"The Joke on the Puppy", also known as "Rye Straw" or "The Unfortunate Pup" is an old-time breakdown. in A Major. It is usually played in ADae fiddle tuning. The parts are played AA'BB'. Some players call this tune "Rye Straw" but it is in a different key and is melodically different from the version of "Rye Straw" in this section. Structurally, various versions contain anywhere from two to four distinct parts. The A part is somewhat similar to "Mississippi Sawyer" in this section. It was printed in Lamancusa's The Gettysburg Collection of Old-Time Fiddle Tunes (2021). It was recorded by Clayton McMichen (1929) (78 RPM), Tommy Jarrell on Sail Away Ladies (1976) and The Joke on the Puppy (1976), Stephen B. Tucker on Great Big Yam Potatoes: Anglo-American Fiddle Music from Mississippi (1985) and Uncle Am Stuart (recorded in 1924 as "Rye Straw") (78 RPM).