Katy Bar the Door
Notation:
Standard Notation
ABC Notation
Banjo Tablature
Mandolin Tablature
Violin Tablature
traditional
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"Katy Bar the Door", also known as "Katie, Bar the Door" is an American reel in cut time<br> and G Major. The parts are played AA'BB'.<br> The tune is known from the banjo and fiddle playing of Grayson County, southwest<br> Virginia musician Roscoe Parish (1897-1984).<br> The phrase "Katie, bar the door" is an Americanism that roughly means "Watch out,<br> there's trouble ahead and you'd better be ready". The phrase can be traced in print<br> to the latter 19th century, where it appears in the newspaper The Louisiana Democrat<br> of Alexandria, Louisiana of October, 1872:<br> The Custom House Packet, with the Custom House colored band, U.S. Marshal Packard,<br> in command, with the old flag triumphantly kissing the breeze of old Red, the band<br> playing "Katie, Bar The Door" and with waving rags touched the wharf and proceeded<br> to land her precious cargo.<br> There are several speculations about the origin of the phrase, some dating to incidents<br> in the British Isles. William and Mary Morris’s book The Dictionary of Word and Phrase<br> Origins suggests that it derives from a traditional ballad, most probably the medieval<br> Scots one usually entitled "Get Up and Bar the Door".<br> The tune is usually played as an instrumental, although these words have been collected<br> with it:<br> Katy bar your door,<br> Katy bar your door;<br> The Indians jumping all around your house,<br> Katy bar your door.<br> The banjo tablature is by John Letscher. His notes:<br> From Rayna Gellert's Starch and Iron CD mostly. First learned from playing with<br> John Lamancusa. Has a "Grandpa's Hat" feel to it. Not meaning what's in the hat.<br> The reference is to Fire in the Log, also known as Who Shit in Grandpa's Hat.<br> It was recorded by The Harmony Sisters on The Harmony Sisters: The Early Years" (1999),<br> Roscoe Parish on The Old Time Way (1986. Originally recorded in 1974) and<br> Rayna Gellert & Susie Goering on Starch and Iron (2012).<br>
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