Lyr Add: Apple Maggot Quarantine Round

Subject: Lyr Add: APPLE MAGGOT QUARANTINE ROUND
From: Haruo
Date: 02 Jun 01 - 07:24 PM

Apple Maggot
Quarantine
Round

Mark Cohen suggested in the recent Seattle Folklife thread that Linda Allen might lead the Northwest Historical Songs workshop in singing his "Apple Maggot Quarantine Round", but he also noted that in her Washington Songs and Lore she had got the tune wrong. Herewith Linda's commentary from that book (p. 64), and the text of the round aka the text of the roadside signs.

Around 1980 the apple maggot arrived in Washington, posing a serious economic threat to fruit growers around the state. In 1985 regulations aimed at preventing the spread of apple maggots by artificial means were adopted, and signs were posted around the state by the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Transportation. Seattle songwriter Mark Cohen made the words from the sign into a round, the "Apple Maggot Quarantine Round," which is, fortunately spreading more rapidly than the maggot.

Apple maggot
quarantine area
Do not transport
homegrown fruit.

© 1986 Mark Cohen

I have posted the text with a MIDI of what I think the tune is probably supposed to be (I lowered Linda's last two notes a full step) on my GeoCities pages, at http://www.geocities.com/lilandr/seatlo/muziko/amqr.html for your edification and enjoyment and in the hope that Mark (who is now a Hawaiian songwriter, at least geographically) will listen and tell me if I correctly emended Linda's melody line.

Liland

Subject: RE: Apple Maggot Quarantine Round
From: katlaughing
Date: 02 Jun 01 - 11:36 PM

HeyaLiland, that is really neat. Send Mark a PM if he misses this thread. I am sure he'll appreciate the effort.

Thanks,

kat

Subject: RE: Apple Maggot Quarantine Round
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 04 Jun 01 - 03:26 PM

Thanks, Liland! Nice try on the correction, but those aren't the notes that are wrong in Linda's transcription. (It doesn't end on the tonic. Rounds can be tricky!) I've sent you a message with the right melody in numerical notation, and will send a MIDI as soon as I can. And thanks for the (indirect) heads-up, kat.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Apple Maggot Quarantine Round
From: mousethief
Date: 04 Jun 01 - 03:48 PM

How fun! We've all seen those signs around these parts -- I'm looking forward to the corrected midi.

Alex

Subject: RE: Apple Maggot Quarantine Round
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 04 Jun 01 - 06:41 PM

Liland, I just emailed the MIDI to you, and will send a NWC file to Joe Offer so it can (eventually) wind up in the DT. Mahalo a nui loa for extracting it from Linda's book and posting it -- the book by the way, is a wonderful collection, and may still be in print. Linda used to be a 'Catter, and may still be, so maybe she'll pick up on this thread.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Apple Maggot Quarantine Round
From: rangeroger
Date: 04 Jun 01 - 09:33 PM

Every day as I drive home from work in Spokane it really thrills me to read the sign

LEAVING APPLE MAGGOT QUARANTINE AREA

as I reenter Idaho.

rr

Subject: RE: Apple Maggot Quarantine Round
From: Haruo
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 08:16 PM

rangeroger: Do you suppose apple maggots are actually that law-abiding? (Or literate, for that matter?)

I've just revised the page to play Mark's correct tune (with Linda's and my versions available by blue clickie for those who want to compare or who prefer to be inauthentic for some reason).

Not sure if the book is still in print, but it's available in public libraries hereabouts (and thus, by InterLibrary Loan, nationwide) and I know Linda had at least one copy presumably for sale with her at the workshop.

Liland

PS: To change musical genres rather drastically, I also just reposted my page with Kevin Wald's Xena-cum-G&S parody Heroine Barbarian, and I've added a MIDI of "Modern Major General". If you know anybody who's a Pirates of Penzance and/or Xena fan, give 'em a heads-up. Thx.

Subject: RE: Apple Maggot Quarantine Round
From: Amergin
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 09:59 PM

hey rr....I get the same feeling....

Subject: RE: Apple Maggot Quarantine Round
From: MMario
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 10:03 PM

Thanks Mark.

Subject: RE: Apple Maggot Quarantine Round
From: John P
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 10:13 PM

Hmm . . . . A bunch of us used to sing a different Apple Maggot Quarantine round. We used the melody to "Fie, Nay, Prithee John".

JP

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Apple Maggot Quarantine Round
From: GUEST,LInda Allen
Date: 22 Jul 20 - 02:55 PM

Oh, this is great fun!
Never knew I got the tune wrong, but glad you're having a chance to correct it!

It's really a fun song to sing.
Linda

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Apple Maggot Quarantine Round
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 22 Jul 20 - 07:39 PM

Haruo's link doesn't work for me, but don't the words fit to Frere Jacques if you just do each line twice (as Frere Jacques does)?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Apple Maggot Quarantine Round
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Jul 20 - 10:04 PM

The thing about those old links, you can sometimes revive them (or parts of them) with the "Wayback Machine" of the Internet Archive.

Here is the saved copy that the Wayback Machine has of that page. The Geocities pages where midi files were originally stored are long gone, so unless you have files you can send to Joe so he can put them up, that may be lost. And on the bottom of that page you can see a shot of the old Mudcat homepage. That should give a few folks a warm and fuzzy feeling!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Apple Maggot Quarantine Round
From: GUEST
Date: 23 Jul 20 - 12:19 AM

SRS, that particular midi seems to have been saved; click here, though you are correct that it failed to capture Linda's (apparently incorrect) and Haruo's attempted Midis.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Apple Maggot Quarantine Round
From: cnd
Date: 23 Jul 20 - 09:26 AM

Oops, above comment was from me!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Apple Maggot Quarantine Round
From: Mysha
Date: 23 Jul 20 - 10:06 AM

But Geocities had itself several rescue attempts at trying to save as much as they could in uncoordinated efforts, like Oocities. I can't make heads or tails of that page (https://www.oocities.org/lilandr/seatlo/muziko/amqr.html), but it may be its copy includes something otherwise unavailable.

Mysha

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Apple Maggot Quarantine Round
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Jul 20 - 03:27 PM

That link brings up a security warning, Mysha. I left your link but removed the hyperlink so people can see the URL but not accidentally click on something that may be malicious. It's still there if people want to try it. A lot of those old websites will get this response in modern systems.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Apple Maggot Quarantine Round
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 23 Jul 20 - 03:42 PM

Found it here for the time being. Not exactly Mozart, but a funny idea as a pastime while in quarantine.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Apple Maggot Quarantine Round
From: Haruo
Date: 24 Jul 20 - 02:46 AM

Join Seattle Song Circle on Zoom this Sunday)7 pm Seattle time) if you want to hear it and maybe even sing along sotto voce.

I'm a song circle lover, and On Sunday nights when Seattle Sacred Harp singings were scheduled, I was often a house divided. Now there's less conflict, but because there are more in attendance I have fewer opportunities to call or lead songs. Last Sunday I sang "As-salamu alaikum" (to GIMME DAT OLD TIME RELIGION) and "Allah (God)'s Chilling Got Wings", both relics of time spent guarding a mosque in the aftermath of 9/11. This coming Sunday I intend to ask Bruce Baker to lead "The Apple Maggot Quarantine Area Round".

Seattle Song Circle meets every Sunday at 7 pm Seattle time on Zoom, at
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/358495231

In prepandemic Seattle, the Song Circle met in a different venue each week, and participation was limited to those who could get there. It was rare to have more than a dozen participants. Now twice that many seems pretty normal, and participants are located in many parts of North America, and occasionally perhaps further afield.