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scrubber - Posted - 04/11/2010: 01:45:26
re: the physical aspect of dancing and the appropriate speed to realize this:
We must consider the fitness of the people involved!
I daresay a 19th to early 20th century farmer was in better physical condidtion than a 21st century worker who spends all of his/her time at a desk and sits on the couch watching TV all night!
Since we have 'fast' OT tunes on record I think we must assume that this is the speed that was desired by the dancers...
This doesn't mean that I think modern dances should be played at a speed beyond the endurance of the participants, only that a (so-called) fast performance of a tune may be (in some cases) more authentic in regards to listening, even though it may no longer be appropriate for dancing...
dave
Edited by - scrubber on 04/11/2010 01:46:42
brya31 - Posted - 04/11/2010: 04:05:01
That was a good first week, I really enjoyed it!
Percy - Posted - 04/11/2010: 04:49:16
The old-timers may have been fit, but they also just worked their behinds off for 10 hours before the dance...
But seriously, I'm not talking about the "perky" versions -- I'm talking about the ones that are "perky versions on steroids" -- the ones where you have to listen closely to even hear the melody... if they sped it up any more, it would be the subject of a StarTrek episode.
dancinbear - Posted - 04/11/2010: 05:43:28
This has been a great kick-off. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!
Ozarkian D.L. - Posted - 04/11/2010: 06:56:43
Brang it on Michael.....& thnx. fer hosting. 
tonyelder - Posted - 04/11/2010: 10:55:43
quote:
Originally posted by John Gent
quote:
Originally posted by Percy
listen.grooveshark.com/#/artis...lark/7993
!!!
Holy cow, I LIKE that! Nice find!
Yes. That's it! ...that's the version from Guy Clark I posted about earlier. Go back to page one and you'll see where I posted the words. I do like this version.
Thanks.
Edited by - tonyelder on 04/11/2010 19:55:42
Feodosia - Posted - 04/11/2010: 17:08:42
quote:
Originally posted by dancinbear
This has been a great kick-off. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!
Yeah , fiddle tunes don't get much better then Soldiers Joy ...
If I make a contribution this week , it might have to be towards the end of the week ... I was babysitting today and fell off the kid's skateboard .... banged up my bowing hand pretty good - LOL ...what was I thinking ?
groundhogpeggy - Posted - 04/12/2010: 04:56:01
Hope it's better soon. Stay away from those skateboards... pour a cup of coffee and WATCH the kids do it!!! LOL...
phredo53 - Posted - 12/03/2010: 00:45:53
quote:
Originally posted by jtallant
Here is my favorite performance of this tune:
youtube.com/watch?v=-hTciGp0c_U
That is indeed a good version. It sounds a lot like Gid Tanner's version with the Skillet Lickers.
VivianW - Posted - 12/03/2010: 17:03:36
The way I understand it, at least three of the the various names for the tune are intimately connected. The Soldier's Joy was Payday (in the Army), and the King's Head appeared on the coinage with which the soldier got paid.
This tune probably shows up in more North American and European traditions than any other tune. The earliest printed version is 1756. There is a Danish version, called Hornfiffen fra Randers or Randers' Hornpipe (the title sounds like it was swiped from an Englishman, like some other Danish folk tunes). Check out the history in the Alphabetical Files of Fiddlers Companion at ibiblio.org/fiddlers/FCfiles.html . It's a little dense, but fascinating.
rafa - Posted - 12/03/2010: 18:58:22
I`m probably wrong, but for years I heard the soldiers joy was when the doc would come around during the civil war and treat the wounded soldiers with morphine
coelhoe - Posted - 12/03/2010: 20:14:58
Since the tune and the title predate the Civil War by centuries, the story is probably an urban legend.
The English singer and scholar A.L. Lloyd claimed to have found a version of the "Soldier's Joy" melody in a manuscript in Poland dating from the mid-1500's. Could be. The form and structure of the melody (AABB with common last phrases for both parts) are quite common in early Renaissance tune books and manuscripts.
fiddlepogo - Posted - 12/04/2010: 00:00:37
quote:
Originally posted by coelhoe
Since the tune and the title predate the Civil War by centuries, the story is probably an urban legend.
The English singer and scholar A.L. Lloyd claimed to have found a version of the "Soldier's Joy" melody in a manuscript in Poland dating from the mid-1500's. Could be. The form and structure of the melody (AABB with common last phrases for both parts) are quite common in early Renaissance tune books and manuscripts.
I don't think so. I think it's based on actual verses that sound traditional to me.
The first time I heard "Soldier's Joy" (in 1970) , there was a verse about morphine and beer amongst the other verses.
Tune titles change... and especially if say a tune got imported from Poland, or some other place
with names that seemed unpronounceable to English fifers (it sounds like a fife and drum tune to me),
it might very likely get re-titled. Soldiers are prone to making up verses to the tunes or rhythms they have to drill to,
some of them are... not fit for tender ears. It certain was happening among American soldiers in the 1970's,
and I suspect it's been going on for centuries.
It's sort of like an adult version of how kids take well known tunes to well known songs and write new, often shocking words.
I'm sure all the military activity during the Civil War, and the nasty war wounds could easily have inspired such often cynical sounding creativity... especially by a wounded musician!
Also, you have the phenomenon of "floating verses".
The verses of "Soldier's Joy" are compatible with "Rock The Cradle, Lucy" "Possum Up a Simmon Tree"
the verse "Peaches in the summer time, apples in the fall, etc." and many other verses.
It's not unusual for a floating verse to stick to a new tune, and become the nucleus for a songwriting effort that inspires more verses in the same vein. The morphine and beer verses could have floated in from another song, been judged a good fit, and stuck, possibly bringing a new title along with them.
Or a drunken binge on morphine-laced beer could have inspired a NEW interpretation of exactly what "The Soldier's Joy" was.
Edited by - fiddlepogo on 12/04/2010 00:04:12
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