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Down in Jay bird Town/Tideo/Toddy-O/Jingle at the Window
Old-Time Fiddle Tune and Play Party Song;
ARTIST: from Indiana Play-Party Songs 1916
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
EARLIEST DATE: 1800s
RECORDING INFO: Jingle at the Windows
At- Toddy-O
Seeger, Ruth Crawford (eds.) / American Folk Songs for Children, Doubleday/Zephyr Books, Sof (1948), p173
Owens, William A. (ed.) / Texas Folk Songs. 2nd edition, SMU Press, Bk (1976/1950), p160 [1930s] (Tideo)
Fox, Lillian M. / Folk Songs of the United States, Calif. State Series, Sof (1951), p37b
Brame, Thelma. McIntosh, David S. / Folk Songs and Singing Games of the Illinois Ozarks, SIU Press, Bk (1974), p 66 [1948/12/09] (Ti-De-O)
Durbin, Carl. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume III, Humorous & Play-Party ..., Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p313/#525 [1927/06/05]
Lomax, John A.. Lomax, Alan / Folksongs of North America, Doubleday Dolphin, Sof (1975/1960), p400/#208 (Tideo)
Seeger, Peggy and Mike. American Folk Songs for Children, Rounder 8001/8002/8003, CD (1977), trk# 2-41
SOURCES: Talley; Brown; Mudcat
OTHER NAMES: "Toddy-O;" "Jingle At The Window, Tidy-O;" "Jingle At The Window;" "Ti-De-O" "Jingle at th' Winder" (Randolph); "Pass One Window Toddy-O"
RELATED TO: "There Goes a Redbird Through the Window;"
NOTES: "Down in Jay Bird Town" is a version of "Tideo," a fiddle tune and play party song printed as early as 1911 in the Fournal of American Folk Lore, has a variety of similar names including Ti-De-O, Toddy-O, Jingle at the Window. Randolph suggests (Randolph, III, 313), on the authority of Lair, Swing Your Partner, that the name "Tideo" was corrupted from "Toddy-O" and that it derives from an old fiddle tune titled "I Love Sugar in my Toddy-O."
In England "toddy-o" refers to a strong whiskey and a "hot toddy" is a name given to a mixed drink that is served hot, believed to have originated in the 18th century to make the taste of Scotch more palatable to women. The first written mention of distilling Scotch whisky is in the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, 1495. In the US a song "Raw Rum and Toddy-O" or "Rum Punch and Toddy-O" appears in print as early as 1802.
In "Poems and Songs" by William Murdoch- 1872- Page 209 we find:
They a' get brose and butter O.
She clouts my claes and cleans my shoon;
When sick she gies me toddy O:
What I gie her, ne'er fash your thoom.
We find this reference in The Greig-Duncan folk song collection by Gavin Greig, Patrick Shuldham-Shaw, James Bruce Duncan, Andrew R. Hunter, Emily B. Lyle - Music - 1990 - 595 pages Page 507:
Come choise a wife that'll last yer life
A proper wench and a handsome O.
Rum punch and toddy O;
R for rum and ...
Textually "Tideo," often called "Jingle At The Window" (Randolph, III, 313-14), is closely related to "Down in Jay Bird Town" and "There Goes a Redbird Through the Window" which are other play-party songs. "Down in Jay Bird Town" is found in the 1916 Play-Party Songs in Indiana.
Typical lyrics of Tideo appear:
Pass one window, Tideo.
Pass two windows, Tideo.
Pass three windows, Tideo.
Jingle at the window Tideo.
Tideo, Tideo,
Jingle at the window Tideo.
Tideo, Tideo,
Jingle at the window Tideo.
Here's a rousing rendition of Tideo on YouTube by Illinois fiddler Mel Durham:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6AmQhnGJ6Y
TODDY O
Hands all aroun', toddy-o.
Toddy-o, toddy-o;
First to the left, then to the right,
Swing aroun' ole toddy-o.
Journal of American folklore 1911; Page 311
Pass one window, toddy O
Pass two windows, toddy O
Pass three windows, toddy 0,
Pass four windows, toddy O,
Swing to the centre and bow to your beau,
And all go jingle at the toddy O.
Folk song: U.S.A.: the 111 best American ballads - Page 82
by Alan Lomax, Charles Seeger, Ruth Crawford Seeger - Music - 1947 - 407 pages
Come jingle at my window, tidy-o,
Come jingle at my window, tidy-o,
Come jingle at my window, tidy-o,
Come jingle at my window, low.
Pass one window tideo
Pass two windows Tideo
Pass three windows Tideo
Jingle at the window Tideo
Jinglen Jinglen Jinglen Joe
Jingle at the window Tideo
Jinglen Jinglen Jinglen Joe
Jingle at the window Tideo
Ruth Crawford Seeger, in American Folk Songs for Children, has just one verse and refrain for "Tideo," which she calls "Jingle At the Windows":
Jingle at the window, Tideo,
Skip two windows, Tideo,
Skip three windows, Tideo,
Jingle at the windows, Tideo.
Jing-ling, jing-ling, jing-ling Jo,
Jingle at the windows, Tideo.
Her source was "Tideo," in William A. Owens, Swing and Turn: Texas Play-Party Games, Tardy Publishing Co, 1936.
LEAD A MAN *
Lead a man, di-dee-oe, lead a man, di-dee-o;
Lead a man, di-dee-oe, lead a man, di-dee-o;
You swing heads, di-dee-o, I swing feet, di-dee-o
Ain't dat nice, di-dee-o, walkin' on de ice, di-dee-o!
Ladies change, di-dee-o, ladies change, di-dee-o;
Ladies change, di-dee-o, ladies change, di-dee-o.
Ain't dat nice, di-dee-o, ain't dat nice, di-dee-o,
Ain't dat nice, di-dee-o, ain't dat nice, di-dee-o?
Oh my love, di-dee-o, oh my love, di-dee-o.
Oh my love, di-dee-o, oh my love, di-dee-o.
Ain't dat nice, di-dee-o, ain't dat nice, di-dee-o,
[title given as "Dance Song" in Dorothy Scarborough {assisted by Ola Lee Gulledge}, "On The Trial of Negro Folk Songs" { Folklore Associates edition 1963; pp.115, 116; originally published by Harvard University press, 1925}
Other versions have the tag "Down in Alabam" or Down in Alabama":
The American play-party song - Page 179 by Benjamin Albert Botkin- 1963 - 400 pages
2. Nothing was heard but a jingle on the window,
Jingle on the window, jingle on the window,
Nothing was heard but a jingle on the window,
Down in Alabama
The University studies - Page 333 by University of Nebraska (Lincoln campus) - Education - 1934 For "Jingle at the Window," see DOWN IN ALABAMA. A (Sung by Charlie Carr, Noble, Cleveland County.)
1. Skip one window, tideo,
Skip two windows, tideo,
Skip three windows, tideo,
Skip four windows, tideo.
2. Skip to the center And choose your beau, ...
or
1 Skip one window, tideo,
Skip two windows, tideo.
Skip three windows, tideo.
Jingle at the window tideo.
There may be a relationship with the fiddle songs titled Dineo and Darneo associated with Sail Away Ladies, a song first recorded by Uncle Dave Macon (which uses di-dee-o in the lyrics), and Sally Ann. Here's some info from Andrew Kuntz:
DINEO- AKA and see "Di‑nee‑o, Ladies," "Darneo," "Sally Ann" Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA, southwestern Va. A Major. Standard tuning. The name "Dineo" is particular to the Franklin/Floyd County area of western Virginia; it is more widely known under the title "Sally Ann." Di-nee-o = a variant of ‘Dinah’? Recorded by Herbert Halpern for the Library of Congress (2739-A-3), 1939, from the playing of Taylor Houston and the Houston Bald Knob String Band (Franklin County, Va.) during a dance. Rounder 0057, Ted Boyd & Charlie Woods ‑ "Old Originals, vol. 1" (1978). McCray's other unissued tune is listed as "Dinah, Old Lady," which sounds to me like a mis-hearing of the regional favorite, "Dineo Ladies"
SALLY ANN- AKA and see “Beano,” “Darneo,” "Dineo." Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA; West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina. D Major. Standard tuning. AABB. One version of the tune was recorded for the Library of Congress by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph from Ozark Mountain fiddlers in the early 1940's. See also related tunes "Big Sweet Taters in Sandy Land," "Great Big Tater(s) in Sandy Land/Lot," "Sandy Land," "Sail Away Ladies" (Kentucky/Tennessee), "Wish(ed) I Had My Time Again" (Ky.). One version of the tune goes by the name "Dineo" in the Franklin/Floyd County area of southwestern Virginia, and it was recorded as “Darneo” by the Blue Ridge Highballers (Yazoo CD 2046).
Tideo THE PLAY-PARTY IN INDIANA 1916
Mrs. Leslie Beall.
1 . Pass one window, Tideo, Pass two windows, Tideo,
Pass three windows, Tideo, Jingle at the windows, Tideo.
2. Tideo, Tideo, Jingle at the windows, Tideo.
3. I asked that girl to be my wife,
She said, "No, not on your life."
I asked her mother and she said, "No."
Jingle at the windows, Tideo.
4. Tideo, Tideo, Jingle at the windows, Tideo.
b. At 1, all form a single circle, with each boy in front of his partner. Each player has his left hand on the right shoulder of the person in front of him. Circle left. At 2, each boy makes a half turn to the right and swings his partner.
At 3, each girl steps in front of her partner and all form a single circle again in position as 1.
At 4, each boy turns and swings the girl behind him in the circle.
Begin the song again and continue the game until each girl has been partner to every boy and returns to her original partner, c. The first stanza of a variant which Mrs. Ames calls "Pass One Window Toddy-o" (Jour. Am. Folk-lore, vol. XXIV, p. 311), is the same as that given above, but the tune is different.
Miss Goldy Hamilton (Jour. Am. Folk-lore, vol. XXVII, p. 294) prints the words of stanza 1.
Down in Jay Bird Town THE PLAY-PARTY IN INDIANA 1916
Down in Jay Bird Town
Blue bird, blue bird, flew in the window,
Blue bird, blue bird, flew in the window,
Blue bird, blue bird, flew in the window,
Down in Jay Bird town.
I knew it was her by the jingle of the window,
I knew it was her by the jingle of the window,
I knew it was her by the jingle o? the window,
Down in Jay Bird town.
b. The game is the same as that of "Skip-to- My-Lou."
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