Annotation:Gal on the Log (2)
X:1 T:Gal on a Log T:Gal on the Log [2] M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:Amix AB|"A"cBcA cBcA|cAEF "G"G4|G2 AG BGAG|"A"EAAB A2:| |:cB|"A"ABcd efge|cABc "D"d2 ed|"E"fded B2 AF|EAAB "A"A2:|
GAL ON THE LOG [2]. AKA - "Gal on a Log." AKA and see "Colonel Crocket (1)," "Jenny on the Railroad," "Little Peg n' Awl," "Route (The)." American, Reel (cut time). A Mixoldyian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. A different tune than "Gal on the Log (1)." "Gal on the Log [2]" was recorded by Ft. Worth, Texas, fiddler Moses J. Bonner [1], who was born in 1847 in Alabama but who moved to Texas as a child. It is a double-tonic tune, similar (but not cognate with) "Paddy on the Turnpike (1)<div class="mw-ext-score noresize" data-midi="/w/images/lilypond/a/a/aadmxm1l5w6sy1jh8c1dajrdysp43ay/aadmxm1l.midi"><img src="/w/images/lilypond/a/a/aadmxm1l5w6sy1jh8c1dajrdysp43ay/aadmxm1l.png" width="647" height="81" alt="
X:3
T:Paddy on the Turnpike [1]
M:C|
L:1/8
K:Gdor
|: DG G^F G2GA | BG dG eG dG | DF FE F2FG | AF cF dF cF|
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," with a strong pulse and rhythmic, hypnotic fiddling. Alan Jabbour [1] identfied Bonner's tune as a variant of "Route (The)<div class="mw-ext-score noresize" data-midi="/w/images/lilypond/a/2/a2klib6g9ya37mrznacc153pte4wj7c/a2klib6g.midi"><img src="/w/images/lilypond/a/2/a2klib6g9ya37mrznacc153pte4wj7c/a2klib6g.png" width="690" height="73" alt="
X:1
T:The Route
M:C|
L:1/8
K:Amix
AB|cABA cABA|AAEF G2 ef|gage dBAG|EA-AAA2 AB|
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," usually associated with West Virginia and southwest Virginia fiddle repertory. Seattle fiddler and musicologist Vivian Williams writes: "'Gal on a Log [2]' was played by fiddler Jake Lake (originally from Cook County, Illinois) at the wedding of Henry Van Asselt and Catherine Jane Maple in a cabin on the Duwamish River, near Seattle, on Christmas Day, 1862, according to an account written by the bride's brother, John Wesley Maple. Other tunes played at that wedding: The Unfortunate Dog', 'Fishers Hornpipe', 'The King's Head', 'Devil's Dream', 'Arkansas Traveller'."
Williams also found another reference to the tune in the literature of the far West:
When the floor was laid for the first hotel in Encinitas, California, in 1883, an all-night dance was held to celebrate. One of the participants wrote: "About midnight the lights of the surrounding wagons filled with sleeping children; the violin strains of 'Gal on a Log' filled the air as old Tom Rattan, yellow whiskered pointed straight upward, sawed and stamped his loudest and everybody danced his hardest!". Tom Rattan was a Civil War veteran from the Midwest, and one of the founders of Encinitas."[2]
Compare also "Gal on the Log [2]" with variants "Jenny on the Railroad<div class="mw-ext-score noresize" data-midi="/w/images/lilypond/5/b/5bwr4fzsy6ah0n1kdapu4q8dwrio3to/5bwr4fzs.midi"><img src="/w/images/lilypond/5/b/5bwr4fzsy6ah0n1kdapu4q8dwrio3to/5bwr4fzs.png" width="697" height="78" alt=" X:1 T:Jenny on the Railroad M:C| L:1/8 K:Amix zA-AB||cABA cABA|cAEF G2Ac|BGAc BGAG |[A2A2][AB] [A3A3]B| "></div> " and "Colonel Crocket (1)<div class="mw-ext-score noresize" data-midi="/w/images/lilypond/4/j/4jelvjxre7t4py633mk6gjfwwakfqif/4jelvjxr.midi"><img src="/w/images/lilypond/4/j/4jelvjxre7t4py633mk6gjfwwakfqif/4jelvjxr.png" width="626" height="75" alt=" X:1 T:Colonel Crockett [1] M:C L:1/8 K:Ador A2 AB cABA | cABA e2 EF | G2 GA BGAG | BGAG EAAB | "></div> ", and Melvin Wine's "Little Peg n' Awl<div class="mw-ext-score noresize" data-midi="/w/images/lilypond/7/1/71imi1hpt96qnkfebqode9k0py88kw3/71imi1hp.midi"><img src="/w/images/lilypond/7/1/71imi1hpt96qnkfebqode9k0py88kw3/71imi1hp.png" width="697" height="91" alt=" X:1 T:Little Peg n' Awl M:C| L:1/8 K:Ador [Ae]B|{B}cBA(B cB)AB|cAE[G,G]- [G,2G2][G,2D2]-|[G,G]ABG ABAG|EDEJ[AA][A2A2]AB| "></div>."
