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Devil’s Dream (Aisling An Diabail)
Originating in British Isles. Traditional Old-Time; Reel or Hornpipe. Found in Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Michigan, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky. England, Shropshire. Canada; Quebec, Prince Edward Island.
ARTIST: From Ford;
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: 1790
RECORDING INFO: Trim (Thomas Hardy), 1990; No. 21. White's Excelsior Collection, pg. 42. American Heritage 516, Jana Greif- "I Love Fiddlen.'" Biograph RC6006, Bottle Hill- "A Rumor in Their Own Time." CCF2, Cape Cod Fiddlers - "Concert Collection II" (1999). County 747, Clark Kessinger- "Sweet Bunch of Daisies." Decca 31540, Bill Monroe & the Bluegrass Boys." Edison 50653 (78 RPM), Joseph Samuels, 1919. Elektra 217, Eric Weisberg and Marshall Brickman- "Folk Banjo Styles." F&W Records 4, "The Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra Meets the F&W String Band." Folk Legacy FSA-15, Lawrence Older - "Adirondack Songs, Ballads and Fiddle Tunes" (1963). Folkways FTS 31036, Roger Sprung- "Grassy Locks." Folkways FA 2381, "The Hammered Dulcimer as played by Chet Parker (Grand Rapids, Michigan)" (1966). Folkways 8826, Per's Four--"Jigs and Reels." Fretless Records 101, "The Campbell Family: Champion Fiddlers." Gennett 6121 (78 RPM, Uncle Steve Hubbard and His Boys, c. 1928. Legacy 120, Jean Carignan- "French Canadian Fiddle Songs." Recorded for the Library of Congress, 1938, by Patrick Bonner, St. James, Beaver Island, Michigan; on Library of Congress 1014A2 by Jilson Setters (Ky.), 1937; and, again for the Library of Congress in 1939 by eighty-year-old Lauderdale County, Mississippi fiddler Stephen B. Tucker. Philo 1040, Jay Ungar and Lyn Hardy- "Catskill Mountain Goose Chase" (1977. Learned from Putnam County, N.Y. fiddler Bud Snow). Bottle Hill. Rumor in Their Own Time, Biograph RC-6006, LP (1972), cut# 8c Brower, Cecil (Cousin Cecil). Old Fashion Country Hoedown, Cumberland MGC 29500, LP (196), cut#B.05; Brower, Cecil; and his Square Dance Fiddlers. America's Favorite Square Dances, Smash MGS 27015, LP (196?), cut#B.02; Campbell, Ken. Campbell Family. Champion Fiddlers, Fretless 101, LP (1977), cut#A.11; Carignan, Jean. French Canadian Fiddle Music, Legacy LEG 120, LP (197?), cut# 1; Carr, David. Fourteenth Annual Old Time Fiddlers' Contest, Green Mountain GMS 1056, LP (1976), cut# 8; George, Franklin/Frank. Traditional Music for Banjo, Fiddle & Bagpipes, County C-2703, Cas (1992), cut#A.06b George, Franklin/Frank. Traditional Music for Banjo, Fiddle and Bagpipes, Kanawha 307, LP (1967), cut#A.05b; Hamilton, Mark. Songs and Tunes from Wolf Run, Sampler 9223, Cas (1992), cut# 55; Herron, Fiddlin' Red. 30 Fiddlers Greatest Hits, Gusto GT-104, LP (1978), cut# 20; Jenkins, Edna. National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest & Folk Music Festival. 1966, Century, LP (1966), cut# 23; Jones, Kelly. Authentic Old Time Fiddle Tunes, MSOTFA 005, Cas (1990), cut# 11; Keith, Bill; and Jim Rooney. Hootenanny!, Prestige Folklore 14020, LP (1963), cut#A.05; Kessinger, Clark. Sweet Bunch of Daisies, County 747, LP, cut# 7; Krufka, Mara. Dulcimer Player News, Dulcimer Player News DPN, Ser (1973-), 8/1, p15; Kuntz, Andrew. Devil's Box, Devil's Box DB, Ser (196?), 33/1, p32 Mace, Lee;'s Ozark Opry. Some Old Favorites, Ozark Opry VJ 0011, Cas (198?), cut#A.04; Mitchell, Bill; and Vivian Williams. Fiddle Jam Sessions, Voyager VLRP 301, LP (196?), cut# 5; Noonan, Paddy; Band. Scottish Party, Tifton TS 82, LP (197?), B.04d (Deil Amang the Tailors) Older, Lawrence. Adirondack Songs, Ballads and Fiddle Tunes, Folk Legacy FSA-015, Cas (1964), cut#A.06; Parker, Chet. Hammered Dulcimer, Folkways FA 2381, LP (1966), cut# 1a; Ransom, Stan. I Love Long Island, Connecticut Peddler, CD (1997), cut# 4c; Robertson, Joe. Joe Robertson. Volume 2, Fretless FR 107, LP (1974), cut#B.01; Round, Jay. American Hammered Dulcimer, Vol. 2. 25 Years with the O.D.P.C., L-Three 8x510, LP (1988), cut# 6; Roylance, Dave. National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest & Folk Music Festival. 1965, Century, LP (1966), cut# 24b; Sprung, Roger; & his Progressive Bluegrassers. Grassy Licks, Verve/Folkways FV 9037, LP (196?), cut# 7; Stripling, Lee. Hogs Picking Up Acorns, Voyager VRCD 349, CD (2000), cut#27; Tate, Tater (Clarence). Tater Tate, Rimrock SLP 3000, LP (196?), cut#B.02 (Satan's Dream); Weissberg, Eric; and Marshall Brickman. Folk Banjo Styles, Elektra EKL-217, LP (195?), cut# 22 Welling, William B. (Will). Welling's Hartford Tunebook, Welling, Fol (1974), p 7; Whiskey Creek String Band. On the Rocks, Farmers MF 105, LP (1978), cut#A.05 Williamsburg Fife and Drum Corps. Fife & Drums of Williamsburg, Col. Williamsburg WS 101, LP (1975), cut#A.02a
OTHER NAMES: "Mason's Apron," "Devil's Hornpipe," "The Devil Among the Tailors," "Satan's Nightmare."
SOURCES: Dennis McClure (Willimantic, Conn.) [Linscott]; John Dingler, 1977 (central New York State, learned from his father) [Bronner]; eight southwestern Pa. fiddlers [Bayard]; Bill Monroe (Ky.) [Lowinger]; Kelly Jones (Mo.) [Phillips]; a c. 1837-1840 MS by Shropshire musician John Moore [Ashman]; Sterling Baker (b. mid-1940's, Morell, North-East Kings County, Prince Edward Island; now resides in Montague) [Perlman]. Adam, No. 68. Traditional Music in America, Folklore Associates, Bk (1940/1965), p 62a. Ashman (The Ironbridge Hornpipe), 1991; No. 26a, pg. 7. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 334A-H, pg. 314-317. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 85. Bronner (Old Time Music Makers of New York State), 1987; No. 41, pgs. 159-160. Burchenal, 1918; pg. 14. Cazden, 1955; pg. 36. Cole (1001 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 30. DeVille, No. 77. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 62. Hardings All-Round Collection, 1905; No. 182, pg. 58. Jarman (Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes); No. or pg. 4. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 4; No. 27, pg. 6. Linscott (Folk Songs of Old New England), 1939; pg. Lowinger (Bluegrass Fiddle), 1974; pg. 18. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddlers Repertoire), 1983; No. 119. O'Malley and Atwood (Seventy Good Old Dances), pg. 12. O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; No. 1564, pg. 290 (listed as a hornpipe). O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1907/1986; No. 815, pg. 141. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; pg. 108. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 68. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 163. Ruth (Pioneer Western Folk Tunes), 1948; No. 19, pg. 8. Shaw (Cowboy Dances), 1943; pg. 390. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; pg. 53. Syms, pg. 9; Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc;
NOTES: A Major (most versions): G Major (Hardings, Shaw). Standard. One part (Burchenal, Lowinger): AABB (most versions): AABBCC (O'Neill/1001): AABCDEFG (Kerr). Despite its occasional appearance in the South, it is known as a Northern tune. Linscott (1939) thought the tune to be of Irish origins, but it has since been rather easily traced to a Scottish reel, "The De'il Among the Tailors," composed c. 1790, and it appears in the Scottish Kerr collection (Vol. 4) as "Devil's Dream." In America it has almost invariably been known by the "Dream" title, while in the British Isles it is always found under the Tailor/Taylor title--notwithstanding its appearance in Kerr as "Devil's Dream," which may have been evidence of a transatlanctic return of the piece. Bayard (1981) notes that the tune, like "Soldier's Joy," has been transplanted to Scandinavia. It was of the tunes cited by Lettie Osborn (New York Folklore Quarterly) as having been commonly played for dances in Orange County, New York, in the 1930's. Linscott recorded a dance, also called "Devil's Dream," for which this tune was played in Hinsdale, N.H., and Burchenal (1918) also printed a New England contra dance of the same name to the tune. It was in the repertoire of Arizona fiddler Kenner C. Kartchner, who said of it "plenty old and difficult to play properly." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
New Englanders Tolman and Page (The Country Dance Book) have this to say about the tune: "All fiddlers are jealous of their accomplishments, you know, and it is an absolute impossibility to be accepted into their clan unless one can perform both 'Devil's Dream' and 'Speed the Plow' in a creditable manner, preferably with home-made variations. Old Theophilus (Parse) Ames used to say that a fiddler without his own version of 'Devil's Dream' was of 'as much account as a string of wampum in the Washington mint'" (pg. 112). Boone County, Missouri, fiddler Cyril Stinnet (1912-1986) probably didn't agree, for although it was the first tune he learned on the fiddle at age 8, he once later remarked he did not much care for the piece. The tune was rumoured (in New Jersey, for one place) to have been composed by Satan himself (and played on the 'devil's box', or the fiddle) {Cauthen, pg. 202}. It was in the repertories of fiddlers Uncle Jimmy Thompson (1848-1931) {Texas, Tenn.), Harry Daddario (Union County, Pa.), and Henry Ford's late 1920's champion Mellie Dunham (Maine). It was recorded in the early 1940's from Ozark Mountian fiddlers by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph for the Library of Congress. Thomas Hardy, English novelist, fiddler and accordion player, mentions the tune in his The Return of the Native: The air was now that one without any particular beginning, middle, or end, which perhaps among all the dances which throng an inspired fiddler's fancy, best conveys the idea of the interminable - the celebrated 'Devil's Dream'. The fury of personal movement that was kindled by the fury of the notes could be approximately imagined by these outsiders under the moon, from the occasional kicks of toes and heels against the floor, whenever the whirl round had been of more than customary velocity." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
LYRICS:
Forty days and forty nights
The Devil was a-dreaming,
Around the bark, old Noah's ark
The rain it was a-streaming.
The monkey washed the baboon's face,
The serpent combed his hair,
And up jumped the Devil
With his pitchfork in the air.
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