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Granny Will your Dog Bite?
Traditional Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Widely Spread;
ARTIST: Words from book by Gerald Milnes called "Granny Will Your Dog Bite and Other Mountain Rhymes".
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: 1800’s (Meade-1873);
OTHER NAMES: "Betty Martin," "Boatin' Up Sandy," "Brad Walters," "Chippy/Gippy Get Your Haircut," "Hog Eye and a Tater," "The Hog Eye Man," "Hog Eye," "Jake Gilly," "Old Mother Gofour," "Old Granny Rattletrap," "Pretty Betty Martin," "Very Pretty Martin," "Sally in the Garden," "Tip Toe Fine,""Fire on the Mountain," “Gate to Go Through;” “Buck Hord/Hoard” “Johnny Get Your Hair Cut,” Incorrectly named for Old Jake Gillie.
RELATED TO: These branches and connected groups-
1)“Hog-Eye” songs
2)“Betty Martin; “Tip Toe Fine” “Johnny/Chippy Get Your Hair Cut” songs
3)“Fire on the Mountain” songs
4)“Sally in the Garden” songs
RECORDING INFO: 1928 recording of Pope's Arkansas Mountaineers (Sally in the Garden); Armstrong, Sarah. Hill Country Tunes: Instrumental Folk Music of Southwestern Penn, Amer. Folklore Society, fol (1944), 71 (Johnny Get Your Hair Cut); Fraley, J. P. and Annadeene. Gallynipper, June Appal JA 0058C, Cas (1990), cut# 8; Fraley, J. P. and Annadeene. Maysville. Old Time Fiddle Tunes, Rounder 0351, Cas (1995), cut#A.06; Jarrell, Tommy. Rainbow Sign, County 791, LP (198?), cut# 8; Lamb, Dwight. Dwight Lamb, American Heritage, LP (196?), cut# 13; Lamb, Dwight. Joseph Won a Coated Fiddle, Rounder 0429, CD (1999), cut# 20; Mabus, Joel. Clawhammer, Fossil, Cas (198?), cut# 10b; Milnes, Gerry. Old Time Fiddling of Braxton County. Vol 2, Augusta Heritage AHR 013, Cas (1992), cut# 5; Parrish, Pete. Galax International, Heritage (Galax) 067, LP (1988), cut# 11; Robertson, Lonnie. Fiddle Tunes - Ozark Style, Vol. 2, Caney Mountain CLP-233, LP (1980), cut# 11; Walters, Bob. Old Time Fiddler's Repertory, University of Missouri --, LP (1973), cut# 1; West Orrtana String Band. West Orrtana String Band, Revonah RS-924, LP (1976), cut#B.07; Wine, Melvin. Vintage Wine, Marimac AHS 6, Cas (1993), cut#B.06; Augusta Heritage AHS6, Melvin Wine - "Vintage Wine." Missouri State Old Time Fiddlers' Association, Dwight Lamb (b. 1937) - "Old Ladies Pickin' Chickens." Missouri State Old Time Fiddlers' Association, Bob Walters (1889-1960) - "Old Time Fiddler's Repertory" (1976). Revonah Records RS-924, "The West Orrtanna String Band" (1976). Voyager VRCD 344, Howard Marshall & John Williams - "Fiddling Missouri" (1999).
SOURCES: Dance to the Fiddle by Bayard; Traditional Music in America, Folklore Associates, Bk (1940/1965), p 36a; ); Collins, Sherman. Fiddle Book, Oak, Bk (1967), p 82; Bob Walters (1949, Burt County, Nebraska) [Christeson, Phillips]; Sherman Collins (Pawnee County, Oklahoma) [Thede]. R.P. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, Vol. 1), 1973; No. 1, pg. 3. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 36. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), 1994; pg. 102. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; pg. 87. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; pg. 58. Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; pg. 82; Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 67, "Hog-eye;" Darling-NAS, pp. 254-255, "Hogeye;" Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc;
NOTES: "This melody is popular under several titles, however, the title "Granny Will Your Dog Bite" also is a floating title. It was frequently played at Mid-Western fiddle contests. R.P. Christeson says his version is dissimilar to the tune of the same title in Ford (1940), but is similar to "Tip Toe, Pretty Betty Martin" in the same book. Bayard (1981) notes the resemblance between this tune and the "Betty Martin" variants, many listed as alternates above. The tune was recorded for the Library of Congress by musicologist Vance Randolph from Ozark Mountain fiddlers in the early 1940's. See also related tunes "Gate to Go Through" and "Old Coon Dog." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
"Ford (1940) said that "occasional verses" were sung by fiddlers while playing the tune, and indeed, various verses have been collected from both white and black sources. (Ford's collection area was the Mid-West, often Missouri, and Thede printed Oklahoma versions). Charles Wolfe (1991) remarks the tune has been collected widely from Mississippi to California, and notes that Ray Browne (writing in The Alabama Folk Lyric, 445) heard it often as a banjo tune popular more with blacks than whites." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
From 3rd Maine Volunteers Home Page: "Granny" was a popular fiddle tune in the 1850s, and was adapted by Military Fife-and-Drum Corps on both sides of the Civil War. It is a regular part of the repertoire of the 3rd Maine Regimental Field Music (F&DC) Reenactment Unit. It has a really kickin' rudimental drum beat to it - particularly the bass, which really thunders. One set of lyrics used by 3rd Maine are: "Granny will yer dawg baht?; Hellfahre, no!"
On the Ken Burns Civil War series, a historian recalls how when one Volunteer Regiment had all of its musicians shot down in battle, one enterprising infantryman with a fiddle approached the Commanding Officer with the offer to "fiddle the boys in" on the next charge... which he did, to a rousing rendition of "Granny". It was his last tune.
The inherent problem with “Granny Will your Dog Bite” is that the name has been used for so many tunes and related songs. The “Granny Will your Dog Bite” lyrics appear in everything from "Devil Went Down to Georgia” to a book of nursery rhymes.
LYRICS:
Granny will your dog bite,
Your hen peck, your rooster fight,
Your turkey walk a fence rail?
No, child no.
Granny will your dog bite?
No child, no child.
Daddy took his bitter off,
A long time ago.
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