Birdie (1)
X:1 T:Birdie [1] M:C| L:1/8 K:C
BIRDIE [1]. AKA and see "Put Me in My Little Bed." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Kentucky, West Virginia. C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABB. "Birdie" has been called "the state anthem" of West Virginia. Charles Wolfe (Mountains of Music, John Lilly ed., 1999) lists this as one of the West Virginia-Kentucky fiddle tunes learned by Kanawha County, West Virginia, fiddler Clark Kessinger (1986-1975) while growing up in the Kanawha Valley. John Hartford (1996) traces this tune to a song composed in 1870 by C.A. White and Dexter Smith called "Put Me in My Little Bed"; Alan Jabbour gives the composers names as White, Smith and Perry of the same date. There is some disagreement as to whether the "Little Bed" tune is ancestral. Ira Ford prints the following verse:
Oh Birdie I am tired now,
I do not care to hear you sing;
You've sung your happy songs all day,
Now put your head beneath your wing.
In addition to the Kessinger 78 RPM made for Brunswick in 1930, other early recordings were made by the West Virginia band The Tweedy Brothers, and by Jess Johnson and Roy Harvey (calling themselves the West Virginia Ramblers, and backing the tune with "O Dem Golden Slippers"). The Bing Brothers learned their version of the tune from the late Portsmouth, Ohio, fiddler Jimmie Wheeler leading to it being called "Wheeler's Birdie" in some circles (Wheeler himself simply called it "Birdie"). Brody's and Ford's versions are quite distanced from each other. Kentucky fiddler J.P. Fraley shifts into the 3rd position to play some of the unison 'e' notes, and stays in that position for some succeeding notes.
Printed sources: Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; p. 43. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; p. 330 (Appears as "Put Me in My Little Bed").
Recorded sources: Document DOCD-8053, Roy Harvey, vol. 4 (reissue). Gennett 5635A and Gennett 6483 (78 RPM), 1925 and 1928, respectively, Tweedy Brothers (Charles, George, and Harry, W.Va. brothers who played twin fiddles and piano.). Rounder 0037, J.P. and Annadeene Fraley - "Wild Rose of the Mountain" (learned by Fraley from the playing of his father). Rounder 0392, John Hartford - "Wild Hog in the Red Brush (and a Bunch of Others You Might Not Have Heard)" (1996).
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