Annotation:Pigtown Fling

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PIGTOWN FLING. AKA and see see "Buck Creek Girl/Gals," “Buffalo Breakdown,” "George Brown's Bonvivant," "Goin' Up Chaney," "Hop Along Sally,” "Kelton's Reel," “Off with Your Jacket,” "Old Dad," "Old Mother Goodwin" (Pa.), "Rocky Point Jig," "Ston(e)y Point (1)," "Stony Point Reel" (Pa. title, 1866), “Warm Stuff,” "Wild Horse," "Wild Horses at Stony Point." American, Scottish, Irish; Reel, Fling. G Major ('A' part) & E Minor ('B' part). Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'B (Kerr): AABB (most versions): AABB’ (Skinner): AA’BB’ (Kennedy). A tune of unknown origins but widely known in the United States under a variety of titles. "Pigtown Fling" is title by which the tune is usually known in New England, although Boston music publisher Elias Howe printed a version as "Rocky Point Jig" in the early 1880's. It was collected by Shaw in Colorado as “Pigtown Hoe Down.” Chet Parker, a hammered dulcimer player from western New York, called it “Buffalo Breakdown.” See also “Nigger in the Woodpile (2)," "In the Woodpile (1)” and “Cotton Patch.”

Many believe the tune has an Irish provenance, although it is not found in either older manuscript of published Irish materials of any antiquity. It is called “Pigtown” in County Donegal, Ireland, where it is played as a highland, although Perlman (1979) says it was originally a Co. Kerry polka, also called "Pigtown." Linscott (1939) identifies this tune as "an Irish reel sometimes known as 'Kelton's Reel'" (by which title it appears in Boston-published Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883). It was recorded for Victor Records V-18308) in 1921 as part of a "Medley of Irish Reels No. 6" by violinist Harold Veo (inserted between "Reilly's Reel" and "Miss McLeod's Reel") but this seems to be the product of a musician from the studio's stable and not a traditional rendering.

Additional notes
Source for notated version : - Edson Cole (Freedom, N.H.) [Linscott], seven southwestern Pa. fiddlers [Bayard].

Printed sources : - Adam (Old Time Fiddlers' Favorite Barn Dance Tunes), 1928; No. 27. American Veteran Fifer, 1905; No. 19 (as "George Brown's Bonvivant"). Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 166A-G, pp. 111-113. Bulmer & Sharpley (Music from Ireland, vol. 2), 1974; No. 7. Cazden (Dances from Woodland), 1955; p. 28. Christeson (Old Time Fiddler's Repertory, vol. 1), 1973; No. 139 (four parts). DeVille (Universal Favorite Contra Dance Album), 1905; No. 65. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pp. 35 and 64. Harding's Original Collection, 1928; No. 121. Elias Howe (Musician’s Omnibus Nos. 6 & 7), Boston, 1880-1882; p. 598. Kennedy (Fiddler's Tune-Book: Reels & Rants, Flings & Fancies), 1977; No. 158, p. 37. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 2), c. 1880’s; No. 269, p. 29. Krassen (Appalachian Fiddle), 1973; p. 61 (three parts). Linscott (Folk Songs of Old New England), 1939; p. 71. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddler's Repertoire), 1983; No. 126. Ruth (Pioneer Western Folk Tunes), 1948; No. 2, p. 3. Shaw (Cowboy Dances), 1943; p. 388 (appears as “Pigtown Hoe Down”). Skinner (Harp and Claymore), 1904; p. 143 (appears as “The Pig Town”). Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1965/1981; p. 47. Tolman (Nelson Music Collection), 1969; p. 11. Welling (Welling's Hartford Tunebook), 1976; p. 3. White's Excelsior Collection, p. 23. White's Unique Collection, No. 70.

Recorded sources : - Gennett 6088 (78 RPM), Uncle Steve Hubbard and His Boys, c. 1928 (recorded under the title "Big-Town Fling"). John Edwards Memorial Foundation JEMF-105, Uncle Joe Shippee – "New England Traditional Fiddling" (1978). Shanachie 79022, “The Chieftains #2.” “Music at Matt Molloy’s.

Smithsonian Folkways SFW CD 40126, Bob McQuillen & Old New England – “Choose Your Partners! Contra Dance & Square Dance Music of New Hampshire” (1999).

See also listing at :
Jane Keefer’s Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Alan Ng’s Irishtune.info [2]
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recordings Index [3]

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