Annotation:Pretty Little Girl with the Blue Dress On (1)
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PRETTY LITTLE GIRL WITH THE BLUE DRESS ON. AKA- "Pretty Little Girl with the Red Dress On." AKA and see "Billy Butler." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; North Carolina, Indiana. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAAABB (John Summers). According to Guthrie Meade (Country Music Sources, 2002), the piece is related to “Who’s Been Here Since I’ve Been Gone” and “Gate to go Through.” See also the related tune "Sugar Barrel." The lines below, familiar from Leadbelly’s “Poor Howard(‘s Dead and Gone)” and other songs, are sometimes sung with the tune:
Who's been here since I've been gone?
A pretty little girl with a blue dress on.
Source for notated version: John Summers (Indiana) [Phillips].
Printed sources: Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 189.
Recorded sources: Rounder 0194, John W. Summers - "Indiana Fiddler" (1984). Smithsonian Folkways SFW CD 40013, “Doug and Jack Wallin: Family Songs and Stories from the North Carolina Mountains” (1995). Smithsonian Folkways SFW 40193, Doug Wallin – “Classic Old Time Fiddle” (2007. Reissue recording. Wallin, {1919-2000}, from around Sodom, North Carolina, learned the song from his father).