Annotation:Dinah

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DINAH. AKA and see "Go to Sleep John Dinny." Old-Time, Breakdown. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Silberberg): AABB (Krassen). A member of a large and widespread tune family that includes "Heel Flies (1)," "Rock Along John to Kansas," "Seneca Square Dance," "Old Raccoon," "Coon Dog," and others. Samuel Bayard collected a vocal version of the tune in southwestern Pa. (see Bayard, Dance to the Fiddle, 1981; Appendix No. 25, pp. 582-583), but said it was known also as a dance tune. The alternate title comes from a ditty sung to the tune:

It’s go to sleep, John Dinny,
It’s go to sleep I say,
It’s go to sleep, John Dinny,
For it is your christ’ning day.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Krassen (Appalachian Fiddle), 1973; pp. 28-29. Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 36.

Recorded sources: Heritage XXIV, Dave Holt - "Music of North Carolina" (Brandywine, 1978).

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index [1].

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