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mworden - Posted - 01/02/2015: 14:02:40
Happy new year and new tune of the week! The first tune for 2015 is Waiting for the Boatman from West Virginia fiddler Melvin Wine, who is one of my favorite old time fiddlers.
This is an entirely different tune from the A tune, Boatman or Boatman's Dance, that many here play. The story told to me when I learned it was that Melvin played the song based on his memory of a hymn that his mother sang to him as a child. Melvin passed away in 2003 at the age of 93 and below is an excerpt from the Old Time Herald (vol 9 no. 1) shortly after his death.
Melvin Wine—Playing for the Boatman |
| By Drew Beisswenger |
One of the hundreds of fiddle tunes Melvin enjoyed playing during the last decades of his life was called “Waiting for the Boatman,” an old hymn his mother sang that Melvin had reworked in a beautiful way. Before playing the tune he would sometimes sing the hymn’s lyrics, which began, “Oh, I’m waiting for the boatman, he is driving o’er and o’er.” The story is of a person waiting and, if all went well in life, ready to be ferried over to heaven’s shore. It’s easy to picture Melvin, who passed away on March 16 at the age of 93, waiting for the ferry with anticipation while keeping the other people there in good humor with his jokes and stories. He probably didn’t need to wait long to be picked up for that well-deserved ferry ride home, but after he got on board he probably had a little time to take out his fiddle and tune it up. I bet the boatman got to hear some great tunes on the trip over. |
You can hear Melvin Wine playing the tune, which is in the key of D, in this Berea College recording from 1994 here: cdm16020.contentdm.oclc.org/cd...l4/id/757
Norman Blake and others play a tune by the same name (often in G) that might have some family resemblance but seems quite distinct to my ear in terms of structure and melody.
It doesn't seem to be very widely played, which is a shame because I think it is a really beautiful tune. It is a favorite of many of those with whom I get to play locally.
Here is a nice version with fiddle and banjo on YouTube: youtu.be/6wUhtVgye2U
A transcription for fiddle can be found here drfiddle.com/show_tune.php?id=56
I've attached my version here. I am trying to learn to play some fiddle and this is/was one of the first D tunes that I learned. I've been fooling around with some multi-track recording and got brave enough to include some fiddle on the last couple times through so I hope you'll put up with some sketchy intonation....
 Waiting for the Boatman |
carlb - Posted - 01/03/2015: 05:26:40
As Drew Beisswenger noted in his thesis "Fiddling Way Out Yonder: Community and Style in the Fiddle Music of Melvin Wine", he had seven references to hymns with the title "Waiting for (or without "for) the Boatman". A Stamps hymn book notes "Theme suggested while waiting at Ferry on Tennessee river, midnight, July 3, 1917, near Section, Alabama" with Virgil O. Stamps as the author. Many years ago I tried to adapt the lyrics to Melvin's fiddle version, but it never quite worked. So when I sing the Stamps version I play Melvin's version as a break between verses.
 Waiting the Boatman |
JanetB - Posted - 01/03/2015: 13:23:21
Your superb version is an inspiration, Mike, so I listened to the original source to get one like yours. I admire your multi-tracking ability, too, as well as your learning journey as a fiddler. How fortunate you play this song locally. It's really a shame not to have the lyrics. The phrase "waiting for the boatsman" is in one of my favorite jam songs, Standing by the River.
Waiting for the Boatsman |  Waiting for the Boatsman tab |
JanetB - Posted - 01/03/2015: 16:01:25
Thanks, Lyle, I appreciate your editing help. Here's the corrected tab:
Waiting for the Boatsman, corrected tab |
vrteach - Posted - 01/05/2015: 11:02:14
Pleasant little tune. Here's my attempt.
Waiting for the Boatman |
Don Borchelt - Posted - 01/07/2015: 10:34:51
A great choice by Mike Worden for the first tune of the week of 2015, and a great performance, too. Janet also picks a superb version, very lyrical. And once again, Erich shows us how to play it so that it sounds like he is sitting on his front porch high up in the pines, picking it just like he learned it from his granddaddy. I first learned this tune from my Boston area pals Linda Henry and Jerry Dallal. I am three finger picking my semi-fretless Tubaphone, in open D tuning (aDF#AD). You can find the tab on my website.
 VIDEO: Waiting for the Boatsman (click to view) |
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