Old Molly Hare
Notation:
Standard Notation
ABC Notation
Accomp. Notation
Banjo Tablature
Mandolin Tablature
Violin Tablature
traditional
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Standard Notation
Accomp. Notation
Banjo Tablature
Mandolin Tablature
Violin Tablature
Song Sheet
American
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
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Lyrics:
Old Molly Hare what're you doin' there?
Sittin on a haystack shootin' at a bear.
Shot at one,
Shot at two,
Shot at another one an' give it to you.
Old Molly Hare what're you doin' there?
Sittin on a butter dish pickin' out a hair.
Picked out one,
Picked out two,
Picked out another one an' give it to you.
Old Molly Hare what're you doin' there?
Sittin in a corner smokin' a cigar.
I lit one,
I lit two,
I lit another one an' give it to you.
"Old Molly Hare", also known as "Blue Eagle Rag", "Fisher Laddie,", "Grandma Blair",<br> "Molly Hare", "Lady of the Lake", "Largo's Fairy Dance", "Old Granny Blair", "Rustic Dance",<br> "The Fairy Reel" is an American, Reel in 4/4 or cut time in G Major (Brody) or D Major (most<br> versions). The parts are played AB (Silberberg), AABB (Brody, Ford, Krassen, Phillips),<br> ABBA'BCA"B' (Reiner & Anick).<br> It is usually played in standard tuning but Clayton McMichen played it in ADae fiddle tuning.<br> "Old Molly Hare" is a widespread American descendant of Scottish fiddler-composer<br> Nathaniel Gow's (1763–1831) reel "Largo's Fairy Dance" composed for<br> the Fife Hunt Ball in 1802. It is known as "Fisher Laddie" in northern England, where it<br> appears in a collection of Northern English sword dance tunes by Cecil Sharp. The tune is<br> known as<br> "The Fairy Reel"<br> in Ireland and<br> "Da Faery Reel"<br> in Shetland.<br> The "Old Molly Hare" song and title appears to be strictly American in origin. Musicologist<br> Charles Wolfe (1991) believed it to have been a minstrel piece that went into oral tradition<br> among both blacks and whites.<br> The lyrics are the usual type of "floater" verses sung to dance tunes.<br> It was printed in Brody's Fiddler's Fakebook (1983),<br> S. Johnson's Kitchen Musician No. 4: Fine Tunes (1983) (revised 1991, 2001),<br> Kaufman's Beginning Old Time Fiddle (1977),<br> Krassen's Appalachian Fiddle (1973),<br> Phillips' Fiddle Case Tunebook: Old Time Southern (1989),<br> Reiner & Anick's Old Time Fiddling Across America (1989) and<br> Silberberg's Fiddle Tunes I Learned at the Tractor Tavern (2002).<br> It was recorded The Crockett Family (1928),<br> Riley Puckett & Clayton McMichen (1928),<br> Clayton McMichen on Old Time Fiddle Classics, Vol. II,<br> New Lost City Ramblers on Vol. 5,<br> Fiddlin' Cowan Powers (1928),<br> Haywood Blevins on Old Originals, vol. II,<br> Art Galbraith on James River Fiddler: Dixie Blossoms (2007, extended reissue of 1981 LP) and<br> W.A. Bledsoe (Meridian, Mississippi) for the Library of Congress (1939).<br> Barbara Cooney's illustration of Old Molly Hare for Ruth Crawford Seeger's<br> American folk songs for children in home, school and nursery school: a book for children,<br> parents and teachers (1948) is probably based on the verse:<br> Old Molly Hare, whatcha doin' thar,<br> Sittin' in the corner, smoking a cigar.<br>
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