Annotation:Walk Jawbone (2)

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WALK JAWBONE [2]. AKA and see "Alex Dice," "Jacket Trimmed in Blue," “Din Tarrant’s” “I Have a Bonnet Trimmed with Blue (1),” “I Have a Donkey He Wouldn't Go,” “Jawbone,” "Krakoviak" (Boehme), “Old Joe Bone,” “Tá Boinéad agam,” “Tarrant’s.” Old Time, Breakdown. F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Apparently adapted by American black face minstrels from an Irish melody (see, for example, the version in Frank Roche's Collection of Traiditional Irish Music, vol. 2 (1912, No. 302, as "Set Dance"). However, ultimately the tune is derived from a Continental melody (see "Krakoviak").

The "Walk Jawbone" title is derived from an instrument used in minstrel bands as a rhythmic accompaniment: the jawbone of a horse, mule or ox was held in one hand while a key or other piece of mental was pulled across the teeth, resulting in an odd sound. This practice may have its origins in slave communities, and may ultimately stem from African practice. However, according to musicologist Charles Wolfe, 'Jawbone' was also a stock character in a blackface minstrel troup. Early country music recordings are by Pope’s Arkansas Mountaineers (1928) and the Mississippi group Carter Brothers and Son (1928, as “Old Joe Bone”).

Walk, jawbone, Jenny, come along.
In come Sally with her bootees on.
Walk, jawbone, Jenny, come along.
In come Sally with her bootees on.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; p. 103. Minstrel Songs Old and New, 1879; p. 210.

Recorded sources: County CD 3506, Pope’s Arkansas Mountaineers - "Echoes of the Ozarks" (reissue). Document DOCD-8009, Carter Brothers and Son (reissue). Musical Traditions MTCD321-2, Dan Tate (et al) – “Far in the Mountains vol. 1 & 2” (2002). Rounder CD 0435, Cecil Mountaineers (1928). Goforth (et al) – “Traditional Fiddle Music of the Ozarks.” Victor 21577 (78 RPM), Pope's Arkansas

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