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And thank goodness for Norman Blake!
Thank goodness for Wikipedia! Please support them if you're able to.
And thank goodness for Norman Blake!
I reckon all fiddle tunes have history if they don't commemorate history. I've always thought that fiddle tunes were heirloom seeds, a treasure passed down from one generation to the next. If you know history, love fiddle tunes and eat out of your own garden, well it just doesn't get richer than that.
Here are a few Canadian tunes titled after historical events. There's also a whole group of tunes with prime ministers' names.
Centennial Breakdown by Graham Townsend, Quebec and Ontario -- released in 1966, celebrating Canada's "100th year," 1967.
Constitution Breakdown by Lee Cremo, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia -- celebrating Canada's Constitution, established in 1983.
Meech Lake Breakdown by Emile Benoit, Newfoundland -- a pun here. In 1987, federal and provincial politicians conferred at Meech Lake in Quebec, near Ottawa, and hammered out the "Meech Lake Accord," without which, prime minister Brian Mulroney assured us, Quebec would separate from Canada. The agreement was lengthy and hard to understand, but provincial politicians had to take it back to their legislatures for approval. Public views on the accord were mixed, but a great many people were distrustful of the agreement for myriad reasons. Indigenous folks were angered that the accord completely ignored their issues. In 1988, Elijah Harper, an Ojibway-Cree politician cast a decisive vote in the Manitoba Legislature that stopped the Meech Lake Accord from going any farther. Benoit wrote the "Meech Lake Breakdown" to celebrate the breakdown of the accord, and to provide a good breakdown to dance to. (Quebec hasn't gone anywhere, but I can't guarantee that there isn't a packed suitcase in its closet.)
Last edited by Ranald; Dec-03-2022 at 11:33am.
Robert Johnson's mother, describing blues musicians:
"I never did have no trouble with him until he got big enough to be round with bigger boys and off from home. Then he used to follow all these harp blowers, mandoleen (sic) and guitar players."
Lomax, Alan, The Land where The Blues Began, NY: Pantheon, 1993, p.14.
Most pickers are acquainted with "President Garfield's Hornpipe", I have seen the "Lincoln Hornpipe" in Coles 1001 Fiddle tunes.
"Lincoln's Farewell train" is another that comes to mind.
Norman and Nancy did cover "Mr Garfield" about that somewhat obscure assassination..
Lets not forget that critical 2001 recording of Peter Ostroushko's "President Richard Milhous Nixon's Hornpipe"
Stormy Morning Orchestra
My YouTube Channel
"Mean Old Timer, He's got grey hair, Mean Old Timer he just don't care
Got no compassion, thinks its a sin
All he does is sit around an play the Mandolin"
British Field March
This and the following tune ("Santa Anna's Retreat," AFS 13035a33) are both marches that Henry Reed learned from Quince Dillion, an elderly fiddler and fife player from whom Henry Reed acquired many tunes as a boy. These two were specifically identified as fife tunes, and a trill at one juncture--not a normal feature of Henry Reed's fiddling--must be an echo of the fife original. In calling this piece "British Field March," he said that it was the march used by the British to retreat in the Battle of New Orleans, where Andrew Jackson and his American forces routed the British contingent. The tune is in fact an old British air that crops up in various forms, particularly from Irish sources; for instrumental sets, see for example Petrie, The Complete Collection of Irish Music, #397 "Take Her Out and Air Her"; O'Neill's Music of Ireland #1388 "Touch Me If You Dare--2nd Setting" and #1593 "Kit O'Mahony's Hornpipe"; Joyce, Old Irish Folk Music and Songs (1909) #42 "Miss Redmond's Hornpipe"; "Manuscript Collection of Dance Tunes [ca. 1775-1800]" (Newberry Library, Chicago), p. 63 "Lovely Molly"; Ford, Traditional Music of America p. 43 "Gilderoy." - from https://www.loc.gov/item/afcreed000113/
As I read this I am reminded of others such as- Booth Shot Lincoln.
THE WORLD IS A BETTER PLACE JUST FOR YOUR SMILE!
Great rhythm on this one.
Here’s a nice memorable tune for a not-so-nice memorable time in our history.
https://thesession.org/tunes/19187
Last edited by Simon DS; Dec-04-2022 at 2:30am.
I found the original and loaded it to SoundCloud. No difference in recording, just placing it there as my file, not simply on Mandozine. Thanks.
https://on.soundcloud.com/5pJ1r
FYI: John Brown was the subject of the James McBride novel and its Netflix mini-series, "The Good Lord Bird".
- Ed
"Then one day we weren't as young as before
Our mistakes weren't quite so easy to undo
But by all those roads, my friend, we've travelled down
I'm a better man for just the knowin' of you."
- Ian Tyson
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