Grasshopper Sittin' on a Sweet Potato Vine
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"Grasshopper Sittin' on a Sweet Potato Vine" is an Old-Time breakdown in D Major.<br> The parts are played AB (Silberberg) or AABB (most versions).<br> Galax, Grayson County, Virginia, area fiddler Luther Davis (1887-1986) is usually<br> credited as the source for most versions of this tune. African-American collector<br> Thomas Talley printed a song by this title in his 1922 work Negro Folk Rhymes<br> (reprinted in 1991, edited by Charles Wolfe). His lyric (which seems to scan with<br> the abc tune) goes:<br> <br> Grasshopper a settin' on a sweet tater vine,<br> 'Long come a Blackbird an' nab him up behind.<br> <br> Blackbird a-settin' in a sour apple tree,<br> Hawk grab him up behind; he "Chee! Chee! Chee!"<br> <br> Big hawk a-settin' in de top of dat oak,<br> Start to eat dat Blackbird an' he git choke.<br> <br> There are some similarities to the Irish melody "An Comhra Donn" (The Brown<br> Chamber). There are also melodic similarities in parts to some versions<br> of the song "The Battle Hymn of the Republic / John Brown's Body".<br> The banjo tablature is by John Letscher.<br> It was printed in Johnson's The Kitchen Musician No. 2: Occasional Collection of<br> Old-Timey Fiddle Tunes for Hammer Dulcimer, Fiddle, etc. (1982, 1988 & 2003),<br> Levenson's Old Time Festival Tunes for Clawhammer Banjo (2006),<br> Phillips' Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1 (1994),<br> Silberberg's Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern (2002) and<br> Songer's Portland Collection (1997).<br> It was recorded by Grand Picnic on Grand Picnic (2003) and<br> Liz Slade on Old Time Friends (1987).<br>
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