wormbower - Posted - 05/30/2010:  03:56:23

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Sally’s (or Sal’s) Got Mud Between Her Toes

Nobody knows why, for sure, but my guess is that either Sally spent too much time in the Garden or that she Ran Away with Jenny in the Mud that Night. But alas, those two theories will have to be taken up in future Tune of The Week entries.

This is one of my favorite fiddle tunes, probably because it’s one of the few that I can sometimes play, passably, on a good day (when there’s no camera in front of me). It was also one of the first tunes I worked out completely by ear. My version is mostly a conglomeration of those by Bruce Greene and several of my jamming buddies (Mary Jane, Carolyn, Michele, and Martila), who first introduced me to this tune at our monthly Tucson Old Time Music Circle.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. First, the basics:

Key of D Major. Until recently I’ve most often played it out of standard Eye-Talian tuning, but it’s best played out of old-time D tuning (ADAE), which aides in the third, low part. Which brings me to the parts structure…

Three Parts: AABBCC. The A part, played primarily on the middle two strings, is the start of Sal’s story. It’s the standard eight-measures-long, starting on two pickup eighth notes. I think the B part, which climbs up to the E string, is where Sal gets herself into trouble, but dutifully keeps plodding through that mud. At least, that’s where I usually get myself in trouble, fumbling through the fingerings as if I’m stuck in the mud. The B part also has eight straight measures. The shortened (four measures-long) C part is an abbreviated version of the B part—with its innards removed—played an octave down. This is the section in which Sal appears (to me, at least), to finally wash out all that mud. But then she mischievously returns to gets right back into it all over again, and again, and again. I suspect one reason “Sal’s” is such a driving tune, playable into perpetuity, is the fact that the final beat of each part serves as the pickup for the following part. You really need to make a concerted effort to keep Sal from traipsing back through that mud!

Ok, maybe I had too much Whiskey Before Breakfast. But that’s the way I hear it, and I’m sticking to my story.

For you guitar players and chord-minded fiddlers, here is the chord structure (courtesy of J-Walk, who can hear chords):

A part (x2)
===========
D/// D/// D/// D/A/
D/// D/// D/// A/D/

B part (x2)
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D/// D/// D/// D/A/
D/// D/G/ D/// A/D/

C part (x2)
===========
D/// D/// D/// A/D/


To the best of my knowledge, SGMBHT found its way back into the modern old-time repertoire through the great contemporary fiddler, Bruce Greene, who tells me he got it from, Pat Kingery, a fiddler from Nobob, in Barren County, Kentucky. You can listen to Bruce’s 1976 field recording of Mr. Kingery playing the tune, collected shortly before his passing, at the Digital Library of Appalachia. Mr. Greene graciously gave me permission to post a festival recording of himself playing the tune. When I asked him about the Kingery recording in researching this TOTW post, he went back to listen to it again and said “Wow! I see I have drifted a bit over the years from Pat's rendition. I may have to go back and study that a little.”

No worries to my mind. I think of old time music as a big game of Whisper Down the Lane. Sure, the story may get a little twisted with each retelling, but it usually gets more interesting!

Bruce says that Kingery “never told me exactly where he got it, but he learned a lot of his older tunes from his mother whistling them, and from an uncle, Jodie Matthews, from around Wayne County, KY.” From the 1976 field recording we learn that the tune was actually a song:

“Here comes Sally down the rows. She’s got mud between the toes.”
“Though her head is pretty as a pear, she's tied a yellow ribbon in her hair.”

Those are all the words Mr. Kingery remembered.


The late great Ray Alden recorded a nice fiddle/banjo duet by Jim Collier and Joe Newberry—The Tarheel Hotshots—at Clifftop in 1994. That track can be found on the Young Fogies Volume II album. You can sample it at Amazon.

My all-time favorite string band recording of SGMBHT comes from the most awesome Iowa City string band, The Gilded Bats. Their signature album is a must-have for any serious old-time fan. I love the way Norbert Sarsfield lays down the melody on solo fiddle with a once-through on the A part, and then the driving clawhammer banjo (Andrew Epstein), guitar (Billy Bryant) and washtub bass (Chris Clark) join the fun. (Sample the track at CD Baby)

As I wrote, oh, about 800 words ago, “Sal’s” is one of my favorite jam tunes. If someone else doesn’t call it, I will at almost every jam. A few months ago, several of my buddies and I drove up I-80 to meet our northern jam friends at the Glendale (AZ) Folk & Heritage Festival. I’m pretty sure I was the one who requested this tune in our rather large circle, but stipulated that we had to do it SLOWLY, so I could keep up. Well, Carolyn started it, and only when we were finished, remembered the “slowly” requirement (I think she remembered, but knew better than to honor my unreasonable request). I held on by the seat of my pants, and somehow stayed with it the whole time—or at least faked it convincingly. We quickly got into that groove, and it turned out to be the most fun I’ve ever had playing! You can listen to all 4 minutes and 43 seconds here.


There are some fine You Tube videos of “Sal’s,” including:

youtube.com/watch?v=hPH3oIjiYJo

youtube.com/watch?v=mRqhBF4PXcw

youtube.com/watch?v=vXYW-Lv8rRk


Here’s a cool and unusual fiddle/viola duet version in G, played by my friends, Mary Jane and Michele, who first introduced me to the tune. Bummer that the video cuts out abruptly before it ends:

youtube.com/watch?v=VsP0ERyx8tc


Search the Banjo and Fiddle Hangouts for some excellent recordings, including this one, from my jamming buddies, John (J-Walk), Mary Jane (MJ) Carolyn (Carolyn), and Michele (groundhogbrains) playing a nice “lazy” version at our monthly Tucson Old Time Music Circle:


Well, I do suppose
That's more than anybody wants to knows
About Sal's Got Mud Between Her Toes.

Paul

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Edited by - wormbower on 05/30/2010 08:57:43

groundhogpeggy - Posted - 05/30/2010:  05:08:06

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Wow... what a professional job of exploring this tune, and everything about it. I've never heard it before, but it does sound like something fun to learn... one of those tunes a lot like Shove the Pig's Foot... not too demanding.... sounds like it'd be a good thing to inspire dancers to jump up and get busy, etc.

Thanks for so many links, so many versions, so much to watch and hear, so much info, and all the humor!

ironworker - Posted - 05/30/2010:  06:29:18

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beautiful,paul- you've not only named a fine tune that everyone should be able to play,
but you''ve fleshed it out with history,citations, and links! you even personalized it!!

hope in the future, folks will use this TOTW as a template for theirs.

thanks again- you made my day!

michael ford

J-Walk - Posted - 05/30/2010:  09:06:44

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Good job, Paul. I think you've raised to bar for ToTW posts.

You could have used this post for your PhD dissertation.

wormbower - Posted - 05/30/2010:  09:15:23

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Thanks for all your nice reviews, but how about sending us your "Sal's" now?

Paul

fiddledan - Posted - 05/30/2010:  10:08:38

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Hi Paul,
Love that tune and the Kingery version is much more what I had remembered. I'll see bout getting a version up this week too. Hope all is well.

jb - Posted - 05/30/2010:  10:13:58

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Good job on the history and great tune. While I was learning it (ongoing) I ran across this link happyhollowmusic.com/archives.htm (It's in the tune of the month April 2009 if I haven't got the link right. It has the notation also, for those that like both.

wormbower - Posted - 05/30/2010:  10:32:31

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Good one, Janet. And great link, that I don't think I've found yet! That version starts on the "C part" (as I laid them out).

Dan--I can't wait to hear yours. I'll email you.

Paul

wormbower - Posted - 05/30/2010:  14:15:34

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Oooh, I just rediscovered another good on on You Tube that I'd forgotten about. This one, again comes from Mary Jane and Michele--a banjo/fiddle duo. MJ shows us her clawhammer talents in this one. It's a video tribute to our mutual friend, Craig (who had a horrible motorcycle accident), performed from the Banjo Heaven wing of The Folk Shop. The music starts around 1:10.

Paul

Tobias - Posted - 05/30/2010:  14:26:38

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Some friends of mine just recorded it for a CD this weekend. Here is their rehearsal:

youtube.com/watch?v=uHB5NX2fuwM

Best oldtime musicians in Denmark if you ask me :-)

/tobias

slimman53 - Posted - 05/30/2010:  14:42:33

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The best TOTW coverage yet. Examples, key etc . The best. Thanks, Wormbower!

Slim

ironworker - Posted - 05/30/2010:  14:43:56

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thanks,tobias- ole is sounding incredible here!
who else is in this band?

Tobias - Posted - 05/30/2010:  14:51:28

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Ole is a great fiddler. The others are Anders Færgeman on banjo. Axel Kanne on guitar and John Andersen on bass. Both Axel and John have played bluegrass and toured in the States.

I believe they got their version of this tune from Bruce Greene.

wormbower - Posted - 05/30/2010:  16:42:10

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Very nice, Tobias!

Thanks for the nice words, Slim.

Paul

J-Walk - Posted - 05/30/2010:  17:42:24

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I really enjoyed that Possum Whackers video, Tobias. I'm always amazed when people outside of the US play old time music. I guess good music has no geographic boundaries.

That tune, and a few others, are available at the Possum Whacker's MySpace site:

myspace.com/possumwhackers

artcarnie - Posted - 05/30/2010:  18:07:51

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Very interesting post, but for some reason I thought you wrote this song. So can you do the same for "Moses Hoe the Corn"?

wormbower - Posted - 05/30/2010:  18:11:34

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quote:

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Originally posted by artcarnie

Very interesting post, but for some reason I thought you wrote this song. So can you do the same for "Moses Hoe the Corn"?

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Moses Hoe the Corn is waiting for you to write up, Whitey--I mean Art. You should sign up for a slot. The video's already done. That was some nice guitar playing for our world debut!

Paul

Fiddlepiper - Posted - 05/30/2010:  23:54:33

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Great tune Paul! I have learned from all of your info. WOW! Possum Whacker rocks!

Tobias - Posted - 05/31/2010:  02:25:25

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quote:

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Originally posted by J-Walk

I really enjoyed that Possum Whackers video, Tobias. I'm always amazed when people outside of the US play old time music. I guess good music has no geographic boundaries.

That tune, and a few others, are available at the Possum Whacker's MySpace site:

myspace.com/possumwhackers

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I think the reason some of us foreigners like American folk music is because it is so obviously the roots of most popular music genres that are played everywhere. Rock, soul etc. There is more American folk roots in Danish popular music than Danish folk roots. I grew up with American music more than Danish music.
So it's not such a stretch to play American folk music in Denmark :-)

/Tobias

hendrid - Posted - 05/31/2010:  08:02:45

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Don't know that anyone is still interested but a couple of sheet music sources and somebody's lyrics. Think that one is banjo or mandolin tabs. Thanks for the good weekly tune Paul. Very nice. Don

doofusmusic.com/PDF/Sally_MD.pdf

happyhollowmusic.com/musicpdff...20Mud.pdf

mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid...ssages=18

SALLY'S GOT MUD BETWEEN HER TOES

First verse traditional. Chorus and remaining verses by Bob Coltman. Based on tune from Uncle Dave Dougherty and the Trough Sloppers, I'm Getting Happy CD. Source: Pat Kingery, Nobab, southern Kentucky.

Here comes Sally down the road,
She's got mud between her toes,
Though her face is pretty as a pear,
She's got a yellow ribbon in her hair.

CHO
Sal, Sal, don't be slow,
You love me, you know it's so,
All I ask, the good Lord knows,
Shake that mud from 'tween your toes.

Here she comes and yon she goes,
She don't wear no fancy clothes,
She don't carry no long stem rose,
She's got mud between her toes.

Asked her would she marry me,
She says, "Not immediately,"
But I noticed her with a hose
Washin' mud from 'tween her toes.

bsed - Posted - 05/31/2010:  08:11:36

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Paul--
Some fine fiddling there on a great tune! I'm gonna have to learn that one.
Our band plays Sally Ran Away In the Mud In the Night, and that's a completely different tune, in the key of A (I play it x-tuned). I'll have to upload it for your comparison.

bsed - Posted - 05/31/2010:  08:24:52

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Here 'tis...

Jenny Ran Away In the Mud In the night

wormbower - Posted - 05/31/2010:  08:30:11

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As a matter of fact, that's my next-favorite tune of the moment, bsed. Save that one for a TOTW! There are some great versions of it floating around (including, it may not surprise you to hear, from my perennial fiddle buddies, Mary Jane, Carolyn, and Michele). Thanks for yours.

Paul

bsed - Posted - 05/31/2010:  08:31:43

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quote:

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Originally posted by Tobias

quote:

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Originally posted by J-Walk

I really enjoyed that Possum Whackers video, Tobias. I'm always amazed when people outside of the US play old time music. I guess good music has no geographic boundaries.

That tune, and a few others, are available at the Possum Whacker's MySpace site:

myspace.com/possumwhackers

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I think the reason some of us foreigners like American folk music is because it is so obviously the roots of most popular music genres that are played everywhere. Rock, soul etc. There is more American folk roots in Danish popular music than Danish folk roots. I grew up with American music more than Danish music.
So it's not such a stretch to play American folk music in Denmark :-)

/Tobias

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So funny you mentioned this, Tobias, because I just saw Dwight Lamb at Bluff Country Gathering last weekend.

Dwight is known mainly for two things:
---Preserving the fiddle tunes of Bob Walters, and
---Preserving the Danish music of his family (mainly learned from his grandfather) on the squeeze box.
In fact some Danish musicians came here to learn those tunes directly from him, and Dwight also traveled to Denmark where he sparked a LOT of interest in these folk tunes---because there's NOBODY in Denmark playing them anymore.

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Edited by - bsed on 05/31/2010 08:34:51

wormbower - Posted - 05/31/2010:  08:33:33

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By the way, bsed, the reports I heard are that Jenny was the one who ran away in the mud that night. Are you confirming my theory proposed above that Sally was with her?

Paul

bsed - Posted - 05/31/2010:  08:36:22

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quote:

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Originally posted by wormbower

By the way, bsed, the reports I heard are that Jenny was the one who ran away in the mud that night. Are you confirming my theory proposed above that Sally was with her?

Paul

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Jenny, Sally, what's the difference?

wormbower - Posted - 06/02/2010:  08:32:52

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Cmon everybody. TOTW is supposed to be a musical conversation, not a <ahem> dissertation. Send me more Mud.

Paul

rafa - Posted - 06/02/2010:  17:52:18

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Hey Hendrid, thanks for the notation, it`s nice to play the tune and see what its all about.

Brendan Doyle - Posted - 06/03/2010:  03:49:19

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Great tune choice, Paul! And thanks for the Pat Kingery MP3; I don't know if we have his version in our collection (or I couldn't find it ,anyway), so it's nice to hear. Now I want to go and relearn it his way!

And all those videos and recordings of Mary Jane and Carolyn made me really miss them - tell them Brendan says hi and wants to see them some time soon! Mary Jane and her friend Joebass came to visit my wife Maxine and me about a year and a half ago. We did pretty much nothing for five days and nights except eat great food, drink good whisky, and play endless hours of music almost around the clock. We're way overdue for that again, but I guess it's our turn to come to Tucson! I don't know when we can make it happen, though - maybe next fall or winter.

Thanks for all the information about the tune, and all the versions!

Brendan

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Edited by - Brendan Doyle on 06/04/2010 15:37:21

Runaway - Posted - 06/04/2010:  09:24:23

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wow what a good one. Glad I got to hear it. I'll have to get Bruce to learn it to me :)

unclebob - Posted - 09/14/2010:  21:26:50

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When you have "Jenny" or "Jack" in a song, look more carefully at the lyrics because they are usually referring to female or male mules.

fiddlinjohn125 - Posted - 02/24/2011:  09:19:10

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[quote]Originally posted by hendrid

Don't know that anyone is still interested but a couple of sheet music sources and somebody's lyrics. Think that one is banjo or mandolin tabs. Thanks for the good weekly tune Paul. Very nice. Don

doofusmusic.com/PDF/Sally_MD.pdf

happyhollowmusic.com/musicpdff...20Mud.pdf

mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid...ssages=18

SALLY'S GOT MUD BETWEEN HER TOES

First verse traditional. Chorus and remaining verses by Bob Coltman. Based on tune from Uncle Dave Dougherty and the Trough Sloppers, I'm Getting Happy CD. Source: Pat Kingery, Nobab, southern Kentucky.

This was so cool to find!!! I was actually the fiddler on Uncle Dave's I'm Getting Happy CD!