Annotation:Old Man and the Old Woman (1)

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OLD MAN AND THE OLD WOMAN [1], THE (Le bonhomme et la bonne femme). AKA and see "Bottom of the Punch Bowl (3) (The)," "Christmas Rum (The)," "Viellard et la vielle dame (Le)," "Let's Go Rustico!" "Lumberjacks (The)," "Quebec Reel." French-Canadian, Air and Reel. Canada; Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island. D Major (most versions): G Major (Phillips). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Silberberg): AABB (Christeson) : AABB' (Messer): AA'BB' (Phillips). This is a very old song composed and recorded in 1930 by Mary Rose-Anna Bolduc, née Travers [1] (1894-1941), known as Madame Bolduc or La Bolduc. She was from Newport in the Gaspe Peninsula, born into a large household to parents of Irish and French-Canadian heritage (she spoke both English and French). Although originally a popular song air, the melody is most often heard as a reel in modern times, although the title is sometimes confused with the similarly-named "Growling Old Man and Grumbling Old Woman (The)," a different reel in A Dorian. It received wide dissemination due to the popularity of Bolduc's 1930 recording and can be heard played by fiddlers throughout Canada. Perlman (1996) finds alternate names on Prince Edward Island in addition to the "Old Man..." title; "Christmas Rum (The)" in Queens County and "Bottom of the Punch Bowl (3) (The)" in south Kings County.

Source for notated version: Joe Politte (a resident of Old Mines, Missouri, which was an early French settlement south of St. Louis; several of his tunes were French) [Christeson]; Stephen Toole (1927-1995, Green Road, Queens County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]; Stuart Williams/Glenn Barry (Seattle) [Silberberg].

Printed sources: R.P. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, vol. 2), 1984; p. 62. Messer (Way Down East), 1948; No. 31. Messer (Anthology of Favorite Fiddle Styles), 1980; No. 48, p. 32. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; p. 52. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 173. Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 111. Songer (Portland Collection vol. 2), 2005; p. 147 (as "Old Man, Old Woman").

Recorded sources: Apex 9-26303 (78 RPM), Don Messer (1950). Bee Balm 302, "The Corndrinkers." RCA Victor LCP 1001, Ned Landry and His New Brunswick Lumberjacks - "Bowing the Strings with Ned Landry."

See also listing at:
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recordings Index [2]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [3]
Hear La Bolduc's recording at the Virtual Gramophone [4]

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