Tune Req: Midnight on the Water

Subject: Tune Req: MIDNIGHT ON THE WATER
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Jul 06 - 01:23 PM

hi

could anybody help me with a piece of music called
midnight on the water
i have the cords, but unsure how the tune goes.
it would help if i had a tune to listern to, so i could adapt the cords occordenly

m/j

Subject: RE: Tune Req: MIDNIGHT ON THE WATER
From: wysiwyg
Date: 25 Jul 06 - 01:26 PM

Hi, Guest, meet our MIDI PAGES.

~Susan

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Click to play

Subject: RE: Tune Req: MIDNIGHT ON THE WATER
From: Sorcha
Date: 25 Jul 06 - 01:37 PM

Pick one. JC's Tunefinder!!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: MIDNIGHT ON THE WATER
From: Stewart
Date: 25 Jul 06 - 02:22 PM

I have the tune here on my song page with a song by Ron Kavana that goes along with it. This was sung by Norma Waterson on a Waterson:Carthy recording.

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Tune Req: MIDNIGHT ON THE WATER
From: Stewart
Date: 25 Jul 06 - 02:31 PM

And here's a whole web page about the tune along with several different midi versions of it (scroll down to the bottom).

Cheers, S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: Tune Req: MIDNIGHT ON THE WATER
From: mississippi john
Date: 25 Jul 06 - 03:21 PM

thanks to all who have given their time to help me find the music & the words to midnight on the water

kind regards

m/j

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Midnight on the Water
From: Sorcha
Date: 25 Jul 06 - 03:55 PM

On fiddle at least, a low A sounds nice with the E and F notes as a double stop. You can also double stop the open A.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Midnight on the Water
From: oombanjo
Date: 25 Jul 06 - 04:22 PM

Are you convinced now, I'll give it a whirl ont banjolo. Cheers Elbanjolo

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Midnight on the Water
From: Helen
Date: 25 Jul 06 - 04:55 PM

Hi mississippi john,

Welcome to Mudcat. It's a great resource but also a great bunch of people.

If you look at the top of this page this is a list of links called Related Threads. There have been quite a few discussions of Midnight on the Water, which I first heard as a fiddle tune, but the song sung by the Watersons, mentioned by Stewart previously, is the one which mentions a lot of fiddle tunes including Midnight on the Water, and uses this as part of the chorus. So don't get confused between the fiddle tune, and the song of the same name. Both good, but different.

Helen

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Midnight on the Water
From: Les from Hull
Date: 25 Jul 06 - 05:48 PM

Here's the actual words that Ron Kavana wrote. Norma sings a slight variant.

MIDNIGHT ON THE WATER
Well I never was one for much fancy dancin'
My two big left feet follow my wanderin' eye
But when I hear that slow air played in 3/4 time
I could waltz with my darling until morning bright

[Chorus]
Play me a fiddle tune, sing me a song
Banish misfortune our time is not long
Midnight on the water, so steady and slow
The lark in the morning once more for the road
Midnight on the water, so steady and slow
Pour me one last drink, set 'em up Joe

Now most of my waltzin' has been done in barrooms
'Cos drinkin' and dancin' go hand in glove
Buy a beer for the fiddler and request that slow song
So I can dance closely with the one that I love

[repeat chorus]

It's on the Alias Ron Kavana cd 'Think like a hero' - a fine recording with other great songs as well. Recommended!

Helen - the song not only mentions the tune, it includes the tune which comes around after the song on Ron's version.

MJ, Oombanjo: I'll sing it for you in Beverley when you're up to speed on the tune. I do it in D (holds up two fingers - no not like that!).

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Midnight on the Water
From: Ritchie
Date: 25 Jul 06 - 05:59 PM

just goes to show....I was thinking of 'midnight on the water' by david bromberg....ah well such is life.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Midnight on the Water
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 26 Jul 06 - 10:21 AM

For any fiddlers here, The Fiddler's Fake book says "DDAD" which I assume is how to tune the strings. It also says "The fourth string, here tuned down to D, is droned throughout the A part."

Thanks for all the links. I've been working on this song now. It sounds great on my old piano.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Midnight on the Water
From: Sorcha
Date: 26 Jul 06 - 10:29 AM

Not I.....mostly I use standard tuning with the Fake book fingerings....but once in a while I will use the DDAE for a heavier drone effect.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Midnight on the Water
From: clueless don
Date: 26 Jul 06 - 11:16 AM

Thank you, WYSIWYG (on 25 Jul 06 - 01:26 PM), for making me aware of the existence of the Mudcat MIDI pages. Didn't know about that aspect of Mudcat!

I do have a question about the MIDI pages: Why does each tune/item appear twice?

Don

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Midnight on the Water
From: wysiwyg
Date: 26 Jul 06 - 12:40 PM

Thanks for the kind words, Don.

The doubling is just a leftover phenomenon from an old Mudcat crash that's in the midst of being fixed. Same thing in the members' photo pages. One of these days the doubling may suddenly disappear.

Main thing is, there are many excellent features scattered about here and there. Many are described in the FAQ. But part of the site's fun is finding new clickables all the time or finding how the features relate to one another. You see, Mudcat predates most online discussion sites, so it has its own unique way of being.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Midnight on the Water
From: mississippi john
Date: 26 Jul 06 - 01:16 PM

JUST A THOUGHT.

2 weeks ago i was up in killington on an old time gathering and
someone played this tune, but they called it by another name

any idea's?

m/j

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Midnight on the Water
From:
Date: 26 Jul 06 - 01:46 PM

Just checked at The Session for any alternate titles, but they didn't list any.

The Session is another wonderful place to check for tunes. Quite often they list alternate names and have a discography of recordings where you might find the tune as well.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Midnight on the Water
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 27 Jul 06 - 11:04 AM

Ritchie,
I think we're all thinking of the tune played by David Bromberg on his album of the same name. It was written by Benny Thomason, but (I think) credited to Luke Thomason.

I've heard other words put to this tune. I can't remember them all, but I'll look them up. Here are the first two lines:

There are times when I'm so blue thinking of you and me
At midnight on the water and how it used to be.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Midnight on the Water
From: Les from Hull
Date: 27 Jul 06 - 12:06 PM

Ron Kavana's words are not put to this tune. It's a song about the tune that is then followed by the tune.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Midnight on the Water
From: Scoville
Date: 27 Jul 06 - 12:36 PM

There is also a great version of it on Kate Wolf's Lines on the Paper, with a different set of words (written, I think, by one of her friends/fellow musicians).

GUEST, Jim--I've never heard the Bromberg version (hard to picture, really, but I'll have to look it up) but those are the first two lines to the Kate Wolf one, too, so I assume they're the same overall.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Midnight on the Water
From: Sorcha
Date: 27 Jul 06 - 12:55 PM

And I've never heard it called by any other name.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Midnight on the Water
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 28 Jul 06 - 10:55 AM

Scoville,
Sorry, I wasn't too clear. Bromberg's version is instrumental.
The words are from a tape by a trio of super female singers/instrumentalists who's name I can't recall that my wife bought at the Owen Sound Folk Festival. I'm at the library now, so I can't look it up. I'll try to do that tonight.