Annotation:Seneca Square Dance

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X:1 T:Seneca Square Dance S:Sam Long (Oklahoma) M:C| L:1/8 Q:Quick D:County CD 3506, Sam Long - Echoes of the Ozarks (1995) F:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/seneca-square-dance Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:G G2A2|B2B4B2| d2B2 AG3|B4 B3d|BA3 G4| B4B3B|d2B3AG2|ABAG E2F2|1G4:|2G6|| |:ef|g2{f}g4e2|d2B4ef|ggf2 g3a|b2e4g2-| gaba g2e2|d4 BA G2|ABAG E2F2|G6:|

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SENECA SQUARE DANCE. AKA and see “Federal Hornpipe,” "Georgia Boys," “(Got a) Little Home to Go to (1),” “Higher Up the Monkey Climbs,” "John Hoban's Polka,” “Running from the Federals,” “Shelby's Mules,” "Waiting for the Federals." Old Time, Breakdown. USA; Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Johnson): ABB (Ford): AABB (Phillips, Songer); AA’BB’ (Beissenger & McCann).

The origin of the title is obscure. Jim Kimball, a musicologist from Genesco, NY, points out that many Seneca indians (part of the Iroquois nation) were relocated to Oklahoma after the War of 1812, and that there is still a large community of Seneca in the northeastern part of that state, not far from southwest Missouri. They were located between the Wyandot reserve and the Cherokee Nation on the Grand River. The tune may also be called after the town of Seneca, Missouri, in the southwestern part of the state (which may itself have taken its name from the Indian tribe). It appears to have had a long history in the United States, judging from some of the alternate title that suggest pre-Civil War times and hiding from authority. A Civil War connection is made with the alternate title “Shelby’s Mules,” a reference to the Confederate cavalry commander General Joseph Shelby.

Johnson (1982/1988) notes that there is an old hymn set to this tune, but does not give specifics. The melody is known to Irish musicians as "John Hoban's Polka" and appears to be related to the tune “(What Shall We Do with a) Drunken Sailor” and perhaps the gospel song “Rock-a My Soul (in the Bosom of Abraham).” A distanced, somewhat odd although regularly phrased version appears in Pioneer Western Folk Tunes (1948) by champion Arizona fiddler Viola “Mom” Ruth, under the title “Get Away from the Federals” with “Fall of Paris” given as an alternate title.

"Seneca Square Dance" appeared on the Challenge label (a subsidiary of Sears and Roebuck) on a 78 RPM recording by one ‘Fiddlin’ Sam Long of the Ozarks’ (1876-1931, born in Kansas, resident of Oklahoma and Missouri at various times, who actually but won a big contest in Missouri when living in Oklahoma) and was reissued by County on an LP entitled “Echoes of the Ozarks” in the 1970's. Long lived in the northeastern part of the state of Oklahoma, near both the reservation and Seneca, Missouri, just across the state line. Long recorded the tune via acoustic, not electronic methods in 1926, and despite the rather poor quality of the sound it sold well in the Mid-west and West. Gus Meade and W.L. McNeil researched Long and discovered he had been born in 1876 and died sometime in March 1931 (in Burns, Kansas). He was the first Ozark fiddler to have been recorded.

"Seneca Squaredance" has been, and continues to be, a popular tune among regional fiddlers. Fiddlin' Bob Larkin recorded a version with words called "Higher Up the Monkey Climbs." Alton Jones (1918-2002) of Theodosia, Mo., calls it "Seneca War Dance" and Cliff Bryan of West Plains calls it "Got No Little Home to Go to." It is infrequently called “Echoes of the Ozarks,” the name of a different tune (by Clyde Davenport, for one). The late John Hartford (2001) notes similarities with “Turkey Buzzard,” and there are musical similarities to “Shoot that Turkey Buzzard.”

The melody was featured in the score by Ry Cooder for the film The Long Riders. It seems that one of Cooder’s associates, David Lindley, previously performed an idiosyncratic version when he played with folk-rock musician Jackson Browne. There was no name attached to it and it was called “David's Fiddle Tune” at the time.