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Pretty Little Widow/ Pretty Little Widder
Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA; Arkansas, Kentucky, Virginia, north Georgia.
ARTIST: Skillet Lickers
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
EARLIEST DATE: McMichen learned the tune from his father Mitchell circa 1910; First recording is 1925.
RECORDING INFO: Pretty Little Widow/Widder [Me IV-A19]
Rt - Sugarfoot Rag
Uf - Sugarfoot Rag
Burke, John. Burke, John (ed.) / Book of Old Time Fiddle Tunes for Banjo, Amsco, sof (1968), p25
Ensemble. Shivaree!, Esoteric ES-538, LP (1955), trk# A.04c
Howard, Clint; and Fred Price. Ballad of Finley Preston, Rounder 0009, LP (1972), trk# 20
Milnes, Gerry; and Lorraine Lee Hammond. Hell Up Coal Holler, Shanachie 6040, CD (1999), trk# 17
Mountain Ramblers. Mountain Ramblers, County 720, LP (1969), trk# B.02
Robic, A; and the Exertions. Old Time Music Dance Party, Flying Fish FF 415, LP (1987), trk# 3b
Seeger, Pete; and Frank Hamilton. Nonesuch and Other Folk Tunes, Folkways FA 2439, LP (1959), trk# B.05
Skillet Lickers. Skillet Lickers, Vol. 2, County 526, LP (1973), trk# 12 [1928/10/23]
Skillet Lickers. Old Time Fiddle Tunes and Songs from N. Georgi, County CD 3509, CD (1996), trk# 13 [1928/10/23]
Smith, Glen (West Va). Say Old Man, Marimac AHS 3, Cas (1990), trk# A.10
Stepp, W. H.. Titon, Jeff Todd / Old Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes, Kentucky, Bk/ (2001), p158/#131 [1937/10/26]
Stringbean (David Ackerman). Stringbean and His Banjo. A Salute to Uncle Dave Macon, Starday SLP 215, LP (1963), trk# 2
Pretty Little Willow
RELATED TO: Sugarfoot Rag; Rye Straw/Black My Boots and Go See the Widow [Me IV-A12]
SOURCES: Kuntz; Folk Index; John Ashby [Phillips]; W.H. Stepp (Salyersville, Magoffin County, Ky., 1937) [Titon]. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; pg. 190. Titon (Old Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes), 2001; No. 131, pg. 158. County 526, Gid Tanner & Clayton McMichen – “The Skillet Lickers, vol. 2” (1973. Originally recorded 1928). County 720, Joe Drye – “The Mountain Ramblers” (1969). Leatherwood (cassette), Bruce Greene – “Vintage Fiddle Tunes” (1987). Marimac AHS #3, Glen Smith – “Say Old Man” (1990. Learned from Tommy Magness). Vocalion 5430 (78 RPM), A.A. Gray (appears as first tune of "A Georgia Barbecue at Stone Mountain"). Shanachie 6040, Gerry Milnes & Lorraine Lee Hammond – “Hell Up Coal Holler” (1999. Learned from W.Va. fiddler Glen Smith, along with a Kentucky version).
NOTES: One of the first tunes Clayton McMichen learned when he was a young boy from his father and uncles. Mac lived in Altoona, GA and played the tune at local dances with the other musicians in town. It became one of the main tunes besides "Boil Dem Cabbage Down" that he used to win fiddle contests [Juanita Mcmichen Lynch].
McMichen recorded the tune in 1928 with his band the Skillet Lickers. In the fiddle trio Mac played lead with Gid Tanner (doubling and playing some harmony) and Bert Layne (a lower part).
Mac recorded a solo version as part of a medley in his last Decca session in 1939. The song was first recorded by Fiddlin' John Carson in 1925 as "Old Frying Pan and Old Camp Kettle." Other early recordings include W.H. Stepp (1937) and Roy Acuff (1949).
Kuntz: A Major {Phillips}: A Mixolydian (‘A’ part) & A Major (‘B’part) {Titon}: D Major. Standard or AEae (Stepp/Titon) tunings. AAB (Titon): AABB (Phillips).
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. It was famously recorded by the Georgia group The Skillet Lickers, whom Jeff Titon (2001) suggest may have “inspired (W.H.) Stepp’s more interesting setting.”
Typical lyrics include:
Oh my, pretty little widder;
Blacken my boots and I'll go git her.
Hank Garland's "Sugarfoot" is a version "Pretty Little Widow." Garland said he'd conceived as a finger exercise. After the song was an instrumental hit, words were written by G. Vaughn and the song was recorded again in 1950 and became a major hit for Red Foley and Garland. It earned Garland his nickname, "Sugarfoot." Here are the lyrics:
Gonna get out my sickle
Gonna shine up my shoes
And meet my baby and tell the news
Bet my money on a sway back nag
Come home a winner with plenty of swag
One foot, two foot, slew foot drag
Swing your honey to the Sugar foot rag
Diggin and Jiggin with a zig and zag
While the dobro plays that Sugarfoot rag
Got a big jug of cider
And a little jug of wine
One for my honey and the other ones mine
Sip on the cider and sip on the wine
All sip together and have a good time
One foot, two foot, slew foot drag
Swing your honey to the Sugar foot fag
Diggin and jiggin with a zig and zag
While the mandolin plays that Sugarfoot rag
In a taped interview, McMichen claimed that Garland had borrowed his father's tune to compose Sugarfoot Rag.
Pretty Little Widow- Skillet Lickers 1928
Mac to Bert: Well Zeke, how're you doing with the little widder now?
Bert as Zeke: Oh boy fine, fine.
Mac: They tell me you're gettin' up quite a case up there is that so?
Bert as Zeke: You bet.
Mac: I just learned a new tune called the "Little Widder," I'm gonna play it for you and her. Riley you sing it now.
Riley: Let's go
(Fiddle)
Lawd Lawd, what a pretty little widder,
If I was a young man I'd go and git 'er.
(Fiddle)
Lawd-- what a pretty little widder,
Black my boots and I'll go and git 'er.
(Fiddle)
That little widder she's lookin' fine
I'm a -gonna beat *St. Lawrence's time.
(Fiddle)
Lawd Lawd, Lawd what a pretty little widder,
If I was a young man I'd go and get 'er.
(Fiddle)
Lawd, Lawd, Lawd, what a pretty little widder,
Black my boots and I'll go and git 'er.
(Fiddle)
Woah is me, she don't like me 'cause I'm rough and rowdy.
Everytime I go see her she hardly tells me, "howdy."
(Fiddle)
Lawd Lawd, Lawd what a pretty little widder,
If I was a young man I'd go and get 'er.
(Fiddle ending)
*or "Steve Lawrence's time" also I've heard "Freddy Lawrence's time."
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