Lyrics & Knowledge Personal Pages Record Shop Auction Links Radio & Media Kids Membership Help
The Mudcat Cafesj



User Name Thread Name Subject Posted
Les B Lyr Req: Mississippi Sawyer (16) RE: Lyr Req: Mississippi Sawyer - Any lyrics? 10 Aug 03


There are a set of French words at Ceolas - always a good place to look for info on fiddle tunes.

DOWNFALL OF PARIS, THE (Ceimsios Parais). AKA - "Scrios b-Paris," "Fall of Paris." AKA and see "Hae You Ony More Ado" (Shetland), "Mississippi Sawyer" (USA). Irish, Hornpipe or Set Dance; English, Hornpipe; Old-Time, Breakdown; Scottish, March. G Major (Kerr, O'Neill): D Major (Ashman, Old-Time versions): C Major (Winstock). Standard. AABCC (O'Neill/Krassen): ABCCDD (O'Neill/1915): AABBCCDD (O'Neill/1001): AA'BBCCDD (Sweet): AA'BBCC'DD" (Kerr): ABBCDDEE (O'Neill/1850). Better known in the American South and among modern American fiddlers as "Mississippi Sawyer," the melody was called "The Downfall of Paris" in Europe and this title was at one time retained in parts of Tennessee and the Ozarks. According to Winstock (1970), the tune's popularity may have surpassed that of the famous "The British Grenediers" in its day. It was played early in the 19th century when the allies entered Paris after the battle of Waterloo, but "on that occasion (the British commander) Wellington sharply put a stop to it, and the offending Royal Regiment played instead 'Croppies Lie Down.' Apart from being played by military bands on every conceivable occasion, its 'one tormenting strum, strum, strum' was the delight of amateur pianists throughout Britain" (Winstock, 1970; pg. 105).
***
The melody, however, had not been new to France in Wellington's time. Famously, it had been the vehicle for the song "Ça Ira," or "Ah ca ira" ('les aristocrates a la lanterne', or, roughly, 'Lets go lynch the aristocrats'} sung by the first and bloodiest French Revolutionaries in the late 1780's. Elson (The National Music of America, 1899) reports: "It was sung to many a scene of massacre and bloodshed; it was warbled and trilled out when the mob carried the head of the beautiful Princess de Lamballe, on a pike, through the streets of Paris, and thrust it up for the unhappy queen to look at." Despite this gruesome association the melody began innocently enough as a light vaudeville piece composed by one M. Bécourt, a side-drum player at the Opéra. It soon proved popular as a contra-dance melody and frequently appeared in the French cotillions prior to its being seeped in blood. Interestingly, especially in view of the tune's later importation to America, the title was suggested by none other than Benjamin Franklin who used the phrase (which translates as "It will succeed") in connection with the prospects of the American Revolution. General Lafayette took Franklin's expression and passed it to a street singer named Ladré as a good refrain for a popular song. "Ça Ira" first appeared innocently enough as:
***
Ah! Ça ira, ça ira, ça ira!
Le Peuple en ce jour sans cesse répète:
Ah! Ça ira, ça ira, ça ira!
Malgre les mutins, tout réussira.
***
After the Paris mob burst forth in its fury, carried the Tuileries by assault and massacred the nobles in prison, these words appeared:
***
Ah! Ça ira, ça ira, ça ira!
Les Aristocrat' à la lanterne;
Ah! Ça ira, ça ira, ça ira!
Les Aristoncrat' on les pendra.
***
It took some time after this for its dance roots to resurface, but in 1816 the melody was again printed, this time in England in Wilson's Companion to the Ballroom. Vic Gammon, in his 1989 article "The Grand Conversation: Napoleon and British Popular Balladry," says the "La Ira" (sic) was adopted as a military march by the British Army, initially as a means of confusing the enemy on the battlefield. It later developed into the dance tune "Downfall of Paris" and became widespread in Britain, where it appears in collections of Irish music as well as in southern English village musicians' tune books. It us one of the official set dances (for dance competitions) in Ireland.
***
The title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published by 1954. Some 'crooked' versions are extent in the United States (see Charlie Acuff's version which has 15 beats in the 'A' part). See note for "Mississippi Sawyer" for more on the American variant. Source for notated version: a c. 1837-1840 MS by Shropshire musician John Moore [Ashman]. Ashman (The Ironbridge Hornpipe), 1991; No. 28, pg. 8. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 4, No. 372, pg. 40. O'Neill (1915 ed.), 1987; No. 395, pg. 189. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; pg. 165. O'Neill (1850), 1979; No. 1562, pg. 289. O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1986; No. 957, pg. 164 (set dance version). Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; pg. 44. Thomas and Leeder (The Singin' Gatherin'), 1939; pg. 59. Winstock (Music of the Redcoats), 1970; pg. 106. Island ILPS9432, The Chieftains - "Bonaparte's Retreat" (1976). Charlie Acuff. Rounder Records, Darley Fulks - "Traditional Fiddle Music of Kentucky, Vol. 2: Along the Kentucky River" (1997. An unusual version set in waltz time


Post to this Thread -

Back to the Main Forum Page

By clicking on the User Name, you will requery the forum for that user. You will see everything that he or she has posted with that Mudcat name.

By clicking on the Thread Name, you will be sent to the Forum on that thread as if you selected it from the main Mudcat Forum page.

By clicking on the Subject, you will also go to the thread as if you selected it from the original Forum page, but also go directly to that particular message.

By clicking on the Date (Posted), you will dig out every message posted that day.

Try it all, you will see.