Annotation:Jordan is a Hard Road to Travel
Tune properties and standard notation
JORDAN IS (AM) A HARD ROAD TO TRAVEL. AKA and see "T'Other Side of Jordan," "Other Side of Jordan." Old-Timey, Breakdown; American, Polka. USA, Va. G Major (Christeson, Ford, Silberberg): C Major (Miller & Perron). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Silberberg): AABB (Christeson, Ford, Miller & Perron). The title is from the words of minstrel Dan Emmett's (Ohio) song. Bayard (1981) prints two tunes ("It Thundered In the East" and an untitled hornpipe; Nos. 88 & 89, p. 54) that strongly resemble this song. He thinks they all may have been descended from some older traditional tune. See also "Jawbone" in Krassen, 1973.
Sources for notated versions: Cy Kines (Fauquier County, Va.) [Christeson]; Greg Canote (Seattle) [Silberberg].
Printed sources: R.P. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, vol. 1), 1973; p. 90. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; p. 82 (appears as "T'Other Side of Jordan"). Miller & Perron (101 Polkas), 1978; No. 61. Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 77.
Recorded sources: