Annotation:Chicken in the Barnyard

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 CHICKEN IN THE BARNYARD. AKA and see "Cacklin' Hen [1]," "Old Hen Cackle(d) [1]." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Arkansas, West Virginia. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Phillips): AABBCC (Thede): AA'BB'CD. The tune is perhaps best known under the titles "Cackling Hen," "Old Hen Cackled" or "Cluck Old Hen," and, in fact, the tune features accented notes meant to imitate a chicken's squawk. The ditty sung to it goes, in part: Old hen she cackled, cackled in the lot, Next time she cackled, cackled in the pot. Sources for notated versio'ns: Glines Bowden (Arkanses) [Thede]; Clark Kessinger (West Virginia) [Phillips, Reiner & Anick]. Printed source: Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol.1), 1994; p. 47. Reiner & Anick (Old-Time Fiddling Across America), 1989; p. 80. Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; p. 124. Recorded source: County 733, "The Legend of Clark Kessinger."

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