Barlow Knife
Notation:
Standard Notation
ABC Notation
Banjo Tablature
Mandolin Tablature
Violin Tablature
traditional
PDF Files:
--- choose file type ---
Standard Notation
Banjo Tablature
Mandolin Tablature
Violin Tablature
Song Sheet
American
Play
MIDI
Play
the audio
Transcription: 08/10/2022 23:53:39 by Darryl D. Bush
View
notes
Lyrics:
I've been a poor boy all my life,
and all I got was a Barlow knife.
A Barlow handle and a Barlow blade,
best dang knife that ever was made.
Take my wife, take my life,
just don't take my Barlow knife.
Glen Lyn, Virginia, fiddler Henry Reed called the tune "Cabin Creek,"<br> and fiddle players have tended to use that title (banjo players more<br> frequently refer to it as "Barlow Knife").<br> Most players play only the first four bars repeated as the A part.<br> I don't remember how I came up with the descending phrase in bars<br> 7 & 8 and I repeat this extended A part just because I like it.<br> The words are used randonly to keep the band going while they are waiting for the<br> dancers to finish their figures. They can be sung to the A part (if you use the four bar<br> version) or the B part.<br> It was printed in Brody's Fiddler's Fakebook (1983),<br> S. Johnson's The Kitchen Musician No. 4: Collection of Fine Tunes (1983),<br> Krassen's Appalachian Fiddle (1973),<br> Kuntz's Ragged but Right (1987),<br> Phillips' Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1 (1994),<br> Silberberg's Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern (2002),<br> Spadaro's 10 Cents a Dance (1980) and<br> Titon's Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes (2001).<br> It was recorded by Ernie Carpenter on Old Time Fiddling of Braxton County (1992),<br> Ebenezer on Tell It to Me,<br> Norman Edmonds on Train on the Island,<br> Alan Jabbour (appears as "Cabin Creek"),<br> Franklin George on Reflections of the Past (1995),<br> The Fuzzy Mountain String Band on Summer Oaks and Porch (1973) and<br> Juggernaut String Band on Greasy Coat.<br>
Click
here
for a full page view.