Feeling some remorse that my previous post didn't really add to the subject, I looked around a little bit for information on a two-stringed bow. I discovered that this particular turn of phrase is used to describe several instruments. Two of them are Chineese, the erhu and the huqin, one is African, another, the kobyz is native to the Kazak people and a mention may be found in Henry Drummond's The Ascent Of Man. What I can't say is whether any of these instruments made their way to the U.S. in enough numbers to have been immortalized in song.

Thinking about Turtle's suggestion, I wonder if bow has an additional intended meaning of beau?

      - Mark