Key signature: Bmixolydian
Submitted on December 12th 2005 by Ptarmigan.
This tune has been added to 14 tunebooks.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Lament For President Garfield
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Bmix
AECE AECE|AGAB c_ccd|eBGB eBGB|edef e=dcB|
AECE AECE|AGAB c_ccd|efgf e=dcB|1 A/B/AGB A=dcB:|2 A/B/AGB A2ag||
f=dAF =DFAf|ecAE CEAe|defe defe|cefe ceag|
f=dAF =DFAf|ecAE CEAe|^degf e=dcB|1 A/B/AGB A2ag:|2 A/B/AGB A4||
Lament For President Garfield
This must be the most cheerful Lament on the planet - it's an American reel! I guess someone wasn't to sad to see President Garfield go!
# Posted on December 12th 2005 by Ptarmigan
This is President Garfield's Hornpipe (In a different key and with a different name) and I claim my £5.
As featured in "Kerr's Merry Melodies'.
Whatever Next?
Bobby Casey's Lament?
The Late Lamented Boys Of Bluehill?
The Home Ruler, Deceased?
The Dead Peacock's Feather?
The Greencastle Graveyard?
I could go on .....
# Posted on December 12th 2005 by Ottery
The second coming ~ "Garfield's" ~ duplication
& not the cat:
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display.php/419
# Posted on December 12th 2005 by ceolachan
Also, to take after Ottery's wise crackin, this isn't B Mixolydian but is just plain ol' A Major...and pretty much just that, with very little difference from the earlier contribution...except the tombstone...
# Posted on December 12th 2005 by ceolachan
The Old Dead Goose
The Geese in the Dogs
The Decapitated Gander
Gander on the Funeral Pyre
# Posted on December 12th 2005 by ceolachan
Leg of the Duck
Breast of the Duck
Wing of the Duck
# Posted on December 12th 2005 by ceolachan
Aye, but yer a funny lot - Ho Ho Ho!
Well Seamus & Manus McGuire actually recorded this tune on 'Folk-Legacy Records' in Connecticut in 1980 & they describe it as an American Reel so you would think they'd have got their facts right.
Course nowadays, folk are much more fussy about tune names & their history.
Mind you, it's no bother for those guys to play this tune smoothly at reel speed, so it sounds perfectly plausable as a reel in their hands.
As for the key, as you have probably already noticed, I'm utterly hopeless at sortin' out those yolks & I usually just take a stab in the dark, knowing full well that someone here is sure to jump on it & tell me the correct key.
As for all this talk of Ducks & Geese - my, but you guys are fairly gettin' intae the Christmas spirit early aren't you - like I said - Ho Ho Ho.
# Posted on December 13th 2005 by Ptarmigan
HO HO HAH! ~ this 'old chestnut' is regular fare any season, played straight for contras all over New England and beyond, and of course, you know those contra folk, they don't like downers of any variety, so 'lament' just had to be dropped from the name if it were there. Lot's of folks don't even want the politics of it and just call it plain ol' 'Garfield'...
I still have a funny feeling this is soon to enter the digi-twilight zone...
Personally, I prefer Goose for Christmas, all that lavely fat for roasting with, and much easier to find free range. It's damned hard to pin geese up in compounds like with those dumb turkeys...
# Posted on December 13th 2005 by ceolachan
I mean, they do allow some possessives ~ "Garfield's"...and "Hornpipe" is OK too...issue neutral, at least I think, for the moment...?
# Posted on December 13th 2005 by ceolachan
Actually, I love game and some old farts I used to know told me Ptarmigan is really tasty. Hey that's it, we'll all have a Ptarmigan Christmas. Have you been properly fatted up for Christmas Ptarm?
It's the bug in my lungs doing this to me... Flu inebriation...
# Posted on December 13th 2005 by ceolachan
Lament for President Garfield
I also know it as President Garfield's or President Garfield's Hornpipe. I play it in B flat. Its in Cole's 1000 Fiddle Tunes (AKA "The Fiddler's Bible"), M.M. Cole Publishing Co. Chicago, Illinois.
# Posted on December 13th 2005 by John Culhane
"Garfield's" / "President Garfield's" / "Blue Water Hornpipe"
Check the link above John, it is also in Bb, though wrongly given as C Dorian... I remember reading some history about this tune ages back, and I'm pretty sure a composer may have been listed. The tune was that popular that it shows in most American collections, and was popular all across North America and over here. As mentioned above, it's in Kerr's, it's also in Cole's, as you've mentioned, Ryan's "The Fiddler's Fakebook", being popularly played for dance in New England it is in Randy Miller's "New England Fiddler's Repertoire" and in Ralph Sweet's "Fifer's Delight", and it's on page 216 of "The Phillips Collection of Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, Volume 2" by Stacy Phillips in Bb and under several names including just plain "Garfield's"... Hell, even the old-time musicians give it a bow... In Canada and including the Maritimes, it features in collections by Don Messer and in "The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island"... In America a 'hornpipe' is more often than not played flat, not swung, or as some interpret it, in the manner of a reel... I'll see if I can find that bit of history and if I do I'll add it, but under the 'Comments' for the earlier contribution...
# Posted on December 13th 2005 by ceolachan
Damn, sorry gang, I forgot the Northumberland connection ~ it can also be found in "Pauline Cato's Northumbrian Choice", another collection...published by Dave Mallinson...
# Posted on December 13th 2005 by ceolachan
I understood that it Alistair Anderson was responsible for its popularity in Northumberland. It sometimes gets played in Sydney, albeit as a reel, and in Bb. 's gotta be in Bb.
# Posted on December 13th 2005 by Dow
Good man Dow. Glad to hear that the McGuire bros. aren't the only ones who play this as a reel - but what about giving us the ABCs for it in your favourite Bb then?
# Posted on December 13th 2005 by Ptarmigan
I refer you to the original posting of the tune in Bb: http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display.php/419. The versions I've heard are similar.
# Posted on December 14th 2005 by Dow
Ah, so Cdor is actually Bb - I like to learn something new every day - Thanks Dow.
# Posted on December 14th 2005 by Ptarmigan