Mississippi Sawyer
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"Mississippi Sawyer", also known as “Downfall of Adam”, "The Downfall of Paris”,<br> "Fish on a Snag”, "Mississippi Jubilee”, "Love from the Heart” and "Quadrille des<br> seigneurs 5ème partie" is an old-time breakdown in D Major (most versions) or D Mixolydian<br> (S. Johnson). The parts are played AABB.<br> It is an extremely well-known old-time fiddle tune. One of the earliest<br> printings of a tune by this title is in George P. Knauff's Virginia Reels,<br> volume IV (1839) where it appears under the title "Love from the Heart".<br> The tune has been known to American fiddlers since the early 19th century and older<br> fiddlers frequently give the tune's title as "The Downfall of Paris".<br> The melody was known particularly in Texas around 1935 as "Downfall of Paris" and was recorded<br> in 1939 for the Library of Congress under that title.<br> "The Downfall of Paris" in the Irish section is an Irish set dance<br> and is a very different tune.<br> A 'sawyer' was a boatman's term for an uprooted tree whose roots<br> had become partially anchored to the bottom of the stream bed.<br> Though anchored, the river's currents would cause the trunk to bob<br> up and down, often causing the tree to break surface rather suddenly<br> in front of a river craft. On the Mississippi is was enough of a problem that special<br> government 'snag boats' patrolled the river in order to protect against such menaces.<br> A 'crooked' version of the tune was recorded in 1929 by Montreal fiddler J.O. LaMadeleine<br> as "Quadrille des seigneurs 5ème partie", the last part of a quadrille set. <br> The tune was printed in Adam's Old Time Fiddlers' Favorite Barn Dance Tunes (1928),<br> Woodchopper's Square Dance Calls with Music and Instructions (1940),<br> Bayard's Dance to the Fiddle (1981),<br> Beisswenger & McCann's Ozarks Fiddle Music (2008),<br> Brody's Fiddler's Fakebook (1983),<br> Christeson's Old Time Fiddler's Repertory, vol. 1 (1973),<br> Ford's Traditional Music in America (1940),<br> S. Johnson's Kitchen Musician No. 4: Fine Tunes (1983) (revised 1991, 2001),<br> Kaufman's Beginning Old Time Fiddle (1977),<br> Messer's Way Down East (1948),<br> Messer's Anthology of Favorite Fiddle Tunes (1980),<br> Phillips' Fiddle Case Tunebook: Old Time Southern (1989),<br> Phillips' Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1 (1994),<br> Reiner's Anthology of Fiddle Styles (1979),<br> Reiner & Anick's Old Time Fiddling Across America (1989),<br> Ruth's Pioneer Western Folk Tunes (1948),<br> Silberberg's Fiddle Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern (2002),<br> Songer's Portland Collection (1997),<br> Sweet's Fifer's Delight (1965/1981) and<br> Thede's The Fiddle Book (1967)7 (two versions).<br> It was recorded by The Skillet Lickers,<br> The Old Virginia Fiddlers on Rare Recordings,<br> Cape Cod Fiddlers on Concert Collection II (1999),<br> Charlie Acuff, Don Richardson (1916), Earl Johnson & his Clodhoppers on Old Time String Band<br> Tunes (1975) (Appears as "Mississippi Jubilee"),<br> Emmett Lundy on Round the Heart of Old Galax (1980),<br> Kirk Sutphin on Old Roots and New Branches (1994),<br> Al Hopkins and His Buckle Busters on The Hill Billies/Al Hopkins and His Buckle Busters,<br> A. Robic (Bruce Molsky) and the Exertions on Old Time Music Dance Party (1987),<br> Bill Spence & Fennigs All Stars on The Hammered Dulcimer (1973),<br> Mark Graham on Natural Selections (1987) and<br> John McCutcheon on The Wind that Shakes the Barley (1977).<br>
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