Dixie Medley sheet music at the ClassicBanjo website that Jody Stecher pointed out.

Hopefully someone here can identify these tune titles.

Thank you.

Dixie Medley Edison's National Phonograph Company 8339 1908
Yahoo ClassicBanjo / Files / Van Eps & Ossman
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/classicbanjo/
1. Dixie
2. ? Durang's Hornpipe - A part only ?
3. Arkansas Traveler with minor variation
4. ? Too Young To Marry?
5. Turkey In The Straw

Another version that I like even better but only containing mystery tune number 2 is:
Dixie Medley Edison Diamond Disc 50195-L 1914
http://turtleservices.com/dxemedly.htm
1. Dixie
2. ? Durang's Hornpipe - A part only ?
3. My Old Kentucky Home
4. Arkansas Traveler
5. Swanne River (Old Folks At Home)
6. Turkey In The Straw
7. When I Saw Sweet Nellie Home
8. Dixie

[Joel Hooks]

IF you look at the version of Dixie in the Howard Instructor For The Banjo, page 29, the 2nd part is very similar. I'd hazard that it is just a variation on Dixie.

I cannot get the first one to play.

[Trapdoor2]

Yeah, the first version is the one on my ipod...I really like that minor variation on the second part of Arkansas Traveller. I've got it tabbed out from the sheet music...but I had to create the minor variation myself (by simply transposing Eps' dots into Cm (parallel minor). Sounds cool but I'll still need to bounce it off of the recording.

I don't think the 2nd tune is Durang's...it is really familiar but I'm lousy with fiddle-tune names. If nobody knows it, I'll pass it along to my favorite Old Time fiddler, who will recognize it right off.

The other is indeed "Too Young To Marry".

[Jody Stecher]

The second tune referenced goes by many names. Maybe the most common is My Love Is But A Lassie Yet. "Too Young To Marry" would imply the same idea. The first tune I've heard only forty thousand times from musicians from both sides of the Atlantic but I'm drawing a blank for a title. It's not a version of "Dooo-Rang's" Hornpipe.

[Howard C. Malcolm]

01. deuceswilde replied that a C part, possibly a Dixie variation, is in the Howard Instructor for the Banjo at the Classic Banjo website at

http://www.classicbanjo.com/tutors/Howard/HowardInstructor.pdf

This certainly is what Fred Van Eps is playing in his Dixie Medley, but where did it come from?

02. Wikipedia has an informative entry for Dixie (song) at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dixie_(song)

It mentions that:

"Dixie" is structured into 32 measure groups of alternating verses and refrains, following an AABC pattern. As originally performed, a soloist or small group stepped forward and sang the verses, and the whole company answered at different times; the repeated line "look away" was probably one part sung in unison like this. As the song became widely popular, the audience likely joined the troupe in singing the chorus. Traditionally, another eight measures of unaccompanied fiddle playing followed, coming to a partial close in the middle; since 1936, this part has rarely been printed with the sheet music.
...
"As with other blackface material, performances of "Dixie" were accompanied by dancing. The song is a walkaround, which originally began with a few minstrels acting out the lyrics, only to be joined by the rest of the company (a dozen or so individuals for the Bryants). According to a musician named Oscar Coon, Bryant's Minstrels performed a jig to "Dixie" called Beans of Albany. This is probably Albany Beef, the Scots-Irish dance that Emmett refers to in a book on fife instruction. Dancers probably performed between verses, and a single dancer used the fiddle solo at the end of the song to "strut, twirl his cane, or mustache, and perhaps slyly wink at a girl on the front row."
...

03. This same Wikipedia article in its external links section has "Sheet music for "Dixie's Land" from Historic American Sheet Music at Duke University" at (page 4)

http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/sheetmusic/n/n08/n0807/n0807-4-72dp...

This version of Dixie, composed by Dan. C. Emmett, arranged by W.L. Hobbs and published by Firth, Pond & Co. in 1860, has the C fiddle part which is identical to the C part in the Howard Instructor for the Banjo (except that this arrangement is in the key of C and its C part is only played once). It is also what Fred Van Eps plays in his Dixie Medley.

04. The Fiddler's Companion has an Albany Beef entry at

http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/AI_ALI.htm

The B part of Albany Beef is the same Dixie C part in the Howard Instructor for the Banjo, the same C fiddle part in the W.L. Hobbs arrangement of Dixie, as well as what Fred Van Eps plays in his Dixie Medley.

"ALBANY BEEF. AKA and see "Buckley's Favorite/Fancy," “After the Sun Goes Down,” “Lord St. Clair’s Reel.” American, Quickstep March (2/4 time). D Major. Standard. AABB. The city of Albany, New York, was originally settled as Willemstadt by the Dutch and renamed Albany by the English when they gained control of the Hudson, in honor of James, Duke of York and Albany. The name Albany itself is a northern English variant of the ancient name Albion, referring to Britain. The name Albany Beef, however, referred to abundant and cheap Hudson River sturgeon flesh [fish?] that was marketed in the United States in the 19th century. Irish versions are in O’Neill as “After the Sun Goes Down” and in Roche as “Lord St. Clair’s Reel,” however, “Albany Beef” only shares one part of the tune with them. Bruce & Emmett’s Drummers’ and Fifers’ Guide, 1862; pg. 56.

X:1
T:Albany Beef
M:2/4
L:1/8
R:Quickstep March
S:Bruce & Emmett’s Drummers’ & Fifers’ Guide (1862)
Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion
K:D
A/F/ | DD/F/ A/B/A/G/ | Ee/f/ e/d/B/c/ | d/e/d/A/ B/d/g/b/ | a/f/g/e/ f/d/A/F/ |
DD/F/ A/B/A/G/ | Ee/f/ e/d/B/c/ | d/e/d/A/ B/d/g/b/ | a/f/g/e/ d :: (3A/B/c/ |
df/d/ a/d/f/d/ | e/f/g/a/ b/g/e/c/ | df/d/ a/d/f/d/ | e/g/f/d/ c/A/B/c/ | df/d/ a/d/f/d/ |
e/f/g/a/ b/g/e/c/ | d/e/d/A/ B/d/g/b/ | a/f/g/e/ d :|

05. The Fiddler's Companion has three Too Young Too Marry entries at

http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/TOO_TOZ.htm

TOO YOUNG TO MARRY [1]. AKA and see "Buffalo Nickel [1]," “Cat Ate the Handsaw,” "Chinky Pin," “Crooked Stovepipe [2],” "Darling Child," "Fourth of July," “Grey-Eyed Cat,” "Hair in the Butter," "I'm My Momma's Darling (Child)," “Lead Out,” “Liesel,” “Love Somebody [2],” "Midnight Serenade [1]," "My Love Is/She's But a Lassie Yet [1],” “Old Mose,” “Raymondville," "Richmond Blues," “Soapsuds Over the Fence [3],” "Sweet Sixteen," "Ten Nights in a Bar Room," "Yellow Eyed Cat." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; western North Carolina, southwestern Virginia. D Major. ADae (Tommy Jarrell) or Standard tuning. AABB. Brody (Fiddler’s Fakebook), 1983; pg. 278. Kuntz, Private Collection. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; pg. 198. Welling (Welling’s Hartford Collection), 1976; pg. 11. County 713, Cockerham, Jarrell and Jenkins- "Down to the Cider Mill." Folkways FA 2336, Clark Kessinger- "Fiddler" (appears as "Chinky Pin"). County 733, Clark Kessinger- "The Legend of Clark Kessinger" (appears as "Chinky Pin"). County 201, The Old Virginia Fiddlers- "Rare Recordings" (appears as "Midnight Serenade"). Rounder 0197, Bob Carlin - "Banging & Sawing" (1985. Learned from Harold Hausenfluck). Voyager 316-S, Vivian Williams and Barbara Lamb- "Twin Sisters" (appears as "Fourth of July").

X:1
T:Too Young to Marry [1]
M:2/4
L:1/8
N:ADae Tuning
Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion
K:A
(f/g/|a)b ae|f/dd/ [df](f/g/|a)b ag/a/|b/a/b/g/ ef/g/|ab ae|f/dd/ [df]e/f/|g/f/e/d/ c/A/B/c/|d/ff/ [df]:|
|:(A/B/|d/)B/A/G/ F/E/D/F/|G/A/B/(c/ d)(A/B/|d/)B/A/G/ F/E/D|[EA]>[FA] [EA](A/B/|
d/)B/A/G/ F/E/D/F/|G/A/B/(c/ d>)(A|A/)B/c/d/ e/g/f/e/|[df]>e [df]:|

TOO YOUNG TO MARRY [2]. AKA and see "My Love is/She's But a Lassie Yet [1], "Miss Farquharson's Reel." Scottish, Reel. The tune was know in Scotland under the title "My Love She's But a Lassie Yet," and still earlier in Robert Bremner's 1757 "Scots Reels" as "Miss Farquharson's Reel."

TOO YOUNG TO MARRY [3]. AKA and see "Trop Jeune Pour s' Marier."

06. The Fiddler's Companion also has two My Love Is/She's But A Lassie Yet entries at

http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/MY_MZ.htm

MY LOVE IS/SHE'S BUT A LASSIE YET [1]. AKA and see "Buffalo Nickel [1]," "Chinky Pin," "Chinquapin/Chinquipin," "Crumb Creek Posey," "The Cumberland Square Eight," "Darling Child," "The Duke of York," "Farmer Had a Dog," "Fourth of July," "Hair in the Butter," "I'm My Momma's Darling (Child)," "The King's Head" (floater-Pa.), "Lead Out," "Lindsay Munnell Tune" (Pa.), "Love Somebody(, Yes I Do!)," "Midnight Serenade [1]," "Miss Farquharson's Reel," "Old Kingdom," "Richmond Blues," “Soapsuds Over the Fence [3],” "Sweet Sixteen," "Ten Nights in a Bar Room," "Too Young to Marry [1]," “Tripping on the Mountain,” "The Virginia Reel [4]" (floater-Pa.), "The White Cockade" (floating title, Pa.), "Yellow Eyed Cat." AKA - “My Lover’s but a Lady Yet.” Scottish, Irish, English, American; Reel, Polka (Ireland) and Country Dance Tune. USA; New England, Southwestern Pa., New York. England, Northumberland. D Major (most versions): C Major (Huntington). Standard tuning. AB (Howe, Silberberg, Sweet): AABB (most versions). The title was fixed on the tune because of two songs composed to it, one by Robert Burns and the other by the "Ettrick Shepherd," James Hogg, although the tune seems to have first appeared in print in Bremner's Scots Reels" of 1757 as "Miss Farqharson's Reel." It appears in James Aird's collection (of Scottish tunes), but although Samuel Bayard (1981) for some reason said he could find neither the title nor the music therein-Sara Johnson, and others who have looked find it “plain as day” in Aird, 1782, vol. 2, page 1, No. 1. The writer of Gems of Scottish Song asserts that the original title of the tune was "Lady Bodinscoth's Reel." In modern times the reel is often played in a set to accompany the dance “Dashing White Sergeant.”

***

Although of Scottish origin it soon became a popular tune south of the Tweed, as attested to the title's appearance in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes ("The Northern Minstrel's Budget"), which he published c. 1800. Northumbrian musician William Vickers included it in his 1770 music manuscript under the title “My Lover’s Butt a Lady Yett.” "My Love She's But a Lassie Yet" is also the name of a Scottish country dance, though a somewhat unusual one (Flett & Flett, 1964).

***

Imported to Ireland, the tune was converted to a polka and played under the titles “My Love is But a Lassie” and “Tripping on the Mountain.” The last title is the name it was famously recorded as in the 78 RPM era by flute player John McKenna and fiddler James Morrison.

***

The melody also found currency across the ocean and Bayard deems it perhaps the most widespread instrumental folk tune in Pennsylvania tradition, and that it in fact seems mostly to have been known as an instrumental air among folk musicians in general. The tune was printed under the title "Richmond Blues" in George P. Knauff's Virginia Reels, volume II (Baltimore, 1839) and was still cited as commonly played for country dances in Orange County, New York, in the 1930's (Lettie Osborn, New York Folklore Quarterly). In the South, old-time musicians know the tune under the title “Sweet Sixteen” and "Too Young to Marry.” Jim Taylor (1995) says the tune in its various titles was well-known to musicians in both North and South during the American Civil War era. See also note for “Richmond Blues.”

***

Source for notated version: Tony Mates [Silberberg]. Aird (Selections of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs), vol. II, c. 1782; No. 1, pg. 1. American Veteran Fifer, 1927; No. 61, pg. 31. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 323A-V, pgs. 283-289. Bruce & Emmett (Drummers and Fifers Guide), 1880; pg. 24. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 51. Gems of Scottish Song, pg. 160. Gow (Vocal Melodies of Scotland), 1822, 2nd ed. pg. 21. Graham, 1908; pg. 32. Howe (Diamond School for the Violin), 1981; pg. 60 (appears as a set of "Caledonian Quadrilles"). Howe (1000 Jigs and Reels), c. 1867; pg. 123. Jarman, Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes; No. or pg. 20. Johnson (Scots Musical Museum), 1787-1803, vol. 3, No. 225, pg. 234. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book), vol. 1, 1951; No. 57, pg. 28. Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 1; No. 10, pg. 22. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddlers Repertoire), 1983; No. 60. Neil (The Scots Fiddle), 1991; No. 186, pg. 241. Ostling, 1939; pg. 21. Riley (Flute Melodies), 1820; vol. 2, No. 22. Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; pg. 104. Smith (Scottish Minstrel), 1820-24, vol. 5, pg. 106. Sweet (Fifer’s Delight), 1965/1981; pg. 56. Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; pg. 47. Trim (Thomas Hardy), 1990; No. 20. Wilson (Companion to the Ballroom), 1840; pg. 65. Cló Iar Chonnachta CICD 165, John Wynne & John McEvoy - “Pride of the West” (2007). F&W Records 1, "F&W String Band."

See also listings at:
Jane Keefer’s Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources
Alan Ng’s Irishtune.info

X:1
T:My Love is But a Lassie Yet [1]
M:C|
L:1/8
K:D
|:dc|d2D2F2A2|d2D2D2 dc|d2D2F2A2|e2E2E2 dc|
d2D2F2A2|B2g2f2e2|dc BA Bc de|f2d2d2:|
|:fg|a3f g3e|f2d2d2 fg|a3f g2a2|b2e2e2 fg|a2 fg g2 eg|
f2 df e2A2|dcBA Bcde|f2d2d2:|

X:2
T:My Lover’s Butt a Lady Yett
M:C|
L:1/8
R:Reel
S:William Vickers’ music manuscript, pg. 22 (1770)
Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion
K:D
A/B/c/|dDFD dDD B/c/|dDFD BEE B/c/|dDFD dgfe|d/c/B A/B/c dDD:|
|:f/g/|afge fdd f/g/|afge eEE (f/g/)|afge fdec|d/c/B/A/ Bc dDD:|

MY LOVE IS BUT A LASSIE [2]. AKA- "Farewell to Whiskey [1]," "Love Somebody." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Missouri. D Major. Standard tuning. AABB. Barely recognizable as a variant of above. Also Irish versions (e.g. Mike Rafferty) under this title (see “Farewell to Whiskey [1]”). Source for notated version: Ben Smith (Dixon, Missouri) [Christeson]. R.P. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, vol. 2), 1984; pg. 53.

07. Well, it certainly seems that the second mystery tune of Fred Van Eps' Dixie Medley is Too Young To Marry / My Love Is But A Lassie Yet. It furthermore appears that the first mystery tune is actually a C fiddle part of Dixie which is also the B part of Albany Beef.

Thanks to all.

[Joel Hooks]

Howard, I like you.

"My love Is But a Lassie" is called "Odd Fellows' March" (my personal favorite title) in Frankie B's "green" book.

[Trapdoor2]

Great bit of sleuthing, Howard. Well done!

Now I'm going to have to learn "Albany Beef"...

[Jody Stecher]

There's also a tune called The Roast Beef of Old England. But I tend to believe the sturgeon explanation. Baloney is "Cape Breton Steak" in eastern Canada. Fava beans are Poor Man's Meat in Algeria. There are numerous other examples that are eluding my memory.

Trapdoor2 said:

Great bit of sleuthing, Howard. Well done!

Now I'm going to have to learn "Albany Beef"...

[Jody Stecher]

OK, I'll take the bait: what is Frankie B's "green" book?

deuceswilde said:

"My love Is But a Lassie" is called "Odd Fellows' March" (my personal favorite title) in Frankie B's "green" book.

[Jody Stecher]

Yes but I think this part, although indeed the third part of Dixie, and other parts of other tunes, has another identity. I've heard it from Quebecois fiddlers and accordion players for instance, but am still not coming up with a title.

Howard C. Malcolm said:

Well, it certainly seems that the second mystery tune of Fred Van Eps' Dixie Medley is Too Young To Marry / My Love Is But A Lassie Yet. It furthermore appears that the first mystery tune is actually a C fiddle part of Dixie which is also the B part of Albany Beef. Thanks to all.