Annotation:Golden Gate

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GOLDEN GATE. American, Reel. G Major ('A' part) & D Major ('B' part). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The composition is one of several credited to Frank Livingston in Ryan's/Cole's, and although set as a reel, it is probably meant to be played in swing or hornpipe rhythm. Al Smitley suggests the tune may possibly have been named for either a clipper ship or steamship called Golden Gate, a name that appears in American Clipper Ships 1833-1858 by Howe and Matthews. In any case, the name refers to the channel connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean, and predates, of course, the famous bridge built in 1937.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 42. Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 2; No. 283, p. 31. Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 69.

Recorded sources:

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