Annotation:Old Jaw Bone (1)

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OLD JAW BONE. AKA and see "Jawbone," "Walk Jawbone (2)." Old-Time, Breakdown. A Major/Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The title appears in a list of traditional Ozarks Mountains fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. Pope's Arkansas Mountaineers recorded a version of "Jaw Bone" in June 1928. The refrain goes:

Walk jaw bone and walk away,
Walk jaw bone both night and day

The label on the Carter Brothers' recording gives the title as "Old Joe Bone," perhaps a clerical error by the recording company. Fiddlers George and Andrew Carter, along with son Jimmie Carter, recorded the tune/song in Memphis, Tennessee, in February, 1928. The also sang the following to the tune:

A jawbone walking, a jawbone talking,
A jawbone eating with a knife and fork.

I laid my jawbone on a fence,
And I ain't seen nothing of my jawbone since.

Chorus:
Old jawbone, couldn't get along,
Here comes Sally with a red dress on.

See notes for "Annotation:Walk Jawbone (2)" and "Annotation:Old Jaw Bone (2)" for more background.

Source for notated version: Carter Brothers and Son (Mississippi), 78 RPM recording [Phillips].

Printed sources: Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 171.

Recorded sources: County CO-3515, Carter Brothers & Son - "Mississippi String Bands, Vol. 1" (Reissue recording, various artists.). OKeh Records 45289 (78 RPM), Carter Brothers & Son (1928).

See also listing at:
Hear the Carter Brothers recording on youtube.com [1] [2]



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