Annotation:Miller Boy

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MILLER BOY. AKA and see "Aunt Polly." Old-Time, Air (whole time) and listening piece. D Major. DDad tuning (fiddle). Ira Ford, in his Traditional Music in America (1940) printed a play-party game and song with words that go:

Happy is the miller boy that lives by the mill,
The wheel goes around of with a free goodwill.
One hand in the hopper and the other in the sack,
The ladies step forward and the gents step back.

However, it is a different tune than that played by Missouri/Oklahoma fiddler Earl Collins, who played it in DDad tuning in walking or march tempo, without words. The piece is similar to "Bonaparte's Retreat (1)" and has also has been called "Aunt Polly" on another recording of Collins' playing.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; p. 254.

Recorded sources:

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Hear an old-time version on youtube.com [2]
Hear Earl Collins' version at Slippery Hill [3]

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