Annotation:Molly Put the Kettle On (1)

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MOLLY PUT THE KETTLE ON [1]. AKA- "Jenny Put the Kettle On (1)," "Polly Put the Kettle On (2)." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Georgia, North Carolina, Mississippi, Virginia, Missouri. D Major (Brody, Phillips): A Dorian (O'Neill). Standard tuning (fiddle). ABB. A wide-spread and old tune in the American upland and Piedmont South, into the Mid-West, and remarkably similar in most versions to the original from Britain. The title, in which the protagonist is variously known as "Molly," "Jenny" or "Polly," comes from a British rhyme commonly found in Mother Goose and other nursery editions, and the attachment survived the transatlantic crossing. The nursery rhyme goes:

Polly put the kettle on,
Polly put the kettle on,
Polly put the kettle on,
We'll all have tea.

Sukey take it off again,
Sukey take it off again,
Sukey take it off again,
They've all gone away.

William Chappell [Popular Music of the Olden Time, 1858) notes that the tune was already a well-known song and nursery rhyme when it was printed in John Johnson's Scots Musical Museum (vol. 3, 1797, No. 496, entitled "Jenny's Bawbie." ), and states: "This was about three years after Polly [Put the Kettle On] had become very popular with the young ladies by means of Dale's variations for the pianoforte." James Fuld [The Book of World-Famous Music], however, could find no publication by Dale before c. 1809-1810 under "Molly/Polly/Jenny Put the Kettle On" or Jenny's Bawbie." He did find "Jenny's Baubie or Jenny Put the Kettle On" published by McDonnell in Dublin, c. 1790-1810, and "Molly Put the Kettle On" issued by New York publisher by Paff (1803-7). "Molly Hang the Kettle On" is a country dance in the Boston, Mass., publication "A Treatise on Dancing" (1807), and the music appears in Daniel Steele's The New and Complete Preceptor for the Fife (Albany, 1815). The EASMES site lists seven different American musicians' manuscript entries dating from the first through the third decades of the 19th century.

"Molly Put the Kettle On" was the name of a tune in the repertoire of fiddler and Confederate veteran Arnold A. Parrish (Willow Springs, Wake County, N.C.), as recorded by the old Raleigh News and Observer. Parrish was a contestant at fiddler's conventions held in Raleigh prior to World War I. Georgia guitar player and singer Riley Puckett sang the following verses as a member of the north Georgia band The Skillet Lickers:

Molly put the kettle on,
Ginny blow the dinner horn,
Molly put the kettle on,
All take tea.

Swing Sal, swing Sue,
Swing that gal with the run-down shoe.

Swing ma, swing pa,
Swing that gal from Arkansas.
Take a chew of tabaccer, promenade all, ...(or "Take her to the back and promenade all")
Pull that calico from the wall.

Molly put the kettle on,
Jenny blow the dinner horn,
Molly put the kettle on,
We'll all take tea.

Wade Ward, of Independence, Virginia, at the end of his performance gives lines in recitative:

Head like a coffee pot,
Nose like a spout;
Handle on the other side
To pour the coffee out.

African-American fiddler Joe Thompson plays the piece in FCgd tuning. See also "Annotation:Jenny Put the Kettle On (1)."

Sources for notated versions: The Skillet Lickers (north Georgia) [Brody]; Emmett Lundy (Va.) and Joe Politte (Mo.) [Phillips].

Printed sources: Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; p. 194. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, vol. 2), 1984; No. 66, p. 46 (as "Jenny Put the Kettle On"). Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 1, 1994; p. 154.

Recorded sources: Columbia 15380 (78 RPM), Leake County Revelers (1928). Columbia 15746D (78 RPM), Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers (1932). County 506, The Skillet Lickers- "Old Time Tunes" (reissue) County 529, Leake County Revellers- "Traditional Fiddle Music of Mississippi, Vol. 2" (reissue). County CD-3509, The Skillet Lickers (reissue). Document DOCD-8060, The Skillet Lickers (reissue). Folkways FA 2399, New Lost City Ramblers - "Vol. 4." Global Village C217, (Black fiddler and banjo player) Joe and Odell Thompson - "Old Time Music From the North Carolina Piedmont." Marimac AHS #3, Glen Smith - "Say Old Man" (1990. Learned from Creed Smith). Marimac 9038, Dan Gellert & Brad Leftwich - "A Moment in Time" (may be version #4). Musical Traditions MTCD321-2, Calvin Cole (et al) - "Far on the Mountain, Vols. 1&2" (2002). Rounder 0058, Haywood Blevins (southwestern Va.) - "Old Originals, Vol. II" (1978). Smithsonian Folkways SF CD 40097, Wade Ward. Victor 21518, Ernest Stoneman - "Serenade in the Mountains."

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Hear the Leake County Revelers' 1928 recording at the Internet Archive [2]

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