Annotation:Vance no more
X:1 T:Vance no more I:from the playing of John Salyer (1882-1952, Salyersville, Magoffin County, eastern Ky.) M:C| L:1/8 Q:"Brisk" N:AEae tuning (fiddle) N:From home recordings 1941-1942 N:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/vance-no-more Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:Ador [EA]-[GA]-|[A2A2] AB cEGE|cBc2 [e4e4]|[de]-[c2e2][de]-[e2e2] [e2e2]|[M:5/4]dcA2[G4A4] [EA]-[GA]-| [M:C|][A2A2] AB cEGE|cBc2 [e4e4]|g2ed cde2|[M:5/4]e2 dc ABcE GE|[M:C|][A,6A6]|| eg|a2 ga ge2d-|c3d-e3d-|c3d- e3-d|c3-d e4|[M:5/4]dcA2[G4A4] [EA]-[GA]-| [M:C|][A2A2] AB cEGE|cBc2 [e4e4]|g2ed cde2|[M:5/4]e2 dc ABcA G2|[M:C|][A,6A6]||
VANCE NO MORE. American, Air (cut time). A Dorian. AEae tunic (fiddle). AB. A briskly-played listening tune from Salyersville, Magoffin County, eastern Kentucky, fiddler John Salyer (1882-1952). His playing was recorded on home discs by his family in 1941-42 and form a remarkable trove of traditional regional fiddle tune, many sounding quite archaic (as "Vance no more" does). Salyer's piece is thought to be based on a murder ballad by Abner Vance called “The Vance Song”, as collected by 85-year-old Uncle Branch Higgins (who was like Salyer from Salyersville) and printed by the Lomaxes in their book Our Singing Country (pp. 322-323). The story of the ballad goes:
Some hundred years ago, Abner Vance, a Baptist preacher, was hanged at Abingdon, Virginia, for the killing of Lewis Horton, who had abused Vance’s family in his absence. Horton tried to escape, jumped on his horse, and attempted to swim across a river near Vance’s house. Vance got his gun and shot him while he was fording the river. After conviction, Vance lay in prison for some time, during which he made a ballad about himself. From the prison window he looked out and saw them erect the scaffold and make the coffin upon which he stood on the day of his execution and preached his own funeral sermon. His son-in-law, Frank Browning, was present, and Vance asked him to turn his back when the trap should fall. A reprieve had been granted the doomed man, but the men who had him in charge hanged him a few minutes before it arrived.
The words to the ballad, as sung by Higgins and printed by the Lomaxes, go:
Bright shines the sun on Clinch's Hill.
So soft the west wind blows.
The valleys are lined with flowers gay,
Perfumed with the wild rose.
Green are the woods through which Sandy flows.
Peace dwells in the land.
The bear doth live in the laurel green.
The red buck roves the hills.
But Vance no more on Sandy behold
Nor drink its crystal waves.
The partial judge announced his doom.
The hunters found his grave.
There's Daniel, Bill, and Lewis,
A lie against me swore
In order to take my life away
That I may be no more.
But I and them shall meet again
When Immanuel's trumpet shall blow.
Perhaps I'll be wrapped in Abraham's bosom
When they roll in the gulf below.
My body it will be laid in the tomb.
My flesh it will decay,
But the blood that was shed on Calvary
Has washed my sins away.
Farewell, farewell, my old sweetheart,
Your face I'll see no more.
I'll meet you in the world above,
Where parting is no more.