performed by Peggy Seeger.
key: C mixolydian
mode: C D E F G A Bb C
melody: F s l t d r m f
form: strophic
meter: duple
English function names: tonic subtonic
Tagg (modified): home counterpoise (away)
Riemann: T dP
Scale degrees: I VII
Chords: C Bb
C Bb C BbC Bb C BbC
|/ / / / |/ / / / |/ / / / |/ / / / |
C Bb C Bb C
|/ / / / |/ / / / |/ / / / |/ / / / |
In this song we have a classic example of a very old ballad with a thousand variations that originated in the British Isles and found a home in Appalachia and beyond (Ozarks, Canada, etc.).1 I would not be surprised if there is an Australian version.2 Having dug into a particular folk song as part of my dissertation ("Which Side Are You On"/"Jackaro"), I recognize many of the lyrical tropes that are common to these ballads. Reduce, reuse, recycle.
I've chosen to feature a version that is clearly two harmonies and clearly in mixolydian.3 But there are, as mentioned above, a zillion versions of this song and the lyrics are not the only thing that gets played with and changed up. Some folks add more harmonies. Some folks know it in a different tonality. I did not link it below, but, there's a recording with Jean Ritchie and Doc Watson that is quite different from the versions they recorded as solo performers; so even people who grew up with the song change it up.
I'd like to draw your attention to two recordings below that are quite interesting in terms of performance practice, harmony, and tonality. First is Clarence Ashley's recording. In my ongoing search for two-chord songs, I've heard a few of Ashley's other recordings and many have this in common: they are often accompanied by a single chord that, in Classical parlance, would be classified as stacked fourths. A sonority that was certainly in use in modernist classical pieces of the day (early 20th century), but one that I, for one, do not associate with American folk music. I associate it more with Bartók's arrangements of Hungarian and Romanian folk music, if anything. I am definitely not saying that I think Ashley is a classical modernist. I am saying that this is new to my ears in this context and I like it. I am finding it interesting in the context of thinking about blues tonality and how it is both and neither major or minor (which is a silly way of saying it's its own entity); a chord with no third in it fits in nicely with this scenario.
The second recording is from Annie Watson and Gaither Carlton, mom and father-in-law of Doc, respectively. Here we have a nice, Western-world example of heterophony. If you are teaching these kinds of things, like I am, you may be on the lookout for go-to examples. Heterophony is always a tough one to teach because so few Western-world kids are used to hearing it; it's just far less common in Euro-American folk and popular musics and completely absent in common practice Classical music. Asian folk and classical examples are aplenty, but the combination of unfamiliar tonalities and textures makes it hard for students to identify, in my experience. In this recording, we have something that would sound familiar to European and American students (and just modern kids in general are listening to pop for the most part), tonally and formally, making the "unusual" texture more obvious. Tonally and melodically, this example avoids the third scale degree, which is not unusual for these old ballads. Again, I think about links to blues tonality. Both of these recordings would be excellent to adapt for Orff-style accompaniments, although death ballads and ghosts may be taboo where you teach. We do what we can.
other recordings:
Joan Baez, In Concert, Vanguard Records. C aeolian. Uses i-VII-III-v.
Hedy West, Pretty Saro and other Appalachian Ballads, Topic. C aeolian.
Doc Watson, The Definitive, Concord Sugar Hill. D aeolian. Uses i-VII-v
*****
Jean Ritchie, Ballads from her Appalachian Family Tradition, Smithsonian Folkways. D dorian. Unaccompanied.
*****
Bob Dylan, Bootleg Series, Columbia. D mixolydian. Uses I-IV-VII.
Natalie Merchant, The House Carpenter's Daughter, Myth American Records. Bb mixolydian.
*****
Clarence Ashley, The House Carpenter, Emmington. F# aeolian. Drone of fourths.
*****
The Doc Watson Family, The Watson Family, Smithsonian Folkways. Bb mixolydian? dorian? Heterophonic.
The 1657 date is from a broadside ballad found by James Child, the folklorist, but I'm not sure if this is just the lyrics, the music, or both.
Feel free to pipe up if you've got the deets.
Also: Peggy Seeger is a serious banjo picker. In case this is news to you, do take note.