Annotation:Hell on the Potomac (1)

HELL ON THE POTOMAC [1]. AKA and see "Hell on the Wabash (1)," "Wake Up Susan (1)," "Hell on the Rappahannock," "Night We Paid the Rent (The)," "Picnic Romp," "Jack of Diamonds (1)" (Thede), "Cottage By the Sea (The)," "Red-Headed Girl (The)." American, Reel. USA, southwestern Pa. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. Bayard (1981) identifies this as "one of the three or four" tunes universally known by Pennsylvania folk musicians. The melody is usually known as "Wake Up Susan (1)" or "Hell on the Wabash (1)" and it is sometimes found with other parts; Bayard is not sure if this means the tunes with different titles are "divergently evolving cognate tunes" or the result of trading strains or "otherwise infecting one another."

Source for notated version: versions by 17 southwestern Pa. fifers and fiddlers [Bayard].

Printed sources: Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 352A-Q, pp. 346-353.

Recorded sources: