|
Please note this is an archived topic, so it is locked and unable to be replied to. You may, however, start a new topic and refer to this topic with a link.
ndlxs - Posted - 05/15/2009: 21:59:59
Angeline the Baker is the tune of the week. Banjo-wise, it is a sturdy tune: it can be played purely as a tune, it can be sung, it can be played as a clawhammer tune, it can be played in two and three finger styles, and it can be played well in either double C tuning (where it is normally played) and surprisingly well in G tuning too.
I have made a video of me playing this tune here on both my Arthur E Smith Shelburne II banjo here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgbxTlBJE1Q
and on my George Wunderlich Sweeney repro banjo here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB8ZLb3OGQk.
I will send tabledit files for either version to anyone who emails me. The first version is in double C, and played clawhammer style; the second version is in both thumb lead two finger, index lead two finger, and a kind of crude three finger playing too. I apologize for the quality of the videos; this was kind of last minute for me.
According to numerous sources, the source of the tune appears to be a sentimental song written by Stephen Foster, called "Angelina Baker," whose lyrics tell about a slave who is parted from her lover when sold.
A PDF of the sheet music is available from the Levy Sheet Music collection here:
http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/l...i?id=067.003 type=pdf.
A song sheet of the lyrics is posted on the Library of Congress American Memory project here:
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampag...pebib,calbkb.
The well spring of this tune in old time music seems to be an early version of the tune recorded by Uncle Eck Dunford for Victor (V-40060) in 1928 (backed with “Old Shoes and Leggings”). A collection of Uncle Eck Dunford’s music has been posted on the blog Old, Weird America here:
http://oldweirdamerica.wordpress.co...eck-dunford/
A similar tune, or an alternate title, is the Patrick County, Va., "Coon Dog," recorded, for example, by Spangler and Pearson. The main 'revival' version typically played today by old-time style musicians derives from a few sources. The County Records release of fiddler J.W. 'Babe' Spangler (1882 1970), of Patrick County, Virginia, was one influential source. Independently, and predating the release of the County “Old Virginia Fiddlers” recording, revival fiddlers (such as Joel Shimberg) learned a similar version from West Virginia fiddler Franklin George.
As for lyrics, the verses currently sung may have been written as a parody of the Foster lyrics. These lyrics are “Ugly Girl” type lyrics, such as:
Angelina Baker,
Her age is forty-three
I gave her candy by the peck,
But she won't marry me.
She won't do the bakin',
Because she is too stout
She makes cookies by the peck
And throws the coffee out.
Angelina Baker,
she’s so long and tall
feet out in the kitchen
head out in the hall
I personally feel these are a bit on the dated and lame side, so I have gone ahead and written some more contemporary lame lyrics, which you are free to use as long as you give me credit; after all, I have spent almost 10 minutes carefully crafting these lyrics.
Angelina Jolie, she’s got great big lips
She’s got a tattoo on her arm, another on her hips
Angelina Jolie, she’s so nice and soft
She’ll not win an Oscar when she plays Lara Croft
Angelina Jolie, acting is her job
I think she’s still with Brad Pitt, and not with Billy Bob
Angelina Jolie, what more can I say?
She’s got eighteen children, and another on the way
Angelina Jolie, I am not her stalker
I’m not here to praise her, I’m just trying to mock her
Sources:
Lyle Lofgren:
http://www.lizlyle.lofgrens.org/RmO...neBaker.html
Fiddler’s Companion:
http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/AN_...GELINA_BAKER
Mudcat.org forums:
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=6169
Andy Alexis
Sacramento, Calif
rteale - Posted - 05/15/2009: 22:43:11
Great choice. Shes a hoary old standard but I love her. I got the banjo out and gave her a whirl in celebration. Love the new lyrics.
Ray
WGE - Posted - 05/16/2009: 04:16:39
Indeed, a nice old chestnut that is fun to play. I enjoyed the videos and the new lyrics. I've added a few of my own. Perhaps others will also add to the BHO Angelina Jolie tribute.
Angelina Jolie, she's so slim and tall
Giv'er a big ol' 45 and watch the villains fall
Angelina Jolie, she's Jon's little girl
Trap her in the parlor and take her for a whirl
Edited by - WGE on 05/16/2009 12:37:14
Don Borchelt - Posted - 05/16/2009: 05:56:25
Good choice, Andy. Sometimes, usually, the old chestnuts are chestnuts for a good reason. I love those old Arthur E. Smith banjos, and yours sound terrific.
I have two Angeline MP3s uploaded on my homepage. The first, recorded with my pal Ed Britt, has been up for some time, with Ed playing clawhammer style, and me using three fingers. The second is a recording with Brian Clancey and Tom Speth, made about ten or twelve years ago. We experimented a lot with blending three-finger style banjo with finger style guitar picking, a pretty spontaneous interweaving of the two sounds. Brian had his guitar in an open tuning, as I recall, really sweet.
Brian has hosted a bluegrass jam session at his shop in Billerica over the last twenty years or so. It was always a really friendly, relaxed session all those years, because if anyone disturbed the peacefulness of it, Brian would kill them. He finally decided to give up his lease, and hosted the last session this past Thursday. I hadn't been in a long while. Ed and I both went, a fine time attended by a whole bunch of regulars and alumni. It was a bittersweet event, another casualty of the recession.
Angeline with Ed Britt
Angeline with Wry Whiskey
My rendition of Angeline changed somewhat over the years. There is a tab of the version I'm playing with Ed on my website:
http://www.banjr.com/tablatures.htm
After Brian left Wry Whiskey, his place was taken by Gene Ketelhohn. Gene passed away a few years ago, a great tragedy. Gene was a true songster, he knew more songs start to finish than anyone I ever met, and was equally at home and beloved in both the bluegrass and old-time music communities around Boston. He was a genuinely nice person. I have hunted but so far cannot find a recording of Angeline with Gene, a shame because he used to do a wonderful job singing on this. I still remember one verse, one of my favorite lyrics in old-time music. I can hear Gene singing it still, in my mind:
I bought Angeline a brand new dress,
It was neither green nor brown,
It was the color of the stormy skies,
Before the rains come down.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I don''t like to play it like he did. I try to play it the way I play it" - fiddler Lester McCumbers, interviewed by Erynn Marshall
Check out my webpage.
Edited by - Don Borchelt on 05/16/2009 06:22:55
ndlxs - Posted - 05/16/2009: 06:58:24
Good verses....I think I'll use them!
Andy Alexis
Sacramento, Calif
bjcole - Posted - 05/16/2009: 07:07:27
Angelina Baker followed by Angeline the Baker is presented as a medley on Alan Senauke's Wooden Man CD with Bill Evans providing banjo. Those who remember Folkways LP's will note that the CD resembles the blue label used on the LP's and the notes have the appearance of being typewritten. The notes credit Brendan Doyle with using his equipment to do the recording.
deuceswilde - Posted - 05/16/2009: 09:41:36
This is one of those songs with ironic origins.
As was stated, it was written by Stephen Foster. He is considered to be the first to make a living by writing popular music for other professional musicians to perform. He was not a performer.
The interesting part (for me) is that many of his works, like this one, are thought to be american "folk" songs or of folk origins.
Written by a man from Pennsylvania who only went south once. His knowledge of plantation life was second hand.
The link to the sheet music did not work, so here it is again.
http://tinyurl.com/owoveb
This is probably close to the way it was sung in the 19th century.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPNPV0Jmdvc
This is a great pick for discussion.
Can you imagine "Smells Like Teen Spirit" interpreted as a folk song 100 years from now?
-Joel
Success always comes to those who have the money to buy it.
-The Adventures of a Banjo Player, 1884 p.26
Edited by - deuceswilde on 05/16/2009 09:45:34
chip arnold - Posted - 05/16/2009: 11:19:26
After a year or so of not being able to record on the computer I finally got it working. It still sounds scratchy. So now there's a version of Angeline on my music page.
**********************
Take what is given
Give what is taken
Chip Arnold
vrteach - Posted - 05/16/2009: 11:45:19
Nice versions Andy, that's particularly impressive up-the-neck playing on the Sweeny reproduction.
Perfect choice for a tune of the week. A commonly-known and infectious tune/song. I like to sing it, but to be comfortable I like to be in double-C.
There is a downloadable copy of the Eck Dunford recording at Juneberry78s.com.
There is a nice long discussion of the tune on the Mudcat Cafe.
I like that group that Joel gave us in the youtube link. I bet there are some nice minstrel reenactor versions, too. When I was watching Andy's version on the Wunderlich, Youtube suggested Yoppy's version on the Chillable Red (it's the second tune).
Erich -- There''s always room for cello..
http://vrteach.org/banjo/
http://prairiegrapevine.org/
U of Illinois-Springfield Old Time Music
RWJones1970 - Posted - 05/17/2009: 00:15:00
*** Here is my humble version of this old favorite called Angeline:
http://www.banjohangout.org/myhango...musicid=8581
" For God so loved the world that He gave up his only Son, that whosoever will believe in Him shall not perish, but instead have eternal life." John 3:16
g-hog - Posted - 05/17/2009: 05:38:51
One of my favorite things to play...I play it mostly Dwight's way, the non-dancy way... and, as with a lot of other things, I probably just prefer it much slower than most people do... here's Dwight sawing it out on fiddle for me last year to get me to practice driving the foundational support for a fiddler by incoprating that double thumbing... his comments afterward were very instructional... although they don't appear on the video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxSGgYQRXBc
and here I am trying it Dwight's way a month after learning from him... back home on the groundhogs' front porch...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib-Z...channel_page
I love the tune. I play it on fiddle (someday, whenever I can get myself a fiddle) I will put it on youtube... I believe this tune, played on banjo or fiddle is unique in that it allows for easy exploration of rhythm techniques, whether clawhammer or bowing. Good practice, or exploratory-type tune... plus... it's so nice to listen to!!!!!
Tamarack - Posted - 05/17/2009: 13:54:56
Thanks for posting a timeless tune -- not too hard to play and great fun. I start it out with my misconstrued Galax lick, hitting the 5th string quickly on the downbeat.
I like the Angelina Jolie lyrics. Somehow I don't thing Ms. Jolie is going to show up at an old time jam any time soon.
LyleK - Posted - 05/17/2009: 18:45:08
Very nice pick (and picking too!). My one problem with "A the B" is that I have a tendency to drift into Sugar Hill. Someday maybe I'll learn not to do that.
One more stanza, which I have no recollection of the source:
Angeline the Baker, bakes her pizzas round
We all go down to Angeline's and snarf those pizzas down
LyleK
tabs at: http://lylewk.home.comcast.net
nyartist - Posted - 05/17/2009: 23:01:49
Andy.. I'm in France now and when I click on the clawhammer version for youtube of Angeline the Baker the French youtube site comes up and there is no volume on your recording. The link to the .pdf file is not working either. Could you email me a link to the clawhammer version tab? my direct email is nyartist2001@yahoo.com
Vincent Banjogh
http://www.phillevine.com
johnpatrick307 - Posted - 05/18/2009: 17:32:20
John Balch has a version of this up that absolutely rules. Music isn't exactly working at the moment though.
J-Walk - Posted - 05/18/2009: 18:43:36
WildJimbo, you should put MP3 tags on your music downloads. I have so many untagged MP3s, with no way to identify who recorded it.
WildJimbo - Posted - 05/20/2009: 09:38:18
quote:
Originally posted by J-Walk
WildJimbo, you should put MP3 tags on your music downloads. I have so many untagged MP3s, with no way to identify who recorded it.
The not so simple solution would be to just re-upload everything. I've since tagged everything locally. Identifying the non-tagged online stuff is the problem.... well, no the main problem is I have this lazy bone.  Jim Pankey  
Bisbonian - Posted - 05/20/2009: 20:57:21
First tune I got down in Double C. For some reason, the fiddlers I play with like to do it in D, but it works just fine in Double D, too, so that's no problem. But oddly enough, I picked it up first by ear, from a guitar player, and played it in G. It's really easy to play in open G on the banjo, easier fingering than in C/C (I think), and a little easier to play around with some embellishments. It's a fun tune in any key, though, and yes, if you go to a jam, somebody else will know it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Oi0x803HcM
"When Banjos are Outlawed, only Outlaws will have Banjos."
|
Feeds
