TOP 20 AMERICAN FIDDLE TUNES

Subject: TOP 20 AMERICAN FIDDLE TUNES
From: Lighter
Date: 12 Aug 26 - 03:57 PM

Well, the titles anyway, though for this bunch I'd say titles and tunes are pretty stable.

For a long time I've been searching old newspaper databases for mention of fiddle-tune names. Before the big fiddlin' revival (roughly in the 1980s) there wasn't much mention of tune titles except in the case of "old-fiddlers' contests," which only became newsworthy in the 1890s. And the further back you go, the less you find.

Part of this is because new tunes and titles were/ are always being created.

To make a long story short, the following titles were reported as being played in person (not on recordings, and not just given in tune books) in at least *30* different states between by 1925.

And not just in the South or the Ozarks. These were truly national tunes long before the rise of disk recordings.

The order is roughly from most to least widespread, but this is not a scientific analysis. And remember, these are just titles. There is some overlap in tunes; e.g., "Turkey in the straw" is a post-1860 name for the nearly identical "Natchez Under the Hill," which is a fancier way of playing "Old Zip Coon." By trad standards, all three are the same tune - which is probably the most popular tune of all, with "Arkansas Traveler" number two.

1. Arkansas Traveler

2. Money Musk

3. Fisher's Hornpipe

4. Devil's Dream

5. Soldier's Joy

6. The Girl I Left Behind Me

7. Turkey in the Straw

8. Leather Breeches

9. Sugar in the Gourd

10. Mrs./Miss McLeod's Reel

11. Buffalo Gals

12. Old Dan Tucker

13. Polly (Molly, etc.) Put the Kettle On

14. Old Zip Coon

15. Haste to the Wedding

16. Possum Up the Gum Stump

17. Soapsuds Over the Fence

18. Billy in the Low Ground

19. Durang's (Durant's, Durand's, etc.) Hornpipe

20. The White Cockade


Of the 20 titles, half are directly from British tradition. The reason is simple: they are all from the 18th century and so had a head start in America and have been around much longer. (They are also great tunes.) All of the Top Twenty were common before 1870.

By the way, the complete list runs to more than 5,000 titles - most of which are rare or even idiosyncratic.

Subject: RE: TOP 20 AMERICAN FIDDLE TUNES
From: Lighter
Date: 14 Aug 26 - 05:34 PM

OK. These titles, in alphabetical order, were found in 16-29 states. Still plenty! (Though they weren't evenly divided throughout the country.)

(Hey,) Betty Martin

Bonaparte's Retreat (from Moscow)

The Campbells are Coming

Cotton-Eyed Joe

Dixie

Flowers of Edinburgh

Garryowen

Gilderoy

Go to the Devil and Shake Yourself

Granny, Will Your Dog Bite?

Gray Eagle

Green Grow the Rushes

Hell Upon the Wabash

Hogeye(d Man)

Home, Sweet Home

Hop High, Ladies

Jenny Lind Polka

Little Brown Jug

Mocking Bird (in the Willow Tree)

Money in Both Pockets

Mountain Hornpipe

N----r in the/a Woodpile

The Old Gray Horse/ Hoss Came Tearing Out the Wilderness

Old Joe Clarke

Over the Waves

Pop Goes the Weasel

Raccoon (Sitting) on a Rail

Rack/ Rock Back Davy

Rakes of Mallow

Rickett's Hornpipe

Rock the Cradle, Lucy

Rocky Road to Dublin

Rory O'More

osin the Bow

Run, N----r, Run

Rye Straw

Sailor's Hornpipe

Sally Ann

Sally Gooden

Stony Point (Reel)

Sugar in the Coffee (Oh!)

Swanee River

Virginia Reel

Wagner/ Wagoner

Walk Along, John

Wha'll Be King But Charley?

The Wind That Shakes the Barley

Subject: RE: TOP 20 AMERICAN FIDDLE TUNES
From: Jack Campin
Date: 16 Aug 26 - 03:36 AM

Great list, I have plans for that.

I wonder how it worked for non-Anglo groups? There was a substantial Getman immigrant press in the US.

Subject: RE: TOP 20 AMERICAN FIDDLE TUNES
From: Lighter
Date: 16 Aug 26 - 07:34 AM

Very true, Jack, but I've restricted myself to the anglophone tradition.

Many 19th century sources associated the American tunes with enslaved fiddlers and banjoists before the Civil War - but relatively few tunes are actually mentioned that early.

There's a Cajun tradition in Louisiana and Spanish and others elsewhere, but those subjects are above my pay-grade.

I suspect that sort of research would be very difficult, there being far fewer sources. Demographically anyway, such traditions must be far less extensive.

Some of the titles I found - not many - were in the context of Irish fiddling, especially in New York and Chicago after 1900. I believe all of these titles are still familiar. That leads me to beieve that Irish-American fiddling, as reported in newspapers, was mostly influenced by printed collections.

Fun fact: Despite many references to the originally Gaelic title "Gilderoy," I didn't find even one *traditional* U.S. reference to "The Red-Haired Boy." (One 20th century Kentucky fiddler, however, called it "The Red-Headed Irishman.")

Subject: RE: TOP 20 AMERICAN FIDDLE TUNES
From: Lighter
Date: 17 Aug 26 - 08:39 AM

Ten to fifteen states, Part I:

Beaux of Oak Hill

Big-Foot N----r

Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine

Bonaparte's March (Over the Rhine)

Bonnie Dundee

Bummer's Reel

Charlie is My Darling

Chorus Jig

Cincinnati Hornpipe

Cornstalk Fiddle (and Shoestring Bow)

Dandy Jim from Caroline

Detroit Schottische

Devil Among the Tailors

Drops of Brandy

Drunken/ Drunkard's Hiccups

Erin Go Bragh

Highland Fling

Farewell to Whisky

Gal on a Log

The Gander's Retreat fro the Hog/ Pig Oen

Give the (Poor Old) Fiddler a Dram

Golden Slippers

Great Big Taters in (the) Sandy Land

Hull's Victory

Jack o' Diamonds

Jaybird Died of the Whooping Cough

Jefferson and Liberty

Jenny (Bang/ Dang) the Weaver

Jim Along Josie

Killiekrankie

Lass o' Gowrie

Let Erin Remember the Days of Old

A Life on the Ocean Wave

Liverpool Hornpipe

Liza Jane

Lost Indian

The surprising number of core Anglo-Celtic titles come mainly from the early nineteenth century and were mostly reported from Scottish and Irish social organizations.

Subject: RE: TOP 20 AMERICAN FIDDLE TUNES
From: Lighter
Date: 18 Aug 26 - 02:14 PM

Part II. Once again, a surprising number of Anglo-Celtic titles, widespread geographically but mostly restricted to ethnic enclaves.


Maggie Lauder

Marching Through Georgia

Nellie Gray

The Night Before Larry Was Stretched

Old Black Joe

The Old Hen (She) Cackled (When She Laid a Speckled Egg)

Old Mother Flanagan

One-Eyed Riley

O, Susannah!

Over the Water to Charley

Paddy Carey

Paddy on the Turnpike

Paddy O'Rafferty

Paddy Whack

The Peeler's Jacket

Perry's Victory

Prettiest (Little) Girl in the County

Rakes of Kildare

(On the) Road to Boston

Roaring River

Shortening/ Shortened Bread

Snowbird on the Ash Bank

The Sprig of Shillelagh (and the Mantle So Green)

The Tempest

Tom and Jerry

Top of Cork Road

Wait for the Wagon

Wake Up, Jake (the Fire Needs Poking)

Walk into /Walking in the Parlor

Washington's March

Weevily Wheat

Wild Horse/ Hoss

Within a Mile of Edinburgh Town

Yellow Rose of Texas