Fiddler Beers Sings (1961)

Home  |  The Amorous Muse (1961)  |  Fiddler Beers Sings (1961)  |  Songs My Mother Never Sang (1961)  |  The Wanton Muse (1961)  |  What's New  |  Contact Us
 

prestige/international 13047

FIDDLER BEERS SINGS
Psalty Psongs with Psaltery and Pfiddle

ROBERT "FIDDLER" BEERS, vocals, psaltery and fiddle

Side A

1. BIG JOE GUNN
2. ADAM AND EVE AND THE BUMMEL-EYE BEE
3. THE POOR YOUNG MAN
4. DEVILISH NANCY
5. FULLER, LA LA
6. ONE MORNING IN THE COURTROOM
7. BY JINGO
8. THE FOOL WHO BOOZES
9. PYTHAGORUS AND CANTANKORUS

Side B

1. THREE JOLLY IRISHMEN
2. THE PIDDLIN' PUP
3. BUCKTOOTH NAN
4. THE TRAVELS OF MARCO POLO
5. THE BALLAD OF JIM CRAWFORD
6. BUNDLING
7. THE HEN AND THE ROOSTER
8. POVERTY ON THE YELLOWSTONE
9. WALKIE IN THE PARLOR

My grandfather, George Sullivan, was greatly beloved in the town where he spent his last days. So much so, that townspeople built him a special bench at his favorite fishing spot a half mile away.

In those boyhood days, my world was one of familiar sights, sounds, and smells around the town of North Freedom . . . events for which I was all eyes, ears, and nose , . . horse drawn wagon loads of fragrant pea vines passing in front of us as grandpa and I cross the street to Geise's blacksmith shop in the morning .. . pungent odors of hoof trimmings and horse manure . . . the ringing of Geise's hammer ... a stomping of hoofs on the ancient, wooden floor . . the inevitable collection of idlers sitting on nail kegs around the glowing forge . . . tobacco laden sounds of laughter and "man talk" ...

Or down by the barn, digging worms for afternoon fishing . . . hysterical chickens gathering around frantically, expecting to be fed. Or I sit and gaze wonderingly at privy walls . . . the wasp nest on the ceiling . . a magazine picture on the door . . . enduring that heavy, overpowering smell of people that sat there before I was born . . . of people that are even dead.

Then down the dirt road, a tottering old man and a barefoot boy carrying cane poles. Across a stile and thru a gate ... a cow path in a pasture ... a blackberry bramble . . . the dark waters of the "slough". There was room on the fishing bench for two, this scene of grandpa's epic struggles with great monsters of times past. But now we are catching bullheads, and grandpa is telling stories of better days ... a small boy learns songs that never would have been permitted under grandma's roof.

While a puritanic segment of our population may look to the backroom ballad with some distaste; nevertheless, the sincere historian finds them a most accurate and thought provoking chronicle of human activity. For, in the private gatherings of men, they sang with unguarded candor, revealing vividly the mores, customs, and socio-political implications of an era . . . often exposing the hypocrisy of the puritan himself with well founded ridicule.

My fascination with folk satire obviously did not end with the fishing bench or the smithy's, but has led me to many a backroom, many a saint, and many a sinner, who had something to say about people and dogs.

* * *

BIG JOE GUNN: This little gem is an Alaskan song taught to me by Oliver Woods of Lewistown, Montana. Folklorists in our northernmost state may find there's more than just gold in them thar hills.

ADAM AND EVE AND THE BUMMLE-EYE BEE: This is one of several song spoofs based on Biblical history known in the Sullivan family.

THE POOR YOUNG MAN: While I have heard other versions of this hilarious song, this, I believe, is the finest. It was given to me by a Mrs. Moon of White Springs, Florida. Ken Goldstein tells me it was the work of Charlie Case, a black-face comedian who set out to ridicule the absurdities of 19th century ballad style. He obviously succeeded.

DEVILISH NANCY: My wife, Evelyne, and I copied the words to this song from George Sullivan at the time of our honeymoon in 1944. He also fiddled the tune but we somehow lost the music. For this reason, we never performed it until a year ago, when we heard another version being sung. The fiddle tune accompanying the song is a variant of Whiskey In the Jar, known in Montana as Poverty On the Yellowstone. It was taught to me by Verne Daniels of Billings, who in turn learned it from a fiddler in Livingston, Montana.

FULLER LA LA: Needless to say, there are thousands (perhaps hundreds of thousands) of limericks. These I learned from two sources — the late Hank Boles of Bozeman, Montana, and Judy Weston of St. Louis. The tune and chorus is one used by Boles.

ONE MORNING IN THE COURTROOM: This song was sung to me by Al Linstedt of Eureka Springs, Arkansas, in 1957. A year later we sang it on the stage during the Ozark Festival with Al assisting on the "bones". In contrast to the traditional superiority of the "good guys" over the "bad guys", this story looks at life and death from the victorious badman's point of view.

BY JINGO: A product of the great depression of the 1930s, this song was collected in Joliet, Illinois, by my grandfather, George Sullivan, in 1934.

THE FOOL WHO BOOZES: The words and melody to this song were written on a scrap of paper handed to us at the "Exodus" in Denver by an unknown person. We have also heard a similar version in St. Louis, sung by Bob Winters.

PYTHAGORUS AND CANTANKORUS: This is a musical abstract. I would describe it as being in blank verse, with no meter, no ending, and no meaning. Of course, I wrote it with; absolutely no effort.

THREE JOLLY IRISHMEN: This is a parody on a song which never existed — if that is possible. Ask me . . . I wrote it.

THE PIDDLIN' PUP: This may not have been one of the greater works by the late poet, Eugene Field, but there can be little doubt that Rex, the hero in point, was a great dog.

BUCKTOOTH NAN: This is one of two songs I learned from a Montana cowboy with whom I was "snowed in' while on an elk hunting trip in the Little Belt mountains near Utica in 1950.

THE TRAVELS OF MARCO POLO: My grandfather knew three versions of this tune which I have pieced together from memory, adding missing parts, and the entire fifth verse. He also played it on the fiddle, and it was known to his close companions, Del Youngs and Billy Voss.

THE BALLAD OF JIM CRAWFORD: This is the second song I leaned from a Montana cowboy in 1950 (see Bucktooth Nan). Joe Montgomery, aged resident of Lewistown, Montana, and one time business man in the ghost mining town of Maiden, states that Jim Crawford, more properly known as George, was the subject of this song. Crawford made initial discoveries of gold in the area known as New Year, which resulted in the opening of a large mining operation there.

BUNDLING: It is my theory that this is a shanty Irish satire poking fun at a custom prevalent in Pennsylvania as little as fifty years ago, and which is still practiced in some areas. Both maternal and paternal segments of the Rooney-Sullivan family are known to have migrated west from Pennsylvania.

THE HEN AND THE ROOSTER: A ditty given to us by Mrs. Bob Harlan of Nashville, Tennessee, who suggested that this was the original form of Shortenin' Bread.

POVERTY ON THE YELLOWSTONE: This variant of the widely known Starving to Death On A Government Claim is from Billings, Montana. The McCormick mentioned in the song is believed to have been a founder of the city of Billings, and homesteaded on the Yellowstone river prior to settlement in that area.

WALKIE IN THE PARLOR: This is the creation of the world, as seen through the eyes of an Irishman. Another song from the Sullivan family repertoire.

Notes by ROBERT BEERS
Recorded by RUDY VAN GELDER
Produced by KENNETH S. GOLDSTEIN

For free catalog send to PRESTIGE RECORDS INC., 203 SO. WASHINGTON AVE., BERGENFIELD, N. J.

Printed in U. S. A.


Copyright © 2001-2020 by The Jack Horntip Collection.  Conditions of Use.