Annotation:Here Comes Jack with a Fiddle on His Back

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HERE COMES JACK WITH A FIDDLE ON HIS BACK. AKA and see "Jaybird Died of the Whooping Cough." Old-Time, Breakdown. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. These words were probably sung to the 'B' part of the tune:

Here comes Jack with a fiddle on his back;
Inquirin' his way to the frolic.

Titon (2001) says the tune is a local south-central Kentucky tune. It was recorded in the field by Bruce Greene in 1976 in Metcalf, County, Ky., from the playing of Sammie Walker.

Source for notated version: Bruce Green [Phillips]; Sammie Walker (Nabob, Metcalfe County, Ky.) [Titon].

Printed sources: Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 111. Titon (Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes), 2001; No. 59, p. 90 (appears as "Here Come Jack with a Fiddle on His Back, Going to the Frolic").

Recorded sources:

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Hear Sammie Walker's recording at the Digital Library of Appalachia [2]




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