|
"Grandmammy Look at Uncle Sam", also known as
"Granny Look at Uncle Sam", "Grandma Take a Look at Uncle Sam" and "Run Here Granny
Take a Look at Uncle Sam" is an American reel in 4/4, 2/4 or cut time in
A Minor. The parts are played ABCC or AABBC. Some versions vary in tonality from
A Minor to A Dorian or A Mixolydian. This version is from John Hartford's playing.
Playing this cooked tune brings to mind the more regular Irish tune "The Dunmore Lasses". These words are sometimes sung to the tune: Run here Grandmammy, look at Uncle Sam,According to Clay County, West Virginia, fiddler Wilson Douglas (1922-1999), influential east Kentucky fiddler Ed Hayley (1885-1951) played this tune. It was printed in Stephen F. Davis' The Devil's Box, vol. 30, No. 4, Winter 1996 and Phillips' Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 2 (1995). It was recorded by Glen Smith on Say Old Man (1990), J.P. & Annadeene Fraley on Wild Rose of the Mountain (1973), John Hartford on Wild Hog in the Red Brush and a Bunch of Others You Might Not Have Heard (1996) and Gene Goforth on Emminence Breakdown (1997). |