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Mabel
Traditional Old-Time, Breakdown, Texas;
ARTIST: Elmo Newcomer in his ranch home near Pipe Creek, Bandera, Co., Texas, May 3, 1939;
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes; DATE: 1939
RECORDING INFO: Rounder CD0262, Mike Seeger - "Fresh Oldtime String Band Music" (1988. Learned from a 1939 recording by Elmo Newcomer, Pipe Creek, Texas, recorded by John and Rudy Lomax for the Library of Congress). Stokes County String Quartet. Fresh Oldtime String Band Music, Rounder 0262, LP (1988), cut# 2;
Off to California Songs: "Going to California," "Humours of California" and "Far From Home," "The Whiskey Hornpipe," "Whiskey You're the Devil," "Whiskey in the Jar," "Possum Up a Gum Stump," "Old Towser," "Lexington," "Gypsy Hornpipe," "Buttermilk and Cider" (Pa.), "Fireman's Reel." Irish, English, American; Hornpipe. USA; New England, southwestern Pa. G Major. Standard. AABB. Irish in origin. The first part combines with other parts for "Fireman's Reel," "I'm Waiting for You," "Silver Cluster," and "Five Miles Out of Town." Source for notated version: Capt. Francis O'Neill learned this tune in the San Joaquin Valley of California when he was aged 19--presumably the title appealed to him in his circumstances, having left County Cork in his mid-teens [O'Neill/Irish Folk Music].
Off to California Recordings: Boys of the Lough. Regrouped, Flying Fish FF 223, LP (1980), cut#B.03c; Carol, Bonnie. Laughing Willow, Bristlecone BC 04, LP (1985), cut# 5a; Deseret String Band. Land of Milk and Honey, Okehdokee 74002, LP (1974), cut# 5b; Doucet, Tom. Tommy Doucet, Rounder 7010, LP (1979), cut# 1c; Gloucester Hornpipe and Clog Society. Gloucester Hornpipe and Clog Society, Fiddlin' Whale, LP (197?), cut#B.02; Hanly, Mick. As I Went Over Blackwater, Green Linnet SIF 3007, LP (1982), cut# 7a; Kruskal, Tom; and Jim Morrison. Round Pond Relics, Cottey Light 901, LP (1980), cut#B.01; Martin, Reed. Young Fogies, Heritage (Galax) 056, LP (198?), cut# 7; Nelson, Mark. Fiddle Tunes for Dulcimer, Kicking Mule KM 218, LP (1980), cut# 5b; O'Sullivan, Sean; and Joe Murtaugh. Off To California, Advent 3601, LP, cut# 8; Parish, Roscoe. Old-Time Tunes from Coal Creek, Heritage (Galax) 005, LP, cut# 1 (Miss Johnson's Hornpipe); Sapoznik, Hank (Henry). Melodic Clawhammer Banjo, Kicking Mule KM 209, LP (1976), cut#B.04; Spence, Bill. Saturday Night in the Provinces, Front Hall FHR-005, LP (1975), cut# 12a; Williamson Robin. English, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish Fiddle Tunes, Oak, fol (1976), p90
RELATED TO: "Off to California," "Muddy Road to Kansas," Gypsy Hornpipe ; Going to California,” Portsmouth Hornpipe; Hillside Cottage; I'm Waiting For You; Cowboy's Reel; Silver Star Hornpipe; OTHER NAMES: "Dubuque" "Duck River," "Fiddling Phil," "Five Miles Out of Town," "General Lee," "Muddy Road to Kansas," "Old Dubuque," "Phiddlin' Phil," "Sally in the Green Corn."
SOURCES: American Memory; Lomax; Ceolas Fiddler’s Companion.
NOTES: “Mabel” is in the family of the "Off to California" tunes. "Muddy Road to Kansas" is an Illinois title for the melody.
Mabel was first recorded by John Lomax on a recording trip to Texas in 1939: On the evening of May 3, 1939 Elmo Newcomer recorded fiddle tunes and words in his home on the San Antonio-Bandera road, near Pipe Creek. He has he reputation of being the best dance caller in the county; the next night, while his wife attended a Pipe Creek school trustees meeting he and the children came to the Lomax tourist cabin, where C. W. Saathoff, fiddler, and J. O. Evans, guitarist, played for his calls, using the tune Wagner.
The fiddle tunes and breakdowns on this record were played and sung by Elmo Newcomor, in his ranch home on the San Antonio-Bandera Road, near Pipe Creek, Texas, Bandera Co., May 3, 1939. Mr. Newcomer was introduced to Mr. Lomax by J. Marvin Hunter, editor of Frontier Times and Director of the Frontier Times Museum in Bandera, Texas. Mr. Newcomer and his family of wife and four children live in a very old two-room house, where Mr. Newcomer lived from the age of two, and where his mother died when he was four. He has "always" played these tunes and is a favorite caller at dances. His Rye Whiskey with antics is a general favorite at fiddle contests. Mrs. Newcomer is a member of the school trustees of Pipe Creek.
Here are the lyrics to Mabel from Elmo Newcomer:
Love it is an awful thing, beauty is a blossom;
And if you want your finger bit, just poke it at a possum.
(Fiddle Break)
Glory to the meetin' house, and glory to the stable
Glory to the little girl that they call Mabel.
(Fiddle Break)
Love it is an awful thing, beauty is a blossom;
And if you want your finger bit, just poke it at a possum.
(Fiddle Break)
Glory to the meetin' house, and glory to the stable
Glory to the little girl that they call Mabel.
(Fiddle Break)
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