Annotation:Bumblebee in the Jug (1)
X:1 T:Bumblebee in a Jug [1] N:From the playing of fiddler George Lee Hawkins N:(1904-1991, Bath County, northeastern Ky.), recorded N:in the field in 1974. M:C| L:1/8 Q:"Quick" D:Rounder 0376, George Hawkins - "Traditional Fiddle Music of Kentucky, vol. 1" (1974) D:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/bumblebee-jug Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:C [G,2E2]-|[G,2E2][G,2E2][G,E]-[G,2G2]c|AFAc BGAB|[E2c2][E2c2] eged| Bded BG[G2B2]| G,-C2E G2Gc|AFAc B(G2[G,2G2])|[E3c3]d ecdc|[M:3/2]BG A2 [E6c6]:| |:[e2e2]-|[M:C|][ee]ged eged|"*"eged- cBA+slide+[AA]-|[AA]cAG AcAG|EGAc AG E2| [e4e4][e3e3][ee]-|[ee]gec- dcAG-|GBcd ecdc|[M:3/2]BGA(E[E2c2]) [Ec]d[E2c2]:|] P:Substituions "*"eged- cBA2|+slide+[A3A3][AA]- [AA]cAG||
BUMBLEBEE IN THE/A JUG [1], THE. AKA - "Bumblebee in a Jar." American, Reel (cut time). USA; Kentucky, Indianna. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (Phillips): AABB' (Songer). The coarse part is supposed to imitate a bee trapped in a jug. John Hartford (1996) traces the tune through successive fiddlers. Most modern versions derived from George "Geo" Lee Hawkins of Bath County, Kentucky, who learned it from Tom Riley whose parents had emigrated from Ireland to Flemming County, Kentucky. Tom Riley later moved to Marion County, Indiana, where Dick (John) Summers picked it up. Hawkins also taught the tune to Bruce Greene and Jane Harrod, from whom Hartford and Roger Cooper learned it. Hawkins and Cooper play the tune in the key of 'C'. Fleming County, Ky., fiddler Alfred Bailey also had a version (see "Bumblebee in the Jug (2)") that is unlike the Hawkins tune (Hawkins and Bailey knew each other).
Some see similarities between "Bumblebee in the Jug (1)" and "Morpeth Rant (1)," and although the similarities are intriguing there are not enough comparisons to posit a cognate or ancestral relationship.
