Annotation:Barlow Knife (1)

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X:1 T:Barlow Knife [1] I:from the playing of John Salyer (1882-1952, Salyersville, Magoffin County, eastern Ky.) M:C| L:1/8 Q:"Fast" N:From home recordings made in 1941-1942 by Salyer's sons N:https://soundarchives.berea.edu/items/show/4285 Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:G P:Fiddle ed|:e2d2 BGBd|e2d2[G,2G2]Bd|e2d2 BGBG|1 AFAF G2Bd:|2 AFAF [G,4G4]|| |:[B4g4][B3b3]a|bag2e4|[D2d2]ed Bd2B|1A2B2 [G,4G4]:|2 A2B2 [G,2G2]Bd|| P:Vocal g2g2 b3a|ba e2 e3z|d2e2 BAGB|A2A2 G2-G2| g2g2b3g|aa e2 e3z|d2 ed BAGB|A2A2G2|| Bd|e2d2 BGBd|e2d2 G2 Ad|e2G2 BABG|A2A2G2z2| e2d2 BGBd|d2G2 Bd|e2G2 BABG|AGAF G2||

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BARLOW KNIFE [1]. AKA and see "Blue Goose (1)," "Cabin Creek (1)." American, Reel and Song. USA, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Mississippi. G Major (most versions, but also played in the key of D). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Silberberg): AABB: AABBCC (Johnson, Phillips). "Barlow Knife" is a fairly well-known song/tune in the American south, with a number of more or less closely related variants. The title refers to a type of folding pocket knife that features double or single blades that open at one end only. The knife-style bears the name of a man named Barlow of Sheffield, England, one of the earliest and most famous makers.

Barlow Knives

I been livin' here all my life,
All I got is a Barlow Knife;
Buck horn handle and a Barlow blade,
Best dang knife that ever was made.

I've been married all my life,
And all I've got is a Barlow knife.

I asked that pretty girl to be my wife,
She cut my throat with a Barlow knife.

Glen Lyn, Virginia, fiddler Henry Reed called the tune "Cabin Creek (1)," and fiddle players have tended to use that title (banjo players more frequently refer to it as "Barlow Knife"). Jeff Titon (2001) says a variant of the tune is "I've Got a Grandpa," and Kentucky fiddler Buddy Thomas played another variant under the title "Blue Goose (1)." Mark Wilson reports that it was called "Boating Up Sandy (7)" (somewhat of a floating title-it has been attached to several tunes) in the Portsmouth, Ohio, region. Stephen Green finds the coarse strain of Salyer's "Barlow Knife" mirrors the fine strain of Clyde Davenport's "Cornstalk Fiddle", Ira Ford's "Cotton Eyed Joe (1)" and R.P. Christson's "Sugar in my Coffee-O," "except that Salyer's piece contains an inverson of the cadence in mm. 2 and 6". Titon concludes that the tune was fairly widespread in the South under the "Barlow" title and variants, such as "Buckhorn Handle and a Barlow Knife/Blade." See also the related "Josie-O/Josie Girl".

Nigel Gatherer has found melodic strains similar to "Barlow Knife" in two old Scottish manuscripts. The earliest, the Straloch MS. (1627) contains a tune called "Old Man (The)," while the second, the Skene MS (c. 1640) has a more developed version under the title "Long Er Onie Old Man."

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