Annotation:Gate to Go Through

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GATE TO GO THROUGH. AKA and see "Granny Will Your Dog Bite? (1)," "Open the Gate and Walk on Through." Old-Time, Song and Breakdown. USA, Kentucky. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. The song is a variant of the song known in northern Kentucky as "Granny Will Your Dog Bite?", originally recorded in 1932 by the Jimmie Johnson String Band of Carroll County, north-central Kentucky.

Open the gate and walk on through,
He's a fine old dog and he won't bite you.
(or) Find an old dog but he won’t bite you.

Why in the world do the people all know,
I take sugar in my coffee-o

Open up the gate and open it wide,
Walk on through to the other side."

The recording sold a sum total of 99 copies, having been recorded during the depression years when money for a phonograph record was extremely dear. Kentucky fiddler Clyde Davenport played a version as "Open the Gate and Walk on Through." See also the related "Pretty Little Girl with the Blue Dress On," and "Who's Been Here Since I've Been Gone."

Andy Palmer, Jan., 1926, Louisville, Kentucky

Source for notated version: fiddler Andy Palmer with Jimmie Johnson's String Band [Phillips].

Printed sources: Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 94.

Recorded sources: Morning Star 45003, Jimmie Johnson String Band - "Wink the Other Eye: Old-Time Fiddle Band Music from Kentucky, vol. 1" (1980).

See also listing at:
Stringband class at Neighborly Music [1]
Hear the Jimmie Johnson String Band's recording [2] [3]
Hear Clyde Davenport's recording [4]

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