Annotation:Peacock Rag
X:1 T:Peacock Rag % Nottingham Music Database S:Folk Camps, via EF M:2/4 L:1/8 K:G F/2G/2|"D"Af-f/2e/2d|"D"A2 ^GA|"G"Bg -g/2f/2e|"E7"B2 ed| "A7"ca -a/2e/2g/2e/2|"A7"fe Bc|"D"d/2c/2d/2f/2 -"G"f/2d/2B|"A7"AF G^G| "D"Af -f/2e/2d|"D"A2 ^GA|"G"Bg -g/2f/2e|"E7"B2 ed| "A7"ca -a/2e/2g/2e/2|"A7"fe Bc|"D"d/2c/2d/2f/2 -"A7"f/2c/2e|"D"d2 a^a| "B7"bb/2^a/2 b/2a/2b|"B7"a2 gf|"E7"ee/2f/2 ^g/2b/2g/2f/2|"E7"e3d| "A7"ca -a/2e/2g/2e/2|"A7"fe Bc|"D"d/2c/2d/2f/2 -"G"f/2d/2B|"A"A2 a^a| "B7"bb/2^a/2 b/2a/2b|"B7"a2 gf "E7"ee/2f/2 ^g/2b/2g/2f/2|"E7"e3d| "A7"ca -a/2e/2g/2e/2|"A7"fe Bc|"D"d/2c/2d/2f/2 -"A7"f/2c/2e|"D"d3||
PEACOCK RAG. AKA and see "Starlight Clog," "Nightingale (2) (The)," "Mason-Dixon Schottische (The)," "Parkersburg Landing," "Limber Neck Blues, "Rustic Dance (3)." American; Country Blues or Rag. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Lowinger): AABB (Brody, Christeson, Phillips): AA’BB’ (Beisswenger & McCann, Silberberg). Popularized by, and often attributed to, Arthur Smith [1] (Tenn.) {1929-30}.
According to a story told by Jim Nelson (Fiddle-L 4.1.10) a cousin of Smith’s, a fiddler by the name of Clay Smith (Fairview Heights, Ill., although originally from middle Tennessee), learned the tune from the playing of Wade Ray, a popular radio fiddler on KMOX in St. Louis in the 1930s and 40s. Clay told Nelson that he played the tune for Arthur Smith at a family get-together back in Tennessee, and that soon after that Smith recorded it for Bluebird Records. Originally “Peacock Rag” may have been a turn of the century ragtime composition which made its way into the old-time repertoire (Dr. Charles Wolfe/B. Poss). East Kentucky fiddler Ed Hayley's "Parkersburg Landing" and Mississippi musicians Narmour and Smith's "Limber Neck Blues" both have similar first strains. Some fiddlers make a point of incorporating imitations of peacock sounds into the B part of the tune
