Annotation:Lazy John

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LAZY JOHN. Old-Time, Breakdown. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. From the playing of Kentucky fiddler Clyde Davenport [1] (b. 1921), and a largely different tune (and song) from the similarly titled "Sleepy John/Sleepy-Eyed John," with only small similarities in the chorus.

Davenport told interviewer Jeff Titon that he learned the tune from the radio, possibly, notes Titon, from the western swing band version by Johnny Lee Wills, who recorded a song called Lazy John on the Decca label in the 1940's.

Source for notated version: W. Bruce Reid [Silberberg].

Printed sources: Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 88.

Recorded sources: Appalachian Center, Berea College AC002, Clyde Davenport - "Puncheon Camps" (1992). Brad Leftwich - "Say Old Man." Field Recorders Collective FRC 103 & FRC 104, Clyde Davenport.

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]

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