Annotation:Sally Growler

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X:1 % T:Sally Growler M:2/4 L:1/8 R:Hornpipe S:Ryan’s Mammoth Collection (1883) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G (3d/e/f/ | .g.f.e.d |{d}c/B/c/e/ d/B/G/D/ | E/G/c/e/ D/G/B/d/ | ^c/b/a/f/ d/^d/e/f/ | .g.f.e.d |{d}c/B/c/e/ d/B/G/D/ | E/G/c/e/ d/B/G/A/ ||1 B/d/c/A/ G :|2 B/d/c/A/ Gz || |: g/d/B/d/ G/B/d/g/ | b/g/d/g/ B/d/g/b/ | a/f/d/f/ A/d/f/a/ | c'/a/f/d/ c/A/F/D/ | g/d/B/d/ G/B/d/g/ | b/g/d/g/ B/d/g/b/ | c'/a/f/d/ ^c/d/e/f/ |1 gbg z :|2 gbg ||

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SALLY GROWLER. American, Hornpipe (2/4 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. A composition credited to Harry Carleton in Ryan’s Mammoth Collection (1883). Nothing is known of the elusive Harry Carleton, who contributed several tunes to Ryan’s, and the name may be a pseudonym. A "Sally Growler" is a particularly unattractive Atlantic coast bottom-dwelling fish (also known as the Sea Raven, Toadfish, Oyster Cracker or Horsehead), so named "because of its habit of growling on occasion, like a puppy over a bone." (New York Zoological Society Bulletin, Volume 23. No. 6, 1919, p. 136). The title in Ryan's was in quotation marks, so it is possible the tune was really called after a boat or a seaport bar named for the fish.

As with several tunes from the Ryan's/Cole's collections (for decades the only large source for fiddle tunes) the hornpipe was picked up by fiddlers around the United States, particularly in Texas where it was absorbed into 20th century Texas fiddling repertoire. It occasionally surfaces in American fiddle contests.