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Little Boy/Leather Breeches/Leather Britches
Traditional Old-Time, Bluegrass; Breakdown. USA, very widely known. Words are sung to the A section.
ARTIST: GAME SONGS AND NURSERY RHYMES SONGS AND RHYMES FROM THE SOUTH BY E. C. PERROW (From East Tennessee; mountain whites; from memory; 1909)
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes. DATE: Tune Lord MacDonald’s Reel 1795.
OTHER NAMES: "Lord MacDonald's Reel" which is thought to be the origin of the American version. “Ole Buzzard;” “Four Nights Drunk;” “Red-Haired Lass;” Breeches On;” "Old Leather Britches," "Oh Those Britches Full of Stiches," "McDonald's Reel," "McDonald's Reel," "Slanty Gart."
SOURCES: 'Uncle' Am Stuart (b. 1855. East Tennessee) [Krassen]; John White (Garfield County, Oklahoma) passed down from Uncle John MacDonald (Jack County, Texas) [Thede]; Stick Osborn (St. Joseph, Missouri) [Christeson]; Mrs. Sarah Armstrong, (near) Derry, Pennsylvania, November 18, 1943 [Bayard, 1944]; 15 southwestern Pa. fiddlers [Bayard, 1981]; Kenner C. Kartchner (Arizona) [Shumway]; Ralph Sauers (Dice, Pa.) [Guntharp]; Wil Gilmer with the Leake County Revellers and Howard Forrester [Phillips]. Adam, No. 33. Bayard (Hill Country Tunes), 1944; No. 16. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 328A-O, pgs. 293-298. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 166. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, Vol. 1), 1973; pg. 88. Cole, pg. 22. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 48. Guntharp (Learning the Fiddler's Ways), 1980; pg. 72. Jarman, 1944; pg. 5. Krassen (Masters of Old Time Fiddling), 1983; pg. 15-16. Lowinger (Bluegrass Fiddle), 1974; pg. 19. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, Vol. 1), 1994; pg. 139. Robbins, No. 61. Shumway, 1990; pg. 268. Ruth (Pioneer Western Folk Tunes), 1948; No. 53, pg. 19. Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; pg. 115. Thomas (Devil's Ditties), pgs. 134 & 135. White's Excelsior Collection, pg. 27. Traditional Music in America, Folklore Associates, Bk (1940/1965), p 48a Kaufman, Steve. Mandolin Magazine, Mandolin Magazine MM, Ser (1999-), 1/4, p60; Sauers, Ralph. Learning the Fiddler's Ways, Penn State, Sof (1980), p 71b. White, John. Fiddle Book, Oak, Bk (1967), p115.
RECORDING INFO: Armstrong, Sarah. Hill Country Tunes: Instrumental Folk Music of Southwestern Penn, Amer. Folklore Society, fol (1944), 16. Baker, Kenny; and Joe Greene. High Country, County 714, LP (1968), cut#B.06. Barrett, Dick (Texas). Devil's Box, Devil's Box DB, Ser (196?), 21/4, p21. Best, Carroll; Band with Tommy Hunter. Carroll Best Band with Tommy Hunter, Ivy Creek ICR 250, Cas (1993), cut# 1. Blizard, Ralph; & John Lilly. Blue Highway, Blizard BH4591, Cas (Bli1), cut# 4 . Bone, W. W. (Dr.). South Dakota Fiddling Contest, Foss, LP (1978), cut#A.05. Boys of the Lough. Good Friends - Good Music, Philo 1051, LP, cut#B.04b . Bromberg, David; Band. Midnight on the Water, Columbia PC 33397, LP (1975), cut#A.02a. Brushy River Boys. Galax Virginia; Old Fiddler's Convention, Folkways FA 2435, LP (1964), cut#B.07 . Carter Brothers & Son. Goin' Up Town. Old Time String Bands, Vol. 2, Marimac 9111, Cas (198?), cut#A.09. Cline, Curly Ray. Chicken Reel, Rebel SLP 1498, LP (197?), cut# 10. Dickey, Lotus. Fiddle Tunes from Orange County, Indiana. Vol. 2, Marimac 9030, Cas (1992), cut# 5. Eddy, Roy "Bill". Now That's a Good Tune. Masters of Missouri Traditional Fiddling, Grey Eagle 101, LP, cut# 48 Forrester, Howdy. Fancy Fiddlin' Country Style, MGM E-4035, LP (197?), cut#A.03 . Hollow Rock String Band. Hollow Rock String Band, Rounder 0024, LP (1974), cut#A.07. Holt, David. It Just Suits Me, June Appal JA 0038, LP (1981), cut# 9. Johnson, Earl; and his Clodhoppers. Red Hot Breakdown, County 543, LP (1976), cut#A.01. Kessinger, Clark. Clark Kessinger, Fiddler, Folkways FA 2336, LP (1966), cut# 11. Leake County Revelers. 1927-1930 Recordings, County 532, LP (1975), cut# 8. Robertson, Eck. Close to Home, Smithsonian/Folkways SF 40097, CD (1997), cut#28. Seeger, Mike. Mike Seeger, Vanguard VRS-9150, LP (1964), cut#B.02. Seeger, Pete. We Shall Overcome, Columbia C2K 45312, CD (1989), cut#1.02c. Skillet Lickers. Skillet Lickers, Vol. 1, County 506, LP (196?), cut# 4 Stuart, Uncle "Am". Masters of Old Time Fiddling, Oak --, SS, cut# 6. Thomasson, Benny & Jerry. Weiser Reunion, Voyager VRCS 309, Cas (1993), cut# 8 . Walters, Bob. Paddy on the Turnpike, MSOTFA 109, Cas (1993), cut#A.08. Caney Mountain Records CEP 210 (extended play LP, privately issued), Lonnie Robertson (Mo.), c. 1965-66. Columbia 15149 (78 RPM), The Leake County Revelers (1927). Columbia 33397, Dave Bromberg - "Midnight on the Water" (1975). County 201, The Old Virginia Fiddlers- "Rare Recordings." County 506, The Skillet Lickers- "Old Time Tunes." County 532, "The Leake County Revelers: 1927-1930 Recordings" (1975). County 543, Earl Johnson and His Clodhoppers - "Red Hot Breakdown" (originally recorded in 1927). County 707, Lewis Franklin- "Texas Fiddle Favorites." County 714, Kenny Baker and Joe Greene- "High Country." County 733, Clark Kessinger- "The Legend of Clark Kessinger." Edison 51548 (78 RPM), 1923, John Baltzell (appears as last tune of "Drunken Sailor Medley"). Flying Cloud FC-023, Kirk Sutphin - "Fiddlin' Around." Flying Fish FF-336, Pete Sutherland - "Poor Man's Dream" (1984). Folkways FTS 31098, Ken Perlman - "Clawhammer Banjo and Fingerstyle Guitar Solos." Hilltop Records 6022, Uncle Jimmy Thompson. June Appal 024, Luke Smathers String Band- "Mountain Swing." June Appal 028, Wry Staw - "From Earth to Heaven" (1978. Learned from Virgil Cravens of Cedar Falls, N.C. "one of the last of the traditional southern hammer dulcimer players). Library of Congress AFS 4804-B-1, 1941, Osey and Ernest Helton (Western N.C.). Marimac AHS #3, Glen Smith - "Say Old Man" (1990. Learned from Bob Crawford). Marimac 9038, Dan Gellert & Brad Leftwich - "A Moment in Time." Marimac 9060, Jim Bowles - "Railroading Through the Rocky Mountians" (1992). Marimac 9111, Carter Brothers and Son - "Goin' Up Town: Old Time String Bands, Vol. 2" (orig. rec. 1928). Mississippi Department of Archives and History AH-002, John Hatcher - "Great Big Yam Potatoes: Anglo-American Fiddle Music from Mississippi" (1985). Philo 1051, Boys of the Lough (with mandolinist Kenny Hall) - "Good Friends, Good Music" (1977). Rounder 1027, Johnnie Lee Wills- "Tulsa Swing." Rounder 0024, "Hollow Rock String Band." Vocalation 5456 (78 RPM), Uncle Jimmy Thompson (Tenn., Texas) {4/1930}. Vocalation (78 RPM), Uncle Am Stuart (b. 1856, Morristown, Tenn.), 1924. Voyager 309, Benny and Jerry Thomasson- "The Weiser Reunion: A Jam Session" (1993).
NOTES: G Major. Standard. AB (Bayard): AABB (Brody, Lowinger): ABCDD (Christeson): AABBCC (Shumway, Thede): AA'BB'CC' (Phillips): AABCCDDC' (Krassen). 'Leather Breeches' was a knick-name in some parts of the south for green beans dried in the pod and later cooked, although any verses connected with the tune have referred to garments made out of leather.
From Leather Breeches in Colonial Virginia by B.P. Howard: Leather breeches were a very common item of apparel among all classes of the Virginia population, from slaves to Lord Botetourt, the Royal Governour. Such breeches were "a basic item of utilitarian clothing which men in colonial America had occasion to own" (Kidwell and Christman 1974:31). Within the Virginia Gazette descriptions, at least 46 pairs of buckskin or leather breeches are mentioned out of some 140 breeches described between 1774 and 1778 for runaway servants and convicts. Leather breeches generally have the same looks as other breeches, and are made with all the same variations of openings. They are not as baggy in the seat, for leather simply can't be pleated in the same way, but otherwise the same principles of proper fit apply. The breeches could be sewn using a pattern normally applied to cloth breeches, with slight adaptations, but were also sewn using a special pattern suited to using a hide more economically. The result was a pair of breeches with a single seam up each leg. On occasion, cloth breeches were also sewn using the single seam pattern, such as knit breeches.”
"Leather Britches," a well-known reel in British and American tradition, is probably Scottish in origin. An eighteenth-century Scottish version in Gow's Collection of Slow Airs, Strathspeys and Reels (ca. 1795) is called "Lord Macdonald's Reel," the name under which it usually appears (with or without "lord") in nineteenth-century tune collections. One Thousand Fiddle Tunes, p. 22, is a typical set. The title "Leather Britches" (or "Breeches") is primarily an American title; it appears in sets from Pennsylvania (Bayard, Hill Country Tunes, #1) and West Virginia (Artley, "The West Virginia Country Fiddler," p. 38) to points west and is now widely distributed on the contest fiddle circuit. But there may be an Irish connection to the title; see Roche, Collection of Irish Airs, Marches, and Dance Tunes vol. 2, 20 (#240) "O the Breeches Full of Stitches" and Petrie, The Complete Collection of Irish Music #473 "The Breeches on."
From Ceolas: Many sources note this tunes popularity in the United States: for example, Marion Thede said it was "among the most frequently heard fiddle tunes in the Southwest," while Arizona fiddler Kenner C. Kartchner stated it was "a great favorite in early Texas cattle country" (Shumway). It was in repertory of Alabama fiddler D. Dix Hollis (1861-1927) who considered it one of "the good old tunes of long ago" (as quoted in the Opelika Daily News of April 17th, 1926), and it was commonly played by Rock Ridge Alabama fiddlers around 1920 (Bailey). It was mentioned in the autobiography of fiddler Tom Freeman of Cullman County, Alabama, and was listed in the Tuscaloosa News of March 28th, 1971 as a specialty of "Monkey" Brown of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, who had a local reputation in the 20's and 30's (Cauthen, 1990). The tune was recorded for the Library of Congress (by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph) from the playing of Ozark Mountain fiddlers in the early 1940's, and (by Herbert Halpert) from the playing of Mississippi fiddlers John Hatcher, Stephen B. Tucker, and Hardy Sharp in 1939. "Leather Breeches" was played in the non-standard key of 'D' Major by Surry County, North Carolina, fiddler Benton Flippen (b. 1920).
The melody was a standard at fiddlers' contests in many areas of the South and Mid-West. It was a 'category tune' for an 1899 fiddle contest in Gallatin, Tenn., in which each fiddler would play his version; the best rendition won a prize (C. Wolfe, The Devil's Box, Vol. 14, No. 4, 12/1/80). It was predicted to "vie with the latest jazz nerve wreckers for first place" at a fiddlers' convention in Chilton County, Alabama, according to the Chilton County News of June 1, 1922 (Cauthen, 1990), and was also predicted by the Northwest Alabamian of August 29th, 1929, that it was likely to be played at an upcoming contest. A.B. Moore, in his 1934 History of Alabama, said it was one of the standard tunes in the square dance fiddler's repertoire, and it was listed as one of the definitive fiddle tunes for a contest in Jackson, Alabama, in the Clarke County Democrat of May 6, 1926 (Cauthen, 1990). "Leather Breeches" has retained popularity to this day as a contest tune. A story has been told of California old-time mandolin player Kenny Hall who played this tune in the 1970's at the 'national' contest at Weiser, Idaho, a hot-bed of Texas-style or 'contest' fiddling. Hall said he had learned the tune from an old Texas fiddler, and that his was what "real" Texas fiddling was all about, which did not endear him to many Texans that weekend. Compounding his faux pas, was that he referred the Texas version of the tune by the title "Perma Press." The Texans were not amused.
In the Appalachian South the term "Leather Britches" is also used to describe string beans strung on strings and hung up on porches to dry. Fiddlers are attracted to the rolling arpeggios of the tune, which involve bowing as well as fingering challenges, and think of "Leather Britches" as a lively showpiece. Most printed versions have two strains, but add a third strain that essentially repeats the low strain an octave higher.
Samuel Bayard suggests the rhyme sung to the melody by old-time musicians is borrowed from an Irish air (song) called "The Britches On." "This (Bayard's 1944 set) is the best set of 'Leather Breeches' yet to turn up in western Pennsylvania. The tune is often accompanied by a rhyme which in Greene County (Pa.) tradition is given below.
Here are the lyrics to “Little Boy/Leather Britches” from Perrow:
Perrow: Cf. Dialect Notes, vol. iii, p. 294 (Alabama).
I have this reported also from Mississippi.
LITTLE BOY/Leather Breeches
III. GAME SONGS AND NURSERY RHYMES
SONGS AND RHYMES FROM THE SOUTH BY E. C. PERROW
(From East Tennessee; mountain whites; from memory; 1909)
Little boy, little boy, wher'd yer get yer britches?
"Daddy cut 'um out, en' mammy sewed the stitches."
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