(funny) Tune names

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: michaelr
Date: 28 Mar 06 - 06:29 PM

Ooh, a new one   --   from the new Lunasa CD "Se":

The Dingle Berries

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: Scoville
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 05:18 PM

I;ve heard both titles but I don't know if they're the same tune. I learned it first as Merrily Kiss the Quaker. (Actually, the Quaker's wife would presumably be a Quaker, also, so it doesn't make much difference).

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: Stewart
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 04:51 PM

Or is it "Merrily Kiss the Quaker's Wife" ?

Cheers, S. in Settle

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: Scoville
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 03:26 PM

Not that Wikipedia is infallible, but here's one point of view.

And here's a bit more.

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: Scoville
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 03:24 PM

"Jake Leg" refers to the Jamaica ginger extract that was used to flavor hooch during Prohibition. I believe there were a lot of accidental poisonings from bad bathtub liquor (hence "jake leg"--"jake" as slang for Jamaica ginger and "leg" for staggering around in a stupor). The extract itself was also mostly alcohol so it could be drunk alone if you could stand the taste.

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: Scoville
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 03:17 PM

I always liked "Merrily Kiss the Quaker".

My Missouri friends play something that I assume is originally from either Ireland or the UK--they call it "Soapsuds Over the Fence" but it's also called "My Love is But a Lassie Yet" or "Too Young To Marry".

Not So PC:
"Colored Aristocracy" (sometimes tamed to "Southern Aristocracy")
"Booth Shot Lincoln" (a great tune)
"Yellow Barber"
"Indian Ate A Woodchuck", although I usually call it just "Woodchuck"

Oddballs:
"Breaking Up Christmas"
"Danced All Night With A Bottle In My Hand"
"The Fiddler's Drunk and the Fun's All Over" (more commonly called Billy in the Low Ground).
"Le Lapin A Vole' Le Giraumon", or something like that, a Cajun tune whose title I think means "the Rabbit Stole the Pumpkin".

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 12:38 PM

Guest, Jim -

You Married My Daughter And Yet You Didn't appears in the Fiddler's Fakebook, (Not handy for full citation, but it's a fairly common book), and is also as You Married My Daughter, Yet You Didn't in the Phillips Collection of Traditional American Fiddle Tunes volume I, Mel Bay.

In the Phillips collection the alternate title Cobbler's Reel 1 is noted, but different collections seem to number them differently, so the most that can be assured is that one of the tunes called Cobbler's Reel is also called You Married ... .

John

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 12:29 PM

frogprince -

Ya caught me bein' sloppy.

The medical syndrome is "JAKE Leg," very consistently. References to Jack-Legged* somethings do pop up in conversation, but so far as I recall not in song titles.

There seems to be a sort of generic family connection between the two, but in colloquial slang in my area - probably a quite local thing - usage of the JACK variant usually implies something of a "shady" legal or moral nature, (think Hi-Jack?) while the JAKE version suggests "malfunction."

* in combining forms with "Jack" the "Legged" invariably is pronounced with two distinct syllables - "Leg - Ed," but that may also be a local idiosyncrasy.

Sorry for the confusion, and for not catching that I caused it.

John

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 22 Mar 06 - 11:05 AM

I recall an Acadian fiddle recording that had a tune called either "I MARRIED YOUR DAUGHTER, YET I DIDN'T" or "YOU MARRIED MY DAUGHTER, YET YOU DIDN'T". Anyone heard that one?

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: frogprince
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 09:39 PM

Well, I got a little confused because some guy up the thread said:
   "The "Jack Leg" term appeared in a few 1920s era "pop" tunes, usually in combination with some other name/adjective etc."   
                :)

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 05:12 PM

frogprince -

Big difference between JAKE Leg and JACK Leg, at least in colloquial usage in my neighborhood.

On a par with the difference between Kluge (US - rhymes with Huge) and Kludge (Brit - rhymes with Fudge). Completely different connotations, although both apply to generically similar kinds of items.

John

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: frogprince
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 04:02 PM

Interestin; the only kind of "jack-leg" I had heard of was a "jack-leg preacher; I just tried looking that up, and got the definition "self-taught". I think the definition has been looser in practice though. I think it has been used generally to mean an itinerant preacher, or preacher of an independent church, with no authorisation from a denomination.

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 21 Mar 06 - 03:29 PM

General paresis slightly resembles "Jake Leg" which is the nervous disorder (and characteristic walk) resulting from habitual consumption of bad "shine." The "Jack Leg" term appeared in a few 1920s era "pop" tunes, usually in combination with some other name/adjective etc. (Jake Leg Joe, or Jake Leg-ged Susie etc.) It's been too long since I've heard of any of these to recall specific titles, though.

John

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 09:11 PM

"General paresis is a disorder characterized primarily by impaired mental function caused by damage to the brain from untreated syphilis. It is now extremely uncommon." Characteristic symptoms are jerky, uncoordinated activity.

If that's not a funny (or at least a very odd) name for a dance tune, I give up.

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: michaelr
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 08:15 PM

Refresh for clarification from Dick Greenhaus...

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: Snuffy
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 07:18 PM

In Ireland Fanny Power is a tune in honour of a long-dead member of the aristocracy

In the USA Fanny Power is a source of renewable energy, and

In Britain Fanny Power is a feminist movement.

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 05:31 PM

For duellingbouzoukis 20 Mar 06 - 09:12 AM

Fanny (Frances) Power was the daughter of David Power of Coorheen. She married Richard Trench of Garbally in 1732.

John

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: Phil Cooper
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 04:04 PM

There's a tune in the Northern Tune Book called "Cock up Thy Beaver," there's a thread about it here somewhere. I tried playing it and didn't find it interesting enough to learn. When in a crass mood, I've thought a good tune title would be "The trickling old Lady and the Dribbling old Man." That would be a slip jig,of course.

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: jeffp
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 03:34 PM

There is one on a Chieftans Live CD called, "Round the House and Mind the Dresser."

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: Larkin
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 03:03 PM

There are tunes on the session .org called Touching Cloth and The warm Pussy ?
Martin

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: Stewart
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 02:34 PM

"Tickle Her Leg With The Barley Straw"
is a nice jig, also known as
"Get Up Old Lady And Shake Yourself"

it makes a nice set with another jig
"The Day My Ass Ran Away"

S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: Kaleea
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 01:17 PM

When I was a kid I got drafted into a Ceili band playing guitar. When we'd "practice," the button accordion player would start in on a tune, the others would jump in, me too, then 30-45 minutes later, we'd stop & the boys would get another beer or whatever. I never had any idea what tune we were playing-& I couldn't begin to know how figure it out when after a dozen tunes went flying by, they might tell me, "well, we did thus & so, & whatzit,&--oh, wasn't such in there too?" Only ones I really knew titles for were the songs which one of the fellers sang-usually unaccompanied.

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: Mark Ross
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 01:02 PM

RYE STRAW is also known as DOG SHIT A RYE STRAW.   I think Pat Sky used to talk about a pipe tune called IF YOU'RE SICK IS IT TEA THAT YOU WANT?   And WILD HORSE is also known as STONEY POINT, WILD HORSE AT STONEY POINT, PIGTOWN FLING, and (euphemistically) as
ETHIOPIAN IN THE FUEL SUPPLY!

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 09:18 AM

Tune written by Dougie Pincock and played by The then Battlefield Band,      ' Return To Kashmagiro '

eric

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: Chris Green
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 09:12 AM

And let's not forget the inimitable O'Carolan. Any who can come up with a tune name like Fanny Power gets my vote!

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: Grab
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 08:35 AM

A friend of mine plays mandolin with a guitarist whose surname is LeBailly. So one of the tunes he's written is called "LeBailly's Frolics".

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: Cod Fiddler
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 08:24 AM

"Grandma hold the candle steady while I shave the chicken's upper lip" Danu play it.

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: Snuffy
Date: 20 Mar 06 - 08:18 AM

The Floating Crowbar

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Mar 06 - 07:06 PM

The 'Turd in the Blanket' is my favourite

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: michaelr
Date: 19 Mar 06 - 04:18 PM

But what's funny about it?

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 19 Mar 06 - 10:46 AM

Paresis isn't a joke--it's the published name of a pretty good reel(Robbin's Cllection of Jigs, Reels & Hornpipes).

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 19 Mar 06 - 02:43 AM

In O'Neills 1001 Gems there is a reel call ' Kitty Got A Clinking Coming From The Races ' great title, crap tune, but what does it mean ?

eric

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: michaelr
Date: 19 Mar 06 - 02:15 AM

Paresis? I'm missing the joke there.

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: Geordie-Peorgie
Date: 18 Mar 06 - 09:04 PM

Me marra and me wez workin' up a few tunes te play at a club gig we'd got and he introduced uz tiv a canny little tune on the banjo and it really hammered alang.

Aah asked him worrit wez caaled and he said "No Idea" so it got put on the set list as "The Blind Stag"

we've telt people that story loads o' times and now it's requested as "The Blind Stag"   

Diz anybody recognise it - It gans:-
Dee-dee diddle-diddle-dee
Diddle-diddle-dee-dee-dee
Dee-dee-dee Diddle-diddle-dee
Diddle-diddle-dee Dum diddle-dee

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: paddymac
Date: 18 Mar 06 - 08:26 PM

"Tit In A Wringer" would also be a great band name.

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: Troll
Date: 18 Mar 06 - 08:06 PM

Didn't Bessie Smith record one called "Gimme a Pig Foot and a Bottle of Beer"?

And what about "Dust My Broom"?

troll

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 18 Mar 06 - 07:18 PM

"Roaring Jelly" is prolly my all-time favorite.THough "Paresis" is a strong contender.

Subject: RE: (funny) Tune names
From: johnross
Date: 18 Mar 06 - 02:24 PM

A traditional tune: Possum Up a Gum Stump
Written by Hank Bradley: Hasssle the Caller

Subject: RE: Tune names
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 18 Mar 06 - 01:21 PM

I've often let other people name my tunes. My friend Bernie had a pocket tape recorder that he used to remember tunes. I was putting a tune I'd just written on the tape for him and I kicked over the beer that was on the floor by my feet and said,"Oh shit."
Bernie came back the next week and said,"Hey, Let's play Spilt Beer."
The name stuck. I'm glad he didn't call it OH SHIT.

I don't have tunes for these titles yet, but I kinda like Walt's Waltz or Dan's Dance.

Subject: RE: Tune names
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 18 Mar 06 - 08:08 AM

I have thought about playing the same collection of about 6 tunes and giving them different names each time I play them and seeing if anybody realised they were in fact the same tunes.

Speaking of ageing, which I think someone above did, I have moved on from forgetting tunes and names - fairly predictable I guess, to suddenley playing a tune at home and having no idea what it is. Could this be a folk example of the Mike er Baldwin syndrome?

Subject: RE: Tune names
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Mar 06 - 06:15 AM

I was in a band that played 'Kiss her Under the Coverlet' before 'The Star Above the Garter' - which suddenly seemed to take on a whole new meaning.

The Drunken Police Car's a good tune with a good name.

Subject: RE: Tune names
From: Pied Piper
Date: 18 Mar 06 - 05:52 AM

I wrote a tune, which I called "The Hag Behind The Poll tax" but the titles a bit dated now.

PP

Subject: RE: Tune names
From: breezy
Date: 18 Mar 06 - 05:40 AM

Goes down well in Gaza I hear

Crackling little number

Subject: RE: Tune names
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 18 Mar 06 - 04:30 AM

Several of the tunebooks include:

Shove That Pig's Foot A Little Further In the Fire.

I think it's a contradance tune(?).

John

Subject: RE: Tune names
From: Jeremiah McCaw
Date: 18 Mar 06 - 04:06 AM

A couple tunes my friends/partners in Ezeduzit have introduced me to:

"Cluck Old Hen" and
"Pig Ankle Rag"

Subject: RE: Tune names
From: NH Dave
Date: 18 Mar 06 - 12:43 AM

I believe it is also known as "Tammy Truddle's Troubles", a fairly well known recitation in sporting crowds.

Dave

Subject: RE: Tune names
From: wysiwyg
Date: 17 Mar 06 - 11:15 PM

Oh, my, GOD!

~Susan

Subject: RE: Tune names
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 17 Mar 06 - 12:00 PM

But that first 'un has been done already.

Isn't this the Album Cover?

John

Subject: RE: Tune names
From: Scoville
Date: 17 Mar 06 - 11:34 AM

A bit OT, but my college string-band buddies played something called "Five Miles Out of Town". Then, some of them went to Scotland, where it was pronounced "Five Miles Out of Tune".

We decided either title would work.

Subject: RE: Tune names
From: Tootler
Date: 17 Mar 06 - 05:19 AM

I'm with Leadfingers on this - sort of. Add "naming the tunes I write" and that captures it.

I named my first few tunes after members of my family. Now I mostly name my tunes after local places, unless something about the tune suggests something else.

Subject: RE: Tune names
From: Paul Burke
Date: 17 Mar 06 - 04:52 AM

I noticed that Screwfix (that's a mail-order toolshop, not an abortion clinic) sell a thing called the Dovetail Jig.

Subject: RE: Tune names
From: Leadfingers
Date: 17 Mar 06 - 04:30 AM

The Hell with thinking up any 'spare' names ! I have enough problems sorting the tunes I can name and naming the tunes I can play !

Subject: RE: Tune names
From: michaelr
Date: 16 Mar 06 - 07:21 PM

LOL

Subject: RE: Tune names
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 16 Mar 06 - 07:09 PM

Michael:

Begorrah; the tune's already rit. To be sure, it's "The Irish Washerwoman!"

Slainte

Nigel

Subject: Tune names
From: michaelr
Date: 16 Mar 06 - 07:02 PM

I've been enjoying creative names that folks who write fiddle tunes come up with (e.g. "The Diddley-i pod" from the Sharon Shannon/Frankie Gavin/Jim Murray CD). Now, I'm not a fiddler, nor do I write tunes, but I came up with a name I like a lot:

The Tit in the Wringer

Anyone want to compose the tune? Meanwhile, have you thought of funny tune names?

Cheers,
Michael