Annotation:Crooked Stovepipe (1)

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X:1 T:Crooked Stovepipe [1] M:C| L:1/8 K:G "G"G2B2 Bc dB|G2B2 Bc dB|"G"G2B2"G#dim"e3B|"Am"d2c2 cd cA|"D"F2A2 AB cA| F2A2 ABcd|"Am"e3d "D7"e2f2|1 "G"g2fe "D7"dc BA:|2 "G"g2g2 "D7"a2^a2|| "G"b3c' b2a2|g4 g2f2|"C"e2e2f2g2|"A7"a6b2|"D7"c'3d' c'2a2| f6e2|d2d2e2f2|"G"g2g2"D7"a2^a2|"G"b3c'b2a2|g4g2f2|"C"e2e2f2g2| "A7"a6b2|"D7"c'3c'c'2a2|f6e2|d2d2e2f2|"G"g2fe "D"dc BA|]

CROOKED STOVEPIPE [1]. AKA and see "Four O'Clock in the Morning (1)." Canadian, American; Two-Step or Polka. USA; New England, Michigan, Missouri. Canada; Ontario, Prince Edward Island. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'B (Miller & Perron/1983): AABB (Johnson): AA'BB' (Begin, Miller & Perron/1978, Miskoe & Paul, Perlman, Phillips). The composition "Crooked Stovepipe (1)" has been attributed to several Canadian musicians. It is sometimes said to be the work Nova Scotia fiddlers Colin J. Boyd, or Hugh A. "Hughie" MacDonald (who garnered the sobriquet "The Polka King"), both of whom (separately) recorded the tune around 1935 (Boyd for Decca Records and MacDonald for the brand new Celtic Records of Antigonish). MacDonald was born in Lanark, Antigonish County, Nova Scotia, and was one of the first Canadian fiddlers to record Scottish fiddle music. It is said that MacDonald, who died in 1976, titled the tune for the leaning chimney at his house. MacDonald paired the tune with "Honeymoon Polka (The)", a set reprised by Don Messer in 1950.

The tune has occasionally also been said to be the work of fiddlers Omer Dumas (of Saint-Antoine-Abbé, near Châteauguay, Québec), Irish-born Canadian Jim Magill (1905-1954, Ottawa), and John Burt ()^[1].

A version of the second strain of "Crooked Stovepipe [1]" can also be found in J.A. Boucher's "Reel Federesse," published in 1933. See also Métis fiddler Grandy Fagnan's version of the tune, which he calls "Four O'Clock in the Morning (1)."

Crooked Stovepipe is also the name of a dance performed to the tune, popularized in New Hampshire by the late callers Ralph Page and Duke Miller.

Additional notes
Source for notated version : - Vivian Williams [Phillips]; transplanted French-Canadian fiddler Omer Marcoux {1898-1982} (Concord, N.H.), who could not recall where he learned the tune, "I've always known that" [Miskoe & Paul]; Reuben Smith (b. 1931, Blooming Point, Queens County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]; Dawson Girdwood (Perth, Ottawa Valley, Ontarion) [Bégin].

Printed sources : - Bégin (Fiddle Music in the Ottawa Valley: Dawson Girdwood), 1985; No. 15, p. 28. Corfield (Tunes from New Brunswick), 2024; p. 25. Jarman (Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes), No. or p. 1. Johnson (The Kitchen Musician's No. 7: Michigan Tunes), vol. 7, 1986-87; p. 7. Miller & Perron (101 Polkas), 1978; No. 75. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddlers Repertoire), 1983; No. 106. Miskoe & Paul (Omer Marcoux), 1994; p. 34 (appears as "Crooking Stovepipe"). Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; p. 152. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 2, 1995; p. 343. Sannella (Balance and Swing) (CDSS).

Recorded sources : - Celtic 002-A (78 RPM), Hugh A. MacDonald (1935). Condor 977-1489, "Graham & Eleanor Townsend Live at Barre, Vermont." Copley 8-505 (78 RPM), Don Messer & His Islanders (1950). Decca 14027 (78 RPM), Colin J. Boyd (1935). Folkways 8826, Per's Four--"Jigs and Reels." RCA Victor 55-3318 (78 RPM), Ned Landry & His New Brunswick Lumberjacks (1955). RCA Victor LCP 1001, Ned Landry and his New Brunswick Lumberjacks - "Bowing the Strings with Ned Landry." Smithsonian Folkways SFW CD 40126, Lester Bradley & Friends - "Choose Your Partners!: Contra Dance & Square Dance Music of New Hampshire" (1999).

See also listing at :
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recordings Index [2]
Hear Ned Landry's recording at Ted McGraw's site [3]

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↑ Magill and Burt were connected with the Ottawa-based Harry Jarman publishing company, which first published the tune. Magill and Burt's names were often used by Jarman for copyright purposes and their names appear frequently on traditional and composed tunes, presumably as Jarman was copyrighting the arrangement. However, this is not made clear on the published music, leading to misattributions.

[1] Magill and Burt were connected with the Ottawa-based Harry Jarman publishing company, which first published the tune. Magill and Burt's names were often used by Jarman for copyright purposes and their names appear frequently on traditional and composed tunes, presumably as Jarman was copyrighting the arrangement. However, this is not made clear on the published music, leading to misattributions.

[1]