Annotation:Prairie du Rocher Motion
X:1 T:Prairie du Rocher Motion N:From the playing of Garry Harrison (1954-2012) a fiddler, collector, N:composer and luthier from Bloomington, Ind.), with the Indian Creek N:Delta Boys M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel N:Drone liberally Q:"Fast" B:Harrison & Burgess - Dear Old Illinois (2007) D:Davis Unlimited 33042, "The Indian Creek Delta Boys, vol. 2" (1977). D:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/prairie-du-rocher-motion Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:D ([DA][EA]|[F2A2])[A2A2] [FA][EA][DA]-[EA]|[F2A2]+slide+[A2A2][A3A3]c |"*"B2AG EFGA|B2 AG E2E2| [FA]-[AA]-[A2A2] [FA][EA][DA][EA]|[F2A2]+slide+[A2A2][A3A3]e-|1f2ed BABc|d4d2:|2 d2 ed Bc d2|fdec [d2f2]|| AB|:c2 e2 cBAB|c2 e2e3^g|f2 ed Bcde|f2f2 d2B2| [ce]-[ee]-[e2e2] (cBAB)| [c2e2][e2e2][e3e3] ^g |f2 ed BcdB|1AFE-F D4:|2 AF-EF D2|| P:Substition "*"B2AF EFD2|B2B2 A2E2|
PRAIRIE DU ROCHER MOTION. Old-time, Breakdown (cut time). D Major ('A' part) & A Major ('B' part). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Prairie du Rocher is a town in the state of Illinois. At least one newspaper source [1] attributes the tune to farmer, poet and local character Percy Clerc, who published a book of poetry in 1979 called "Echoes of Old Prairie du Rocher." Geoney, or La Guiannee, is an old French caroling custom that has been continually performed on New Years Eve since 1722 in the area.
Percy was an old bachelor who farmed up on the hill. He inherited the Geoney from his father, Charles. Every New Year's Eve, Percy dressed in blue pajamas with corn husks sewn on and wore a feathered headdress that waggled atop his scalp. It wasn't French, but it let everyone know who the number one caroler was. To amplify his voice, Percy shouted the songs through his "megaphone," an old oatmeal can with the bottom punched out.
"He lived for this French heritage thing," Dan said. "This was far and away the most important night of his life. He was all business."
Toward the end of his life, Percy changed his surname, to make it sound even more Gallic. Everyone had to call him "Le Clerc." He died [in 1980] in a house fire, a few weeks after his last Geoney. [Ted Kleine, Illinois Times, Thursday, June 19, 2003]
