The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #95927 Message #1870689
Posted By: GUEST,Richie
28-Oct-06 - 08:48 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Prettiest Little Girl in the County
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Prettiest Girl in the County O
Thanks Peace and Joe-
Any verions of Old Aunt Jenny?
Here's some info from Ceolas:
This is not a minstrel tune from Emmett- That info is incorrect.
DANDY JIM FROM/OF CAROLINE [1]. AKA - "Dandy Jim." AKA and see "Chicken Foot and Sparrow-Grass" (Pa.), "Old Aunt Jenny." American, Reel or Breakdown. USA, southwestern Pa. G Major. Standard. AABB. Bayard (1981), Southern (1983) and others identify this tune as coming from the American minstrel tradition of the mid-19th century. Nathan Dan Emmett dates the stage tune to c. 1844 and says the words and perhaps the tune were composed by minstrel Dan Emmett. As with many minstrel tunes there is confusion as to whether Emmett wrote the music or simply adapted a found folk tune, but Bayard says the tune crops up "everywhere" in American music (including play-party songs) in many guises under a variety of titles. Bayard has also found the tune in the British Isles in Kerr's collection (Vol. 1, pg. 29 as "American Air") and in Roche's collection (Vol. 2, No. 297 as the second figure of the second tune in the quadrille "The Orange and the Green"). Source for notated version: Hiram Horner (Westmoreland/Fayette Counties, Pa., 1944) [Bayard]. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 326, pgs. 291-192.
OLD AUNT JENNY. AKA and see "Dandy Jim From Caroline." Old-Time, Breakdown. G Major. Standard. AABB. The tune appears to be a variant of the 1844 American minstrel song "Dandy Jim of Caroline," lyrics perhaps composed by Dan Emmett. ** * Who's been here since I've been gone? (x3) Old Aunt Jenny with her nightcap on. {Ford} *** Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 48.