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Fire On the Mountain
Traditional Old-Time, Bluegrass; Breakdown. USA, widely known.
ARTIST: “Floater” lyrics from Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc);
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
EARLIEST DATE: Early 1800’s; Tune: "A. Shattuck's Book" p. 59 circa 1801; Mother Goose for Grown Folks- 1860
OTHER NAMES: "Sambo," "Hog-Eye," "Betty Martin," “Johnny Get Your Hair Cut (Bayard)” “Granny Will Your Dog Bite” “I Betty Martin-tiptoe fine,” “Far In The Mountain,” “Free on the Mountains,” “Chicken in the Bread Tray,” “Tip Toe, Pretty Betty Martin,” “The Butcher's Dog,” “Old Daddy Bowback,” “West Virginia Girls/Gals” “Run, Boy, Run” (Also confused with "Sally Goodin” and the NC version of "Cotton-Eyed Joe").
RECORDING INFO: A standard old-time country tune, recorded by a large number of performers, including Riley Puckett and Clayton McMichen, and Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers: Carlin, Bob. Banging and Sawing, Rounder CD 0197, CD (1996/1985), cut# 5 (Far In The Mountain); Connor, Sam. Old Originals, Vol. 1, Rounder 0057, LP (1978), cut# 7; Crase, James. Mountain Music of Kentucky, Smithsonian/Folkways SF 40077, CD (1996), cut#2.56; Creed, Kyle; and Fred Cockerham. Good Time Music. National Folk Festival, Philo 1028, LP (1975), cut#A.04; Dixie Ramblers. 37th Old-Annual Old-Time Fiddlers Convention, Folkways FA 2434, LP (1962), cut# 18; Dutch Cove Old Time String Band. Sycamore Tea, June Appal JA 0023, LP, cut# 18; Fuzzy Mountain String Band. Summer Oaks and Porch, Rounder 0035, LP (197?), cut# 2a; Haley, Ed. Grey Eagle (Vol. 2), Rounder 1133/1134, CD (1997), 2.12; Hall, Leland. Old-Time Fiddling of Braxton County, Augusta Heritage AHR 012, Cas (1992), cut#A.02; Hooven, Greg. Tribute to Fred Cockerham, Heritage (Galax) 079C, Cas (1993), cut#B.07; Hughes, Delbert. Home Recordings., Augusta Heritage AHR 015, Cas (1994), cut#A.03; Jabbour, Bradley and Thompson. Sandy's Fancy, Flying Fish FF-260, LP (1981), cut# 9a; Kentucky Colonels. Livin' in the Past, Briar BT 7202, LP (1975), cut#A.01; Red Headed Fiddlers. Folk Music in America, Vol. 3, Dance Music, Breakdowns & Waltzes, Library of Congress LBC-03, LP (1976), cut#A.08 (Far In The Mountain); Red Headed Fiddlers. Yearlings in the Canebrake, Musical Traditions MTC 103, Cas (1994), B.05 (Far In The Mountain); Rivers, Jerry. Country-Western Radio. Rare Radio Recordings of Famous Count..., Radiola MR-1069, LP (1977), cut#A1.5; Shelor Family. Eight Miles Apart, Heritage (Galax) 022, LP (1979), cut# 8; Adams, Chuck. 15th Annual Topanga Banjo and Fiddle Contest, Black Mountain Mi 7775, LP (197?), cut# 15; Bird, Elmer. Elmer's Greatest Licks, Bird, Cas (1980), cut# 5; Brickman, Weissberg & Company. New Dimensions in Banjo and Bluegrass, Elektra EKS-7238, LP (197?), cut# 12; Camp Creek Boys. Camp Creek Boys, County 709, LP (1967), cut# 9; Carson, Fiddlin' John;'s Virginia Reelers. Fiddlin' John Carson. Vol 4, Document DOCD 8017, CD (1997), cut# 2 (Fire in the Mountain); Dutch Cove Old Time String Band. Sycamore Tea, June Appal JA 0023, LP, cut# 19; Feldmann, Peter. How to Play Country Fiddle, Vol.1, Sonyatone STI-101, LP (1975), cut# 2; High Strung. High Strung, Loose Noose ASM-489, LP (1981), cut#A.04a; Highwoods String Band. Fire on the Mountain, Rounder 0023, LP (1973), cut# 1; Homer and the Barnstormers. Blue Grass Banjos - Flaming Banjos, Alshire 2-120-1/2, LP (197?), cut#1A.02; Hutchins, Esker. Old Time Fiddling at Union Grove. The 38th Annual Old-Time Fi..., Prestige 14039, LP (1964), cut#B.06; Jarrell, Tommy. Rainbow Sign, County 791, LP (198?), cut# 7; Mainer, Wade. From the Maple on the Hill, Old Homestead OHTRS 4000, LP (1976), cut#C.04; Wanzer, Loyd. Famous Country Fiddling, American Heritage AH-401-19C, LP (197?), cut#A.01; Watson, Doc; Clint Howard and Fred Price. Old Timey Concert, Vanguard 107/8, Cas (1987), cut#B.03;
SOURCES: Alan Lomax's Check-List of Recorded Songs in the English Language in the Archive of American Folk Song to July, 1940 (Library of Congress, 1942), a tune called "Fire in the Mountain" was included as a line in a nursery rhyme. Krassen, Miles. Appalachian Fiddle, Oak, sof (1973), p72; Bell, David. Learning the Fiddler's Ways, Penn State, Sof (1980), p146; Kaufman, Alan. Beginning Old-time Fiddle, Oak, sof (1977), p76; Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
NOTES: "A Major ('A' part) & D Major ('B' part). Standard, AEAE or ADAE. AAB (Brody, Krassen): AABB (Lowinger): AABB' (Phillips/1994); Henry Reed- key A(abac ab'de dqd'e). The tune usually goes at breakneck speed, giving rise to popular folklore for the reason for its name: the fiddler plays so fast the fiddle catches on fire and lights up the woods (Lowinger, 1974). The title may be Celtic in origin: Scottish clans often used blazing bonfires on highland hills as gathering signals (ironically, this also may be the origin for the Ku Klux Klan's blazing crosses). Krassen (1973) notes his 'B' part has similarities with a 78 RPM recording of Pope's Arkansas Mountaineers' "Hog-eyed Man," and Bayard (1981) also recognizes the similarity between the second parts of the same tunes, though a closer match to "Fire On the Mountain" he believes to be "Betty Martin," which is "reminiscent all through." Guthrie Meade (1980) links the Kentucky version of the tune (which also goes by the name "Big Nosed Hornpipe") to the "Sally Goodin'" family of melodies. Winston Wilkinson, in the Southern Folklore Quarterly (vol. vi, I, March, 1942), gives a bar-for-bar comparison of the tune with a Norse 'halling' tune, set by the Norwegian composer Greig and published in Copenhagen in 1875 (Norges Melodier, 1875 & 1922, iv, pg. 72). The tunes are so close as to be almost certainly cognate. Bayard records the tune's earliest American publication date is 1814 or 1815 in Riley's Flute Melodys (where it appears as "Free on the Mountains"), and as "I Betty Martin" in A. Shattuck's Book, a fiddler's manuscript book dating from around 1801. The piece was recorded in the early 1940's from Ozark Mountain fiddlers by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph for the Library of Congress. Lowe Stokes (1898-1983), one of the north Georgia band 'The Skillet Lickers' fiddlers, remembered it as having been fiddled by his father." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
Library of Congress: Henry Reed's "Fire on the Mountain" is a fine set of a tune that is well-documented from early America down to the present, yet seems not traceable to the British Isles. It is thus (along with a number of other tunes in this collection) evidence that by the late eighteenth century there was already a distinctly American repertory of fiddle tunes. The tune seems to be associated with a cluster of playful rhymes and jingles used in children's songs, play-party songs, and courting songs across the early frontier. The jingles in turn give rise to many of the bewildering array of titles that have turned up for this tune. Some representative examples are "A. Shattuck's Book [ca. 1801]," p. 59 "I Betty Martin--tipto fine"; Riley's Flute Melodies (ca. 1814), p. 87 "Free on the Mountains"; Winner's Choice Gems, p. 66 "Granny Will Your Dog Bite. (Jig.)"; Brown, The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore vol. 5, 119 (#158) "Chicken in the Bread Tray"; Wilkinson, "Virginia Dance Tunes," p. 9 "Fire on the Mountains," played by J. H. Chisholm, Greenwood, Virginia; Ford, Traditional Music of America, p. 58 "Tip Toe, Pretty Betty Martin"; Adam, Old Time Fidders' Favorite Barn Dance Tunes #62 "The Butchers' Dog"; Moser, "Instrumental Music of the Southern Appalachians," pp. 5-6 "Old Daddy Bowback (Fire on the Mountain)," played by Marcus Martin, Swannanoa, North Carolina. As in Henry Reed's case, Southern sets are inclined to begin with the high strain, while Northern or Midwestern sets (and hence most printed sets) begin with the low strain.
MORE NOTES: Verses are sometimes sung to the melody, especially in the variants by other names such as "Betty Martin," "Pretty Betty Martin" and "Hog-eye." Wilkinson (1942) says that the following verse made its way into some editions of Mother Goose (See Lyrics below).
"The Devil Went Down to Georgia," a song and fiddle tune by Charlie Daniels Band has floater lyrics from “Fire on the Mountain.”
From Mike Yeats: Fire in the Mountains is one of a broad family of early nineteenth century (or earlier) tunes that shades into one another and are as old as Hey Betty Martin, Tip Toe.
It has been suggested that the tune originated from eastern European migrants, some of whom made commercial recordings in New York in the early part of the 20th century. There is also a Norwegian tune, printed in Southern Folklore Quarterly vol. vi, number 1 (March, 1942) p.9, that shows some similarity. A L 'Red' Steeley and J W 'Red' Graham - known as the Red Headed Fiddlers - made a spirited fiddle/banjo recording in 1929 (reissued on Document DOCD-8038) that is well-worth hearing. For some reason, the engineers titled this recording Far in the Mountain. (Chances are they were Yankees from the North, unaccustomed to Steeley & Graham's accents). The Camp Creek Boys, from the area around Galax, VA, play a good version on County CD 2719, as did Theron Hale (reissued on County CD 3522).
Sam Connor and Dent Wimmer also used to play a version similar to the lines sung by Fiddlin' John Carson in his 1926 recording of the tune (Okeh 45068, reissued on Document DOCD-8017), but under the title Ten Little Indians and Sam had the following verse to the tune:
All my little Indians don't drink liquor,
All my little Indians don't get drunk.
Fire in the Mountain is closely alligned to Betty Martin/Pretty Petty Martin songs:
High Betty Martin Tip toe, tip toe
High Betty Martin Tip toe, tip toe fine.
The same tune was used for both songs which dates back circa 1801 when it was published in "A. Shattuck's Book" p. 59.
Other lyrics were attached to this tune including:
Johnny get your hair cut, hair cut, hair cut,
Johnny get your hair cut, just like mine.
Sometimes heard as "Granny will your dog bite" these lyrics became popular around 1900 [Louise Rand Bascon JOAFL 1909) and were used in place of the much older Betty Martin lyrics.
Floater lyrics from Kuntz:
Fire on the mountain, run boy run;
Sal, let me chaw your rosin some.
Fire on the mountain, run, boys, run;
Fire on the mountain till the day is done.
Fire on the mountain, water down below;
Never get to heaven 'less you jump Jim Crow.
Fire on the Mountain, fire on the hillside
Fire on the Mountain, run, boys, run.
Old Uncle Cyrus fished all night,
Never caught a fish on a crawfish bite.
Old mother Taylor she drinks whiskey,
Old mother Taylor she drinks wine.
Old mother Taylor she got drunk,
Swung across the river on a pumpkin vine.
Two little Indians lying in bed,
One turned over and the other one said,
Fire on the mountain coming son,
Fire on the mountain run boy run.
Two little Indians and their squaw
Sittin' on a mountain in Arkansas.
All little Indians gonna drink whisky
All little Indians gonna get drunk.
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