Tune Req: The Last Shot Got Him

Subject: Tune Req: The Last Shot Got Him
From: Chris Amos
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 11:09 AM

Hi,

Has anyone got the dots or an ABC for this tune, I heard Tom Paley perform it a while back, great.

A Google search only throws up a midi file.

Best regards

Chris

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Last Shot Got Him
From: pdq
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 01:57 PM

If "The First Shot Missed Him" then maybe "The Last Shot Got Him". Sounds like an old song by John Hurt.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Last Shot Got Him
From: ddw
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 02:08 PM

pdq -- I think the MJH song you're thinking of is "Louis Collins," but I checked the words and neither phrase is in it. There's "Bob shot once and Collins shot too (two?), Shot poor Collins through and through." But that's as close as it gets.

cheers,

david

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Last Shot Got Him
From: ddw
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 02:16 PM

Chris,

I just did an advanced Google search with "The Last Shot Got Him" as an exact phrase and came up with a list. A place to start might be http://www.ibiblio.org/folkindex/l03.htm

If that doesn't do it, try http://hobopie.com and poke around in there a while.

Cheers,

david

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Last Shot Got Him
From: open mike
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 03:15 PM

please send the link to the midi site

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Last Shot Got Him
From: pdq
Date: 18 Jan 04 - 03:35 PM

The song is called "First Shot Missed Him" by John Hurt . I found a lot of sites advertising a Bill Morrissey CD. One has a small sample of Morrissey's version.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Last Shot Got Him
From: Chris Amos
Date: 19 Jan 04 - 01:46 AM

I don't think it's John Hurt, it's an old time number, the midi is at http://hobopie.com/LastShotGotHim.html

which is hopefully http://hobopie.com/LastShotGotHim.html

Chris

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Last Shot Got Him
From: Chris Amos
Date: 19 Jan 04 - 01:48 AM

Another attempt Here

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Last Shot Got Him
From: Chris Amos
Date: 19 Jan 04 - 01:50 AM

How does this blue clicky thing work, it used to be easier in the old days.

Chris

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Last Shot Got Him
From: BanjoRay
Date: 19 Jan 04 - 04:59 AM

It's a lot easier now! - Try this one
Ray

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Last Shot Got Him
From: GUEST,Declan
Date: 19 Jan 04 - 06:54 AM

There's an instrumental track of that name on Martin Simpson's Righteousness and Humidity album.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Last Shot Got Him
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 19 Jan 04 - 07:42 AM

Tom Paley plays this Mississippi fiddle tune on many a Sunday night pub session if you are ever in London.

Mississippi John's song uses the same or similar melody at a different tempo.

Not being home at present I'm unable to check but I believe Tom's fiddle version is from Narmour and Smith two white guys from Avalon, Mississippi who were friends of John Hurt

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Last Shot Got Him
From: GUEST,Hootenanny
Date: 20 Jan 04 - 05:15 AM

Checked my shelves, it isn't Narmour and Smith but the Mississippi Poussum Hunters. Their version is on one of the two County CD's devoted to Mississippi string bands. It's a cliche I know but they are a "must have" if you enjoy great fiddling with some sometimes crooked timing.

I ain't no fiddler but I doubt there are any dots, hen scratches and fly specks which could give you an accurate picture of how to play this one. But what do I know ? I just play back up and sometimes get it right.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Last Shot Got Him
From: GUEST
Date: 25 May 12 - 08:15 AM

John Hurt calls it The First Shot Missed Him, and sings it to a melody similar to that played by the Mississippi Possum Hunters, who lived nearby him. The called it The Last Shot Got Him. The tunes are not quite the same--the Possum Hunters have a crooked raggy tag at the end of theirs.

I learned it first from Tom Paley, who plays it in D, as he does with several tunes customarily played in C.

Martin Simpson's instrumental version is clearly based on the same tune the Possum Hunters play.   

According to a gentleman named Torbjorn Nymo, who contributes to the GuitarTab site, 'There is also a song called "The Last Shot Got Him" by Cecil Mack and Chris Smith with other lyrics than the version by John Hurt. "The first shot missed him by a nose, and the
shot tore right through his clothes" ' He says that the song goes on to refer to further shots.   

I am going to look into this, as I am researching liner notes for my CD 'Stately Mansion' which includes The Last Shot Got him as an adaptation of the fiddle tune to Hurt's song. So, anything further on Mack and Smith, let me know. It sounds like it may be a broader version of the song, from which Hurts could have derived. Interesting, anyway!

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Last Shot Got Him
From: GUEST,Pascal
Date: 12 Mar 21 - 05:41 AM

here is the link to the partition (with the lyrics) of the old version of "last shot missed him" by Mack and Smith :

https://digitalcollections-baylor.quartexcollections.com/Documents/Detail/the-last-shot-got-him-blooey-blooey-blooey/10276?item=10280

I have not found an audio of this version.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Last Shot Got Him
From: cnd
Date: 12 Mar 21 - 11:10 AM

GUEST,Pascal, you can hear a rendition of the song by Eddie Morton here

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The Last Shot Got Him
From: GUEST,#
Date: 12 Mar 21 - 11:49 AM

https://www.slippery-hill.com/taxonomy/term/919

https://www.slippery-hill.com/taxonomy/term/919

Various recordings of "The Last Shot Got Him".