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"Johnny Get Your Hair Cut", also known as "Granny Will Your Dog Bite?",
"Chippy Get Your Hair Cut" or "Gippy Get Your Hair Cut" is an American reel in
D Major. The parts are played AABC.
Samuel Bayard (1944) reported that the first part of this tune (unaccompanied by any other strain) was sung in southwestern Pennsylvania to the ditties: Johnny get your hair cut, hair cut, hair cut,and Granny will your dog bite, dog bite, dog bite,In Pennsylvania a playparty song was also sung to the first melodic strain. This is the only version known to the Bayard which is furnished with a third part. In his opinion "It will be noticed that the third section appears to be more modern than the others, and is distinctly inferior--something which can frequently be observed in extra sections arbitrarily tacked onto traditional instrumental airs." It was collected from Sarah Armstrong in Derry PA in 1943 by Samuel Bayard. Mrs. Armstrong was rather proud of knowing a set containing three parts instead of the normal two. Some Appalachian fiddlers believe "Johnny Get Your Hair Cut" and "Granny Will Your Dog Bite", are different tunes. Bayard documents two different tunes called "Granny Will Your Dog Bite?" in Dance to the Fiddle (1981). It was printed in Bayard's Hill Country Tunes (1944) and Sandburg's The American Songbag (1927)(first part with jingle). |