Annotation:Grandmammy Look at Uncle Sam

Back to Grandmammy Look at Uncle Sam

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GRANDMAMMY LOOK AT UNCLE SAM. AKA - "Granny Look at Uncle Sam," "Grandma Take a Look at Uncle Sam," "Run Here Granny Take a Look at Uncle Sam" (Ed Hayley's title). Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, Tennessee. A Dorian/Mixolydian/Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABCC. The tonality keeps shifting between the minor and major throughout the tune, and some versions are 'crooked' (irregular bars). The following ditty was sung to the tune:

Run here Grandmammy, look at (Uncle) Sam,
'He's soppin' all the gravey and eatin' all the ham.

According to Wilson Douglas, Kentucky fiddler Ed Hayley played this tune, calling it by the above ditty lines.

Source for notated version: Howard Forrester who learned it from his Uncle Bob Cates (Hickman, Tennessee) [Phillips].

Printed sources: Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 2), 1995; p. 57.

Recorded sources: Marimac AHS #3, Glen Smith - "Say Old Man" (1990. Learned from Howdy Forrester). Rounder CD0392, John Hartford - "Wild Hog in the Red Brush and a Bunch of Others You Might Not Have Heard" (1996. Learned from Howdy Forrester). Rounder CD-0388, Gene Goforth - "Emminence Breakdown" (1997).

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Hear J.P. Fraley's version at Slippery Hill [2]

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