Annotation:Chase the Squirrel (3)

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CHASE THE SQUIRREL [3]??? The title appears in a list of traditional Ozarks Mountains fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. It may not be a separate variant or tune, but with only the title to go on, it is hard to determine. Vance Randolph, in Ozark Folksongs, vol. 3 (1946) prints a play-party tune and ditty called "Chase the Squirrel" that accompanied a children's ring-game. Versions were collected in the early 20th century in Indiana, Tennessee, Missouri, and other states in the Mid-West and South. He notes that it has been suggested that the game derives from the morris dance described by Sharpe and Macilwaine (The Morris Book II, 1909, pp. 18-19). Words were collected in 1924 from Leone Duvall (Pineville, Mo.) who played the game in her youth:

Chase the squirrel, chase the squirrel,
Chase the purty gal round the world,
'An around, 'an around, 'an around.

First to the center, then to the wall,
Back to the center an' crost the hall,
'An around, 'an around, 'an around.

Chase the rabbit, chase the coon,
Chase the purty girl round the moon,
'An around, 'an around, 'an around.

"Compare also with 'Chase the Rabbit," words only, tune said to be that of 'Sandy Land' (Davidson, California Folklore Quarterly, 2, 1943, p. 109)" [Randolph, p. 335.] Source for notated version:

Printed sources:

Recorded sources:

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