Ozarkian D.L. - Posted - 06/13/2010:  20:05:36

From hillbillie jug-bands to Liberace, this popular old fiddle / banjo tune has been around for years and played by many. There are 9 versions here on FHO. ( audio ).

Jug-Band : youtube.com/watch?v=VsnZxfkkoKQ

Liberache : youtube.com/watch?v=cCTEzFem8UY

My rough, rustic rendition :fiddlehangout.com/myhangout/me...archived=

Wikipedia says its authorship is claimed by a few disputed writers ( never resolved ).
It is listed in most of the top ten fiddle and banjo tunes.

Wikipedia : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey_in_the_Straw

There's lots'a audio and video of it over the internet. It is learned by school children in grade schools across our nation, & the tune is used as a theme in many cartoons. Walt Disney used it in his 1928 "Steamboat Willie" cartoon.

Walt's cartoon :youtube.com/watch?v=REbZO82tkg...e=related ( tune starts @ 4:14 ).

It's also a great hoedown dance tune too :

youtube.com/watch?v=h1kqLYb6Te...e=related

Edited by - wormbower on 06/20/2010 21:21:53

cherrypie - Posted - 06/13/2010:  20:24:03

So glad you picked this one - I'm working on it now and though I've heard it a zillion times in my life, there always seems to interesting versions that pop up to shake things up a bit.

cstewart - Posted - 06/14/2010:  06:42:39

I learned this song in elementary school but didn't know the name until now.

Lyrics as I remember them:
Do your ears hang low?
Do they wobble to and fro?
Can you tie them in a knot?
Can you tie them in a bow?
Can you throw them over your shoulder,
Like a continental soldier?
Do your ears hang low?

TimK - Posted - 06/14/2010:  06:54:23

AKA Old Zip Coon durring antibellum times.

hendrid - Posted - 06/14/2010:  07:23:52

Thanks Doyle, great tune, been working on it for at least 3 years. Don

Extract from ibibloio, what a history--

ibiblio.org/fiddlers/TU.htm

ibiblio.com fiddlers companion

TURKEY IN THE STRAW. AKA and see "Old Zip Coon," "Natchez Under the Hill [1]," "The Old Bog Hole." Old-Time, Breakdown: Irish, English, Canadian; Reel or Hornpipe. USA, Widely known and has even entered English country dance tradition. Canada, Prince Edward Island (where Ken Perlman says it is a very popular tune). G Major (Bayard, Brody, Linscott, O'Neill, Perlman, Phillips, Raven, Ruth, Shaw, Sweet): C Major (Ford):
D Major (Bayard, Moylan). Standard tuning. AB (Bayard, Shaw): AABB (most versions).
***
An overwhelmingly popular tune in American fiddle tradition. Bayard (1981) suggests that a Scottish tune called "The (Bonny) Black Eagle" (also called "The Way to Edinburgh" by Oswald) resembles "Turkey in the Straw" in in both parts. Besides Samuel Bayard, Alan Jabbour, Winston Wilkinson, George Pullen Jackson and others think that a tune with an even stronger resemblance in the first part to the first part of Turkey is "The Rose Tree [1]" (Maureen ni Cullenaun).

Their apparent conclusion is that the Turkey tune is a composite of two older Scottish tunes, the 'A' part of "The Rose Tree" and the 'B' part of "The (Bonny) Black Eagle."

There are other speculations: Nathan ("Dan Emmett," pg. 168) gives an Irish reel which seems to bear close resemblance to the 'A' part of Turkey, while Dreamer (in the Oxford Book of Carols, pg. 252) gives a "little known Scottish melody" with a second section equivlent to that of Turkey (Bayard wonders if this particular strain has long been a floater).

According to Linscott (1939) the tune is based on the old song "My Grandmother Loved on Yonder Little Green." Michael Cooney lists a number of fiddle tunes to which "Turkey in the Straw" is supposed to have been related, including "Glasgow Hornpipe" (Irish), "Haymaker's Dance" (English), "The Post Office" (Irish), "Lady Shaftsbury's Reel" (Scottish), "Rose Tree in Full Bearing" (Irish), "Old Mother Oxford" (a morris dance tune known in England and Scotland), and "Kinnegad Slashers" (Irish). Captain Francis O’Neill, in Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody suggested the latter was the original source of “Turkey,” although most reviewers dismiss this as an incidental resemblance only based on some similarities in the first part.
***
Whatever its origins, it was "undoubtedly in American folk tradition before the 19th century," says Bronner (1987), and that popular theater and minstrel groups during the 19th century helped consolidate and spread its popularity (it was often called "Old Zip Coon" in minstrel tradition). Fuld reports the title "Turkey in de Straw" appeared in 1861 attached to the tune through new song lyrics, copyrighted by one Dan Bryant, the melody labelled only an "old melody," presumably referring to “Old Zip Coon.”
***

Edited by - hendrid on 06/14/2010 07:32:18

DougD - Posted - 06/14/2010:  08:01:02

Its in Ryan's Mammoth Collection on page 44 - in A.

I have a version on my homepage here: fiddlehangout.com/myhangout/me...archived= Kind of garbled the words - its a hard one to sing up to speed!

Doyle, I listened to your version awhile back and liked it a lot - kind of reminds me of Fiddlin' John Carson somehow.

Edited by - DougD on 06/14/2010 08:15:26

DougD - Posted - 06/14/2010:  10:50:56

ChickenMan, when I try your link YouTube says "The URL contained a malformed video ID. "

But I think that "first version 1942" with the Schnickelfritz Band is what Doyle was linking to.

Edited by - DougD on 06/14/2010 11:22:53

ChickenMan - Posted - 06/14/2010:  10:53:42

Yeah, I see that, I deleted my reply.
I suppose I should start with the first link posted, instead of skipping down the post...
However, I just would not have called that a jug band.

Edited by - ChickenMan on 06/14/2010 10:55:17

DougD - Posted - 06/14/2010:  11:06:17

Well they do have a jug!

Like everything else, you can read more about them on the Internet!! freddiefisher.com/

It appears they also recorded "Red Wing." Maybe we should limit TOTW to tunes that have been "Schnickelfritzed?"

Edited by - DougD on 06/14/2010 11:26:15

Fiddlepiper - Posted - 06/15/2010:  00:34:59

One of my all time favorites! And, my favorite version is Aubrey Haney's. He is phenomenal!

Ozarkian D.L. - Posted - 06/15/2010:  06:14:53

There's 42 versions of it listed in the "Digital Library of Appalachia"..... ( start p.1 # 3 ) :

aca-dla.org/cgi-bin/queryresul...OSTART=41

Hetzlers Fakebook ..... A tune..."Turkey in tha Straw"...... ( my favorite site fer learning ) :

hetzlersfakebook.com/music_3.html

Edited by - Ozarkian D.L. on 06/15/2010 06:49:25

Runaway - Posted - 06/16/2010:  11:21:44

I am really fond of this first verse and chorus, but I have only ever heard one person sing it this particular way.

As I went along on a new cut road,
a tired team and a heavy load
cracked my whip and a the leader sprung
and I said goodbye to the wagon tongue

Turkey in the straw, Turkey in the hay
Tune up a fiddle and liddle all day
With a hop and a spring and a hey diddy haw
Strike up a tune called turkey in the straw

Fun to play in D because you have to slide up for that one note, but I usually play it in GDGD. They don't sound like each other really, but Arkansas Traveler and Turkey in the Straw must reside in the same place in my brain, I'm always getting them mixed up.

Ozarkian D.L. - Posted - 06/19/2010:  16:36:31

I caint read this ( turkey scratch ta me ), but maybe someone might be interested. :

traditionalmusic.co.uk/america...straw.htm

SueH - Posted - 06/19/2010:  18:31:51

Great tune, I can read the "turkey scratch" in your link and it's a good basic version for anyone learning the tune by dots. I enjoyed listening to the different versions in the links that everyone contributed.

Turkey in the Straw is a well recognized tune and most folks have heard it before. Hey, the ice cream truck plays it while driving in my neighborhood. My granddaughter knows it as the "ears hang low" song.
Good choice for tune of the week, it was one of the tunes I played at an assisted living center today.

Barry1963 - Posted - 06/20/2010:  04:34:09

great choice for this week, since I just started working on this tune myself. Have no idea why I waited so long to learn it, well, yes I do, theres other tunes I liked better..lol.

But at any rate, great timing

hendrid - Posted - 06/20/2010:  06:14:12

That is a good simple version Doyle however in the key of D vice the key of G. The B part gets up to the E string D note however which is the 6th position or so. Plays easier for some of us first position noodlers down in the key of G where you only have to go to the pinkie or B note on the E string. Some versions don't even go up to the pinkie B note. Wonder why... My crooked pinkie does not like it on the B note much either. Anyway, great tune. Don

fiddlepogo - Posted - 06/20/2010:  13:04:28

The ice cream truck in my neighborhood plays it!!!
(in Eb!!!)

My version in G:
fiddlehangout.com/myhangout/mu...p?id=486#
(scroll down to bottom- and I did not get it from the ice cream truck!!!)

Edited by - fiddlepogo on 06/20/2010 13:06:47