Annotation:Steamboat Quickstep
STEAMBOAT QUICKSTEP, THE. AKA "The Steamboat." AKA and see "Steamboat March," "Uncle Jim (1)," "Washington Quickstep." American, Canadian; Jig and Quickstep (6/8 time). USA, New England. A Major (Ford, Lerwick, Miller & Perron, Sweet): G Major (Kennedy): F Major (Linscott): C Major (Howe). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. "This melody was a great favorite in the 1800's and gave its name to a contra dance and waltz as well as to the march in double time which is given here. As early as 1787 a steamboat was tried out on the Delaware Riverby John Fitch. Robert Fulton, in 1807, made his famous trip from New York to Albany, and such news of the day was immediately taken into the lives of the people to become a part of work and play" (Linscott, 1939). The earliest printed version of the tune I have come across is from Elias Howe’s (1820-1895) Complete Preceptor for the Accordeon (1843), a selection of tunes arranged for the diatonic accordion, a fairly new instrument of the time, pitched in the key of ‘C’.
"Steamboat Quickstep" was entered into the large 19th century music manuscript collection[1](No. 386, p. 107) of prosperous dairy farmer, miller, sometime printer and bookbinder, and fiddler James Barry (1819-1906) of Six Mile Brook, Pictou County, northern Nova Scotia. Barry is known to have had access to some of the Elias Howe publications and copied a number of tunes from them into his own music ms. collection. Canadian versions also appear under the title "Uncle Jim." This tune is perhaps the "Steamboat" (sans 'quickstep') in the key of 'A' recorded for the Library of Congress in 1939 by Clarke County, Mississippi, fiddler Charles Long (who was originally from Choctaw County, Alabama).
