It’s the time of year for this tune. Lightning bugs (or fireflies) are all over my yard and here’s another polka from Pennsylvania. My recollection about hearing and learning the tune goes back to the Lyons Fiddle Festival probably 30 years ago or more. I don’t know if I heard the tune while I was at the same festival or different festivals, but I heard it in a jam group of older players (who greeted Paul Beck into the jam) and then recorded another older player later (a recording I’ve misplaced or lost). While I credit the tune to Paul Beck, it was, many years ago, probably played by more than one fiddler from Berks County in Pennsylvania.
I, and friends, have been playing incidental music at the Goschenhoppen Folk Festival since 1990 <https://goschenhoppen.org/folk-festival/>. The tune has become the Goschenhoppen Fiddlers theme tune, which we always play, at the main gate, at the beginning and end of the day.
I found very little about Paul Beck (and thank Ken Gehret, of Reading, PA, for the following). “Lightning Bug was Paul's signature tune. Paul Beck past on a few years ago, I think, he was in his 90's. Though, he got around in a "hov-around" automatic chair, it didn't diminish his love for fiddling. He was a ball of energy. Many years ago, he took some lessons with me to learn the double shuffle that is used in Bluegrass fiddling, created by Joe Venuti. He hung with it and practiced till he got it. Every time he'd see me he'd come up to me and play the double shuffle. Great guy. Old-school fiddler to be sure. Paul was certainly a well-respected fiddler in these Berks County parts.”
My banjo is in aDAde and the tune is in two parts, the first in D and the second in G. Below are: my solo banjo version, an audio tab banjo version, and a version recorded on stage at the Goschenhoppen Folk Festival in 2011. I was playing banjo; the other players may have been (not sure who was there that year) Barbara Johnson, Barbara Bloomfield, Madi Lentz (now Fluks), Rose Baldino, Richard Thomas (fiddlers), Nate Lohse or Clare Maher (cello) and Mickey Biberfeld (guitar).
What a neat-o tune, Carl. Clearly it is a polka! I love these melodic tunes that are simple...easy to play on the banjo and on the fiddle, too.
I wrote it out: the Music XML/Musescore file available on request. I put my name at the bottom because some locals I give music to that I wrote out cut and paste it and forget who they got it from. Those people are old(-er than me). The drawing is from Windows 11 Copilot AI...which I use and refuse to pay for otherwise. Also QR code for your post.
As far as bug tunes go, here is the only "Lightning Bug" tune in the fiddle tune archive; not the same tune:
https://tunearch.org/wiki/Froggy_Ate_the_Lightning_Bug
And here is our own Janet Burton with Snapping Bug:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY4pM3xmqkQ&list=RDoY4pM3xmqkQ&start_radio=1
Edited by - ndlxs on 07/10/2026 06:36:22
Thank you kindly for your work in making this presentation. I appreciate it.
What a fun tune. Here's some quick tab for anyone interested.
Lightning Bug Tab - Details and Ratings - Banjo Hangout
David
Neat tune, I can envision the polka dance. That's a special event and location where your group plays, Carl, so thanks for sharing about it, including how to play Lightning Bug with your "audio tab". History groups like Goschenhoppen Historians make our cultural experiences all the more enjoyable.
I listened to the fiddler to arrange something and took your advice to slide into the first note. Mine is for solo banjo and is in double C and yours in double D has both melody and rhythm to accompany a group. (The clawhammer tab below is in double D. The tab with chords is a bit questionable, but perhaps it helps our tenor banjo picker.)
Edited by - JanetB on 07/11/2026 19:41:53
Thank you all for your comments, versions, tabs and notations.
I like it. Easy to play on my tenor with notation from Andy. I find the first note sounds best to me when played as a hammer on rather than a slide.
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