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Fairy Dance


Alan Day

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Many thanks that I have bought a twinkle to your blue eyes.(Comments very much appreciated.).

It is a difficult tune Jim not to speed up.There is a lot of drive at the start and in session it is a job to hold it back.Still as long as it is enjoyed that's what all this is about.

Al

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I am just trying to learn the song Old Molly Hare ,in honor my my new granddaughter, Molly, and believe it is the same tune.

 

Does anyone know ?

 

Your playing is wonderful Alan. I really like your descending bass line and plan to try something similar.

 

Thanks for posting.

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Yes, Old Molly Hare is the American name of the tune. There are words too, including these charming lyrics...

 

"Get back, get back, Daddy shot a bear,

Shot him through the keyhole and never touched a hair."

Edited by Jody Kruskal
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Yes, Old Molly Hare is the American name of the tune. There are words too, including these charming lyrics...

 

"Get back, get back, Daddy shot a bear,

Shot him through the keyhole and never touched a hair."

 

In the Scottish tradition, as Fairy Dance, the tune is generally attributed to fiddler-composer Nathaniel Gow (1763-1831), so it seems that it must be at least as old as the early 1800s.

 

In his 1940 book Traditional Music of America, fiddler-collector Ira W. Ford provides these words:

Old Molly Hare

What you doin' there,

Diggin' out a post hole

And scratchin' out yore hair?

 

And this legend:

The origin of the verse, in which "Old Molly Hare" is found digging out a post hole, came about when settlers first began to fence in their pasture lands. Digging post holes is arduous work. Spaced along the line of fencing, the settlers would often find many rabbit burrows which could be enlarged and used to place a post in at a great saving of labor. Rabbits burrow into the ground quite deeply where the terrain is soft, lining their nests with their own fur when preparing for their young, and banking the earth around the opening to shed the rainwater.

As a matter of pride, settlers took great pains to have their posts carry a straight line of fence. However, there was one much loved, easy-going character in the community, whose ingenious efforts to avoid over-exertion were a constant source of amusement to his friends and neighbors. When he built his fence he was not particular about a straight line. He selected rows of rabbit holes, set his posts, strung the wire and had his fencing done in no time at all. But the result was even more erratic than he had anticipated. He was surveying the completed work one day when several neighbors, coming in from the range, rode up. They took one look at the fence and then had their usual laugh, to poor old John's embarrassment.

"John," said one, in a voice of suppressed amusement, "how much liquor does it take to the mile, to build a fence like that?"

"Well," said John, scratching his head, "I hadn't calc'lated fer it to be a worm fence. [As well as being the name of the wriggly fish bait, "worm" was one nickname for the copper coil used in distilling whiskey.] Reckon, though, if I had a still hitched to it and the neighbors pourin' cold water along, like they do on all my honest endeavors, you fellers 'ud be down at t'other end of the fence holdin' yer cups to ketch the whiskey!"

As soon as the laughter had subsided over John's turning the tables, the neighbor added, "Anyhow, you certainly did get your fencing done in a hurry. Did you have any help?"

"Yes and no," was the reply. "I sort of took advantage of Mother Nature on part of the work. Old Molly Hare dug the post holes -- but me and the mules had to set the posts and string the wire."

It was shortly after this episode that the above-mentioned verse appeared, and began to be used by callers when the tune "Old Molly Hare" was played.

A good story, even if it doesn't tell us when and how the tune got its American name.

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