Annotation:Devil's Waltz
X:2 T:Devil's Waltz S:Grandy Fagnan (1902-1986, Camperville, Manitoba) M:C| L:1/8 R:Waltz N:AEac# tuning (fiddle). As usual with this tuning, drone frequently. N:"+" = pizzicato note N:A version of "Drunken Hiccoughs" D:Falcon FP 287, Fred McKay - "Old Native And Métis Fiddling in Manitoba, Vol. 2" (1987) D:https://grandyproject.ca/tunes/ Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz N:The key is 'A' Major K:C P:With fiddle tuned AEac# finger the following "as if" in standard tuning: S{ga}g4e2|c'4e2|g2- g^f-ga|g3e g2|[^c3e3] [ce] [c2e2]|[^c2e2]^F2B2| A3^F A2|D6|D2 B,-A,G,2|{ga}g4-e2|c'4-e2|g2- g^fa2| g3e g2|e3e e2|[M:C|]A3 A A2B2|[M:3/4]A3^F A2|D6| g4-e2| c'4-e2|g2- g^fa2|g3e g2|e4 ee|e2^F2B2| A3 ^FA2|D6|| "+"e2"+"A2"+"D2|"+"e2"+"A2"+"D2|[M:3/8]B,/A,/ G,2|[M:3/4] ^C3B,CE |D2^F2B2 |A3B^c2|D2B,A,G,2| [^C3E3]B,CE |D2^F2B2 |A3^F AB|A6!D.S.!||
DEVIL'S WALTZ. AKA and see "Drunken Hiccups (1)," "Jack of Diamonds (3)," "Rye Whiskey (1)." Canadian,Waltz (3/4 time). Canada, Manitoba. A Major. AEac# ('calico') tuning (fiddle). AA'B. "Devil's Waltz" is a Métis version of the tune widespread in America usually known as "Drunken Hiccups (1)," "Rye Whiskey (1)," or "Jack of Diamonds (3)," with its characteristic pizzicato notes and AEac# fiddle tuning. Fiddler and researcher Anne Lederman, who interviewed and collected the tune from Métis fiddler Grandy Fagnan in the mid-1980's explains that the AEac# and AEae tunings in Canadian Métis communities were reputed to be associated with the Devil, and that fiddlers who employed them took a chance. Anne writes:
Laurence Flett of [the Métis community of] Ebb and Flow says his grandfather used to tell him “Don’t play those things. . . If you ever play them, he said, the devil will walk in and take the fiddle off you, and maybe you’ll never, ever play a tune again.
Her source for the tune, Fagnan, did not relay such stories, but he did say that he learned the tune sometime in the 1940's from an elderly fiddler.
