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brothofaboy - Posted - 12/04/2020: 08:19:13
This week’s Tune of the Week, “Too Young to Marry”, has a long and distinguished history. We will probably never know its origins, but it is popular in Scotland, Ireland, England and also in Pennsylvania and the Appalachians. It goes without saying that a tune as old as this will have several titles – these include “My Love she’s but a Lassie Yet”, “Hair in the Butter”, “Farmer had a Dog”, “Ten Nights in a Bar Room” , “The Duke of York” and "My Momma's Darling".
Much of the credit for the tune goes to Scotland’s national bard, Robert Burns, who wrote the words to what became a Scottish standard, but one of the earliest versions of the tune appeared in 1757 with the title “Miss Farquharson’s Reel” before Burns was born. It is a very popular country dance tune in Scotland, where it is a favourite of ceilidh bands. The writer of Gems of Scottish Song asserts that the original title of the tune was "Lady Bodinscoth's Reel." In modern times the reel is often played in a set to accompany the dance “Dashing White Sergeant.”
Although apparently of Scottish origin, it soon became a popular tune south of the River Tweed, as attested to the title's appearance in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes (The Northern Minstrel's Budget), which he published c. 1800. Northumbrian musician William Vickers included it in his 1770 music manuscript under the title “My Lover’s Butt a Lady Yett.” "My Love She's But a Lassie Yet" is also the name of a Scottish country dance, though a somewhat unusual one (Flett & Flett, 1964).The melody also found currency across the ocean, and Samuel Preston Bayard, who includes it in his book Dance To the Fiddle, March to the Fife, deems it perhaps the most widespread instrumental folk tune in the Pennsylvania tradition. In his book, George P.Knauff’s Virginia Reels and the History of American Fiddling, Chris Goertzen makes some interesting comments on how fiddle and banjo interacted when this tune was played in antebellum minstrel quartets. The tune was released as a single in 1927 by Posey Rorer and the North Carolina Ramblers. Here is Seppo Sillanpaa’s clawhammer version:
youtube.com/watch?v=v9svAubK3Ac
and banjukebox has a more leisurely version:
youtube.com/watch?v=eXr0KXrw9c0
This version accompanies a “jailbait break dance” at the Bear on the Square Festival in Dahlonega, Ga.:
youtube.com/watch?v=zRTG5xiMwC4
The tune is the first track on Bob Carlin’s CD “Banging and Sawing” and features Bruce Molsky, Judy Hyman, Brad Leftwich and James Bryan and Bob himself:
music.apple.com/us/album/bangi...443774228
My own favourite rendering is BHO member Bob Lanham’s version:
banjohangout.org/myhangout/med...archived=
Dan Leveson also has a version entitled “Sweet Sixteen”, mentioned in the Banjo Newsletter December 1994. The tune also appears in his book Old Time Festival Tunes for Clawhammer Banjo as “Sweet Sixteen” (“Too Young to Marry”). In the South, old-time musicians know the tune under the title "Sweet Sixteen" and "Too Young to Marry." Jim Taylor (1995) says the tune in its various titles was well-known to musicians in both North and South during the American Civil War era. In Quebec, the Chevaliers du folklore recorded it as "Reel des montagnes (2)" while the group Trois Copains (Three Friends) used "My Love is but a Lassie Yet" for the second strain of their "Quadrille St-Jean," recorded in 1930 with the figures called in French. More recently, it also appears in Clawhammer Banjo, by Miles Krassen, who notes that it is played as a reel and a polka, and Ken Perlman includes it in his book Clawhammer Style Banjo.
Edited by - brothofaboy on 12/07/2020 09:42:43
Mtngoat - Posted - 12/04/2020: 09:28:09
Great research and write up. This has been on my "to learn" list for 20 years but I've never worked on it, just kind of follow it in jams. Maybe I'll have some impetus to put my nose to the grindstone now.
carolynf - Posted - 12/04/2020: 16:36:29
Me too. I've meant to learn it, but now I'm motivated!
Wyozark - Posted - 12/04/2020: 17:09:57
Always enjoy the research and history of the really old ones. Thanks.
banjukebox - Posted - 12/04/2020: 21:27:44
Great tune! Thanks for posting. We always call it "Jailbait".
Hay-on-Wye - Posted - 12/05/2020: 11:10:59
Great tune, sounds lovely slow or fast
janolov - Posted - 12/05/2020: 11:13:16
When listening to the tune, especially Seppo's version, I think the second part sounds a lot like Soldier's Joy.
JanetB - Posted - 12/05/2020: 20:00:36
A fun tune, Douglas, and fun listening to each one here. Plus you did a thorough research job. Anything on Banging and Sawing interests me as a new learning challenge. My arrangement is from listening to fiddler Judy Hyman. The liner notes say that it came to her from Harold Hausenfluck, from the old Scottish song "My Love She's But a Lassie Yet." Samuel Bayard wrote that it was "possibly the best-known instrumental folk tune in the whole Pennsylvania tradition." He transcribed 21 versions in his book, Dance to the Fiddle, March to the Fife.
brothofaboy - Posted - 12/06/2020: 03:18:56
Thanks for your kind comments, Janet! I like your version - must learn it!
Best wishes,
Doug
carlb - Posted - 12/06/2020: 06:18:09
quote:
Originally posted by JanetB
Samuel Bayard wrote that it was "possibly the best-known instrumental folk tune in the whole Pennsylvania tradition." He transcribed 21 versions in his book, Dance to the Fiddle, March to the Fife.
It seems like I've known this tune forever. I remember at a jam, many years ago, someone asked where I learned the version I played (on the fiddle). I, sort of, remember saying that it's just the way I play now. When I went home, I looked at all the versions in Bayard's book and lo and behold, each phrase I played was in one of those 21 versions, though not in a single version.
Edited by - carlb on 12/06/2020 06:19:12
brothofaboy - Posted - 12/06/2020: 09:00:39
Really like this, Neill!
Thanks for posting it.
Doug
Don Borchelt - Posted - 12/06/2020: 14:17:44
Great clawhammering by Carolyn, Neill and Janet, I love all of your takes on this great old tune. I think Neill's is the closest to the way I learned it. This was a meaningful choice for me, Douglas. When I was busking with my clawhammer picking pal Ed Britt, this was one of our favorites. I haven't played it for several years, and so I'm a little rusty on it, but I posted it anyway. I first learned it about 50 years ago back in Cincinnati from a fiddler from Eastern Kentucky, and he called it Buffalo Nickel. Since, as Pat hinted above, grown men courting very young girls is frowned upon these days (just ask Doug Jones), I'm going to stick to that title, although there is at least one other tune that uses it. I am reminded of what another fiddle player I used to know said to me when he saw the look on my face when he told me his daddy got married at the age of 34, to a 14 year old girl. He said, you know, I asked my dad about that once, and he said, son, marry 'em young and so you can raise 'em right. I guess times were different back then.
- Don B.
Edited by - Don Borchelt on 12/06/2020 14:24:21
brothofaboy - Posted - 12/06/2020: 14:46:21
Sounds pretty good to me, Don. Glad you enjoyed the post. Love your story!
Doug
Hay-on-Wye - Posted - 12/07/2020: 04:58:20
That’s a really lovely version Don. Love the up the neck stuff you do
Edited by - Hay-on-Wye on 12/07/2020 04:59:09
UncleClawhammer - Posted - 01/05/2021: 12:19:17
quote:
Originally posted by janolov
When listening to the tune, especially Seppo's version, I think the second part sounds a lot like Soldier's Joy.
I thought the same thing.
Beautiful tune that, as far as I know, I haven't heard before. I especially like Janet's and Don's versions.
Paul R - Posted - 01/05/2021: 14:32:37
Not sure yet if it's the same/similar tune, but From a "teach-in", by Rhonda Mattern, Sing Out! magazine, probably mid-Seventies:
"Some of my fondest memories are still swingnin' on a porch swing in Goodyear, Pa. It was there that I first fell in love with the banjo. I spent my summers trailing grandpa around like a hound dog, begging for scraps of banjo lessons.
"Grandpa basically used the banjo as accompaniment for songs. Instrumentals were rare in our family - we all liked to sing too much to put up with 'em. Most of our fiddle tunes had words with an instrumental part in between.
"When I moved to New York City a few years ago, I was amazed by the masses of mostly male, city-bred banjo pickers. They never sang, and they seemed to squeeze dozens of notes in between the melody, which was darn hard to find. As a woman and a home-grown banjo player, it was sink or swim. I dutifully started stringing melodies with rows of ornaments and tried to forget how much I loved to sing. When I went back to Goodyear for Thanksgiving, I realized the error of my ways. In the midst of a joyous mom-dad-uncles-cousons- brothers-sisters singalong, I realized to never lose sight of our strong, simple family traditions,
"Since that day, I've learned to take the best from both worlds. "I'm Seventeen Come Sunday" is a fiddle tune that illustrates that synthesis. The "A" part has words and the "B: part is an instrumental; the tune is slightly ornamented, but I've marked the melody notes with accents. ...
"Thank you, grandpa, for a life full of banjo teach-ins."
The tab puts it in gDGCD, Gm with capo at the third fret. She incuded the lyrics.
Maybe there's someone out there with a copy of that Sing Out! (maybe Jim Yates?) who can provide more info.
Edited by - Paul R on 01/05/2021 14:34:28
