Annotation:Betty Martin

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BETTY MARTIN. AKA and see "Fire on the Mountain (1)," "Granny Will Your Dog Bite? (1)," "High Betty Martin," "Hog Eye (1)," "Hog-Eye Man," "I Betty Martin," "Old Mother Gofour," "Pretty Betty Martin," "Tip Toe Fine," "Very Pretty Martin." Old-Time, Breakdown; American, Reel. USA, southwestern Pa. A Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. Samuel Bayard (1981) found no British antecedents for this group of tunes. Wilkinson has researched a connection between the "Fire on the Mountain" version of the melody and a Norse "halling" tune published in Norges Melodier (Copenhagen, 1875). Bayard confirms the two tunes are so close that in his opinion a connection is most likely, and concludes that, since "Free (Fire) on the Mountain" was published in a U.S. manuscript (Riley's Flute Melodies) in 1814 or 1815, that the transmission must have been before that. He asks, "Is it possible that this melody represents one of the few scattered cultural relics of the 17th century 'Delaware Swedes'?" (Bayard, 1981). A similar tune by the name of "I Betty Martin" appears in an American MS., "A. Shattuck's Book" (c. 1801). Bayard also states that the following lyrics were sometimes sung to the tune in Pennsylvania:

Cat's in the cream crock, run, girls, run!


Reminiscent of the old-time lyric "Fire on the mountains, run, boys, run." Also sung to the "Betty Martin" melody in that state was:

You get up on a Sunday-morning,
Just before the break of day;
There you see your own true lovyer
Just a-marching, a-marching away.

Chorus:
Little Betty Martin, tiptoe, tiptoe,
Little Betty Martin, tiptoe fine.

or the alternate chorus:

Granny will your dog bite? No, child, no, child,
Granny will your dog bite? No, child, no.


See also the Irish polka "Biddy Martin." While it is melodically dissimilar to the American "Betty Martin" tunes, it is similar in character, and the lyrics are similar. The tune was apparently used to teach dance steps to Irish children.

Source for notated version: Bayard (1981) gives six versions from six different southwestern Pa. fiddlers--one, from Irvin Yaugher, was origianlly from his great-uncle Uriah, born in 1792.

Printed sources: Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 60, pp. 41-43.

Recorded sources: Revonah Records RS-924, "The West Orrtanna String Band" (1976).

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