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, 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). Sometimes confused with the similarly-titled "Growling Old Man and Grumbling Old Woman (The)," a different reel in A Dorian. 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. " and "le bonhomme et la bonne femme

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 [1]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]

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