Annotation:Rock Andy

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X:1 T:I'll Learn You how to Rock Andy N:Transcribed by John Hartford in Feb., 1991, from the playing of N:Owen "Snake" Chapman (1919-2002, Canada, Pike County, N:eastern Kentucky) M:2/4 L:1/8 B:Stephen F. Davis - Devil's Box, vol. 30, No. 1, Spring 1996 (p. 30) D:Rounder 0378, Owen Chapman - "Up in Chapman's Hollow" (1975) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:A e>a a2|a/b/a e2|e/=ga/ gg|(3g/a/g/ e d2| e/ab/ aa|=g/a/e dd|+slide+e=g e/d/+slide+B|A2 A:| AA c/A/c/d/|e/f/e/c/ d>d|=GG B/G/A/G/|B/G/A/G/ E>E| AA c/A/c/d/ |e/f/e dc/d/|e=g e/d/B|A2 A||

ROCK ANDY. AKA – “I’ll Learn You How to Rock Andy.” AKA and see “Rock Candy.” Old-Time, Breakdown. A Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA’B. From Pike County, eastern Kentucky, fiddler Owen “Snake” Chapman, a retired coal-miner, who learned the tune from his father, G.W. “Doc” Chapman, born in 1853. Family lore has it that Owen’s grandfather split rails with Abraham Linclon. “Doc” Chapman sang these words to the tune, according to his son:

Massy he bought me
Then Massy he sold me
Then they took me down by the riverside
And learned me how to rock Andy.

Chorus:
You can rock them ladies but you can’t rock me.... (x3)
I’ll learn you how to rock Andy.

The title is a corruption of ‘Rock Candy’, the name of a now-forgotten dance form, explains Mark Wilson of Rounder Records. This explanation makes more sense than Owen Chapman’s story that involves a farmer who took his slave down to the river to practice throwing rocks at Yankee soldiers. Titon (2001) identifies the tune as being in the “Paddy on the Turnpike (1)” family, related to “Ducks on the Pond” and the high part of “June Apple.”

Additional notes

Source for notated version: - Owen “Snake” Chapman (Canada, Pike County, Ky., 1995) [Titon].

Printed sources : - Titon (Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes), 2001; No. 66, p. 95.

Recorded sources: - Rounder 0378, Owen “Snake” Chapman – “Up in Chapman’s Hollow” (1996). Rounder Heritage Series 1166-11592-2, Owen “Snake” Chapman (et al) – “The Art of Traditional Fiddle” (2001). Pearl Mae 001B, Jim Taylor & Bruce Greene – “Falls of Richmond” (1989). Jim Taylor – “The Civil War Collection“ (1996).

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]