Annotation:Jenny Put the Kettle On (1)
JENNY PUT THE KETTLE ON [1]. AKA and see "Molly Put the Kettle On (1)," "Polly put the Kettle on (1)," "Polly put the Kettle on (2)." Irish, American; Reel. USA, Missouri. Ireland, Connaught. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. A version of "Molly Put the Kettle on" or "Polly put the Kettle on"; the woman's name at the beginning of the title varies according to whim, but the tune itself is widespread and surprisingly consistent across borders. A version of the melody under the title "Jeney (sic) set the kettle on" is to be found in the music manuscript copybook of fiddler John Burks, dated 1821. Unfortunately, nothing is known of Burks although he may have been from the north of England. "Jenny put the Kettle on [1]" was also entered into Book 2 of the large c. 1883 music manuscript collection of County Leitrim piper and fiddler biography:Stephen Grier (c 1824-1894).
In America, the title appears in a list of traditional Ozarks Mountains fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. That the tune was also in African-American tradition was attested to by Ashe County, North Carolina, musician Hobart Smith (b. 1897), who said: "The first fiddle I ever heard in my life was when I was a kid. There was an old colored man who was raised up in slave times. His name was Jim Spenser. He played 'Jinny, Put the Kettle On' and all those old tunes like that. And he would come up to our house and he'd play..." (quoted in Cecilia Conway's African Banjo Echoes in Appalachia, 1995). See also Bayard's note for "Bonaparte Crossing the Alps."