banjukebox - Posted - 06/17/2022:  07:19:17

I first heard “Sailing over England” in this YouTube clip of a Clifftop jam in which Adam Hurt and Rachel Eddie are both on fiddle. It’s a seven minute recording, so it’s ideal for playing along with as you learn. Clifftop Jam It's a catchy tune with a bit of syncopation thrown in here and there.

If you don’t like YouTube, you can also hear it at Adam’s Soundcloud site: Adam Hurt

The tune is attributed to West Virginia Fiddler Lee Triplett. His version can be heard at the Slippery Hill site (Thanks to Larry Warren): Lee Triplett

There's not much written about Lee Triplett. A few more of his recordings can be heard at the Berea site.

Paul Kirk features the tune as one of his Old Time Tunes of the Week (#204) with Stephen Rapp on Banjo.

Walt Koken and Clare Milliner recorded it fot their "Happy Hour" series - also on YouTube

If examples those aren't enough for you, I found another site that has links to other versions

Tabs have been posted by Don Borchelt (Three Finger) and Ken Torke (Clawhammer) at Tater Joe's.

 For those of you who are interested, the dots are also available online.

I recorded a solo banjo version over at the Banjukebox site about a year ago.

Finally,here's the Tab for that version: Sailing Over England There are a lot of skip notes including two in a row in the B part.

Edited by - banjukebox on 06/17/2022 08:06:53

Hay-on-Wye - Posted - 06/18/2022:  01:42:08

Lovely perky tune the first part very reminiscent of the old Dublin ballad Waxies Gargle.

Love the syncopation one your version banjo jukebox and I see Janet has a great version just uploaded to YouTube in the last few hours as well

youtu.be/Y2vZPXEf0tY

ndlxs - Posted - 06/18/2022:  05:24:49

Wow, that is one great tune, thanks, Pat!

JanetB - Posted - 06/18/2022:  10:16:06

Great choice, Pat, and nice banjo work and wonderful links. I tried tabbing Lee Triplett's version before looking at your tab. To escape the up-the-neck B part and to add some variety, I next got out the cello banjo, tuned to an equivalent of open G and played it down-the-neck along with the source recording.

VIDEO: Sailing Over England (TOTW)
(click to view)

Sailing Over England (CH) tab, open G tuning

Sailing Over England (CH) tab, double C tuning

 

Don Borchelt - Posted - 06/18/2022:  13:24:14

A great choice for tune of the week, Pat. I love your sweet, elegant version, a delight to listen to. Janet does the tune great justice, too, the smooth, deep tones of the cello banjo add some mystery to it. I have heard it suggested that the name of the tune is probably wrong, that Triplett meant to say it was Sailing Over To England. I prefer a more romantic interpretation, that the tune is about traveling over the country in a hot air balloon!



I have been playing tunes for a couple of hours almost every day over the internet with two of my fellow Boston area friends, fiddlers John Maguire and John Reddick.  It's nice being retired.  We use a system called Jackstreamer, which allows us to play in "real time," so that you each hear the others while you are playing. The system reduces latency to a bare minimum, but you have to wear noise eliminating headphones, so that you only hear your instrument through your headphones, and not from the sound in the room itself. You get used to the fraction of a second lag very quickly. Anyway, Sailing Over England is one of the tunes in our D tune rotation, and we played it early last May. The link below will connect you with an MP3 recording of the tune from our session.  We start on the high part.



Sailing Over England, John Maguire, John Reddick & Don Borchelt

banjukebox - Posted - 06/19/2022:  08:34:24

JanetB Thanks for that wonderful addition, Janet. As I watched you playing on the cello, I knew you weren't playing in "D", but as I tried to follow your left hand, I noticed you couldn't be playing in a low-tuned variation of the double "C" tuning either. When I'm playing this in a jam, I sometimes try playing the B part an octive lower. Unfortunately, there are some lower notes that aren't available, so I have to finish off with the higher notes instead. One of the times a 5+1 stringed banjo (additional bass string) would come in handy.

banjukebox - Posted - 06/19/2022:  08:51:33

Don Borchelt And thanks also to you, Don, for your fine addition. I always appreciate your intricate notation choices. Sounds great with you sitting between two fiddles.

I've also been playing online since the whole COVID business started. We play once a week - usually with two fiddles, mando, guitar and banjo. We use a program called JamKazam. When we started out, it was a free download and the lag was noticeable. We found ourselves continuously slowing down to match the fiddle's tempo which we perceived to be behind us. They now charge a nominal fee and have pumped the revenue back into the system to improve the sound quality and decrease lag time.
Now it's almost imperceptible ( as long as we're playing with people in the Pacific Northwest ).
It seems that trying to play with a musician on the other side of the country is a little more difficult.

banjukebox - Posted - 06/19/2022:  08:55:13

And thanks for your comments, Neill and Andy. It sure is a fun tune to play.

carlb - Posted - 06/20/2022:  06:46:40

quote:

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Originally posted by banjukebox

There's not much written about Lee Triplett.

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You can see and hear Lee playing fiddle at 22:31 in this video documentary of the Morris Brothers Mountain Music Festival in Ivydale, WV in 1972.

youtube.com/watch?v=it50Nhg-McQ



A description of the festival video can be found here:

nodepression.com/the-morris-fa...969-1973/



 

banjukebox - Posted - 06/21/2022:  08:06:15

carlb Thanks for the addition, Carl.

Stephen Rapp - Posted - 06/28/2022:  09:21:20

I originally learned it pretty close to how Pat plays it. Since then every jam I've been at has the A and B parts in reverse order from what Pat (and I) played. It's a great tune. That video Paul posted on his TOTW Week page enticed someone to ask me to teach them it. I also do a low version of what is naturally high on banjo. It takes some minor fudging on notes, but sounds great down low on banjo.