Annotation:Forty Drops (2)
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FORTY DROPS [2]. Old-Time, Country Rag. F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Milliner & Koken), AA'AA'BB'BB' (Philips). AKA "Forty Drops of Rye", as recorded in 1928 in the 78 RPM era by fiddler Andrew Baxter of the Georgia duo The Baxters (not brothers: Andrew's father James (Jim) played the guitar). A similar version played by the Striping Brothers, who recorded it in 1937. Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff, in their book Out of sight: the rise of African American popular music, 1889-1895, discuss the origins of "Forty Drops" and conclude this "very early folk rag" came from African-American string band tradition prior to the mid-1890's. It was mentioned in the newspaper the Levenworth Herald in 1894, when editor B.K. Bruce Jr. "identified it with the irrepressible hammerings of eastern Kansas' black society girl pianists" (p. 449). It was not published, however, until 1898, in an arrangement for guitar and mandolin (no composer is credited, only the arrangers). Both the Baxters and the Striplings played somewhat simplified versions of the original rag.
The Baxters associated 'forty drops' with alcohol, as their spoken introduction reveals:
"Now this is the 'Forty Drops'.
"Forty drops of what?"
"Forty drops of rye!"
"Who's gonna carry me home when the dance is over? 'Cause I'm gettin' about full of this rye!"
However, Abbott and Seroff note that 'forty drops' more likely referred to the drug laudanum or morphine, "popular recreational drugs of the 1890's, typically dispensed in drops."
Source for notated version: Stripling Brothers, via Kerry Blech (Florida) [Phillips]; Stripling Brothers [Milliner & Koken].
Printed sources: Milliner & Koken (Milliner-Koken Collection of American Fiddle Tunes), 2011; p. 218. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 2, 1995; p. 53.
Recorded sources: Victor V-38002B, Andrew & Jim Baxter (1928). Decca 5313 (78 RPM), Stripling Brothers (1937) [1].
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