Annotation:Sally in the Garden (1)

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SALLY IN THE GARDEN [1]. AKA - "Sally in the Garden, assisting Sam." AKA and see “Brad Walters,” "Boating Up Sandy (3)," "Fire on the Mountain (1)," " Hog Eye an' a 'Tater,” “Pretty Betty Martin." Old-Time, Breakdown. A Dorian (Christeson). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Versions of the tune are widely known in the upland South and Mid-West under several titles, in both minor an major modes and in numerous versions, more or less closely related to each other. The title is taken from one of the verses sung to the tune:

Sally in the garden, sifting, sifting,
Sally in the garden sifting sand
Sally in the garden sifting, sifting,
Sally's upstairs with a hog-eye man.

The last two words of the alternate title "Sally in the Garden, assisting Sam" are a miss-hearing of 'sifting sand'.

Additional notes

Source for notated version: - John McCutcheon [Brody], Uncle William Raines (Morgan County, Missouri) [Christeson]; Ken Kosek [Phillips].

Printed sources : - Brody (Fiddler’s Fakebook), 1983; p. 247. R.P. Christeson (Old Time Fiddler’s Repertory, vol. 1), 1973; p. 6. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 2), 1995; p. 120.

Recorded sources: - Acoustic Disc, John Cohen - "Songs that the Old Crow Told Me." County 503, John “Dad” Crockett – “Mountain Fiddle Music, vol. 2” (originally recorded 1928). June Appal 014, John McCutcheon - "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" (1977). Rounder 0040, "Pickin' Around the Cookstove." Rounder Select 82161-0476-2, “The Wind That Shakes the Barley: Hammered Dulcimer Music” (reissues, orig. released 1977). Yodel-Ay-Yee 008, Dirk Powell & Tom Sauber – “One Eyed Dog” (1993).

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Read the Mudcat thread on the song [2]
Hear various versions at Slippery Hill: Kentucky fiddler Clyde Davenport [3]; Estill Bingham [4]; Crockett's Kentucky Mountaineers [5]