Annotation:Dance All Night

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DANCE ALL NIGHT. AKA- "Dance All Night with a Bottle in Your Hand," "Danced All Night With a Bottle in My Hand," "Give the Fiddler a Dram," "Give Me a Bottle of I Don't Care What." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA: West Virginia, Virginia, western North Carolina, north Georgia, Alabama, Nebraska. G Major (most versions): D Major (Silberberg). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Silberberg): AABB (Brody, Christeson, Phillips) or AABAACCB (Kuntz, Brody). Guthrie Meade thinks the tune has some relation to "Buffalo Gals." Rosenbaum (1989) points out that the recording by Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers [1] for Columbia was very influential, especially in Georgia (in fact, the melody is known as a north Georgia tune). His source, Georgian Lawrence Eller, learned the tune/song from family tradition and Rosenberg concludes (apparently on the strength of the floating verse about hanging Jefferson Davis) from this that the lyrics bespeak Unionist loyalties in parts of the southern Appalachians.

Dance All Night with a bottle in my hand,
Bottle in my hand, bottle in my hand;
Dance All Night with a bottle in my hand,
Just before day give the fiddler a dram.

I left my jawbone sittin' on a fence,
I ain't seen nothin' of my jawbone since;
Walked on home and didn't get along,
In come Sally with her big boots on.
('big boots', 'red dress' or 'blue dress')

Who's been here since I been gone?
Pretty little girl with the red dress on;
She took it off and I put it on,
In come Sally with her big boots on. (Kuntz)

Dance all night with a bottle in your hand,
Bottle in your hand, bottle in your hand,
Dance all night with a bottle in your hand,
As we to marching along.

We'll hang Jeff Davis from a sour apple tree,
Sour apple tree, sour apple tree,
Hang Jeff Davis from a sour apple tree,
As we go marching along.

Old Aunt Peggy, won't you fill 'em up again,
Fill 'em up again, fill 'em up again,
Old Aunt Peggy, won't you fill 'em up again,
As we go marching along. (Eller/Rosenbaum)

See also the closely related "Jawbone", which shares both melodic material and lyrics.

Source for notated version: Highwoods String Band (Ithica, N.Y.) [Brody, Kuntz]; Bob Walters (Burt County, Nebraska) [Christeson]; Lawrence Eller (Towns County, Ga.) [Rosenbaum]; Clark Kessinger (W.Va.) [Phillips]; Phil and Vivian Williams (Seattle) [Silberberg].

Printed sources: Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg 84. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, vol. 1), 1973; p. 104. Kuntz (Ragged but Right), 1987; p. 305-306. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 1, 1994; p. 97 (appears as "Give the Fiddler a Dram"). Rosenbaum (Folk Visions and Voices: Traditional Music and Song in North Georgia), 1989; p. 20. Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 33.

Recorded sources: Alcazar Dance Series ALC-202, Sandy Bradley - "Potluck and Dance Tonite!" (1979). Columbia 15108-D (78 RPM), Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers (1926). County 401, "The Stripling Brothers" (Ala.). County 727, John Ashby (Va.) - "Old Virginia Fiddling." County 733, Clark Kessinger (Va.) - "The Legend of Clark Kessinger." County 778, Tommy Jarrell (N.C.) - "Pickin' on Tommy's Porch" (1984?). Folkways FA 2336, Clark Kessinger- "Fiddler." Gennett 6734 (78 RPM), Tweedy Brothers (Harry, George, Charles, from W.Va. who played twin fiddles and piano) {1928}. Marimac 9038, Dan Gellert & Brad Leftwich -"A Moment in Time." Rounder 0045, Highwoods String Band - "Dance All Night." Rounder Records, Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers - "The Kickapoo Medecine Show" (appears as the 2nd and 3rd tune of Kickapoo Medecine Show skit). Vocalion 5395 (78 RPM), Stripling Brothers (Ala.) {1929}.

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