Annotation:Calico (1)
X:1 T:Calico [1] M:C| L:1/8 K:Amix gf|ecBc efec|BA2A F2gf|ecBc efec|BA2A A2 gf| ecBc ecAc|BA2A F2 AF|EEF^G A2 cA|BA2 A A3(E|| K:A E)EFG A2 cA|BABA F2 AF|EEFG A2 cA|BA2 A A3(E| E)EFG A2 cA|BABA F2 AF|EEFG AAcA|BA2 A A2||
CALICO. AKA and see "Want to go to Meeting and Got No Shoes." American, Reel (cut time). USA; Mississippi, south-central Kentucky. A Mixolydian ('A' part) & A Major ('B' part). AEae or GDgd tuning (fiddle). ABB. There is an Appalachian fiddle tuning called 'Calico' tuning, or AEac#, but source Bowles' tune plays much easier in when the instrument is tuned in AEae or GDgd. A different "Calico (2)", often called "Marcus Martin's Calico" and a different tune, is played in AEac#, or 'Calico' tuning.
Calico is an all-cotton fabric woven in plain, or tabby, weave and printed with simple designs in one or more colors. Calico originated in Calicut, India, by the 11th century, if not earlier, and in the 17th and 18th centuries calicoes were an important commodity traded between India and Europe.
A tune by this name was learned by south-central Kentucky fiddler Jim Bowles (1903-1993) from local musicians, although his cross-tuned version was supposedly not widely known outside his area. Jim Nelson maintains that Bowles learned the tune from Thomas Page (Titon, 2001). Titon says the melody is similar to Marcus Martin's "Citaco." The tune was recorded by Herbert Halpert for the Library of Congress from the playing of Lauderville County, Mississippi, fiddler Stephen B. Tucker in 1939. A rhyme sung to the tune goes:
Don't care where in the world I go,
Can't get around for the calico.