Annotation:Yellow Heifer (2) (The)

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YELLOW HEIFER [2], THE. AKA and see "Paddy on the Turnpike (2).” Old Time, Breakdown. USA, western Pennsylvania. A Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. Bayard (1944, 1981) identifies this tune as an American composite, but says the title was not attached exclusively to this piece although was used for this tune in Fayette County, Pa., at least. The tune is widespread in Irish and Scottish tradition; he sums: the tune "was fairly early of record, widely diffused, modal in character (with sets appearing in more than one mode), and often renamed" (p. 339). It has been traced back to the early 18th century. He begs comparison with the first part of a set of his Pennsylvania collected "Cuckoo's Nest (15)" (1944 source: Martin). See also the Irish “Flowers of Limerick (1) (The).”

Source' for notated version': Emery Martin, (Dunbar, Pa., 1943; learned from his father) [Bayard, 1944]: Wolford (fiddler from Pa., 1944; learned from older fiddler Henry Garlick of Fayette County) [Bayard, 1981].

Printed sources: Bayard (Hill Country Tunes), 1944; No. 9. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 347H, p. 337.

Recorded sources:

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