Old Aunt Jenny with her Night Cap On
Joseph DeCosimo and Butch Ross. Structure = AAB. Lots of Em chord.
Key of G. 2 parts (low A, high B. Can be played AB, AAB, ABB, or AABB. Can be crooked with extra measure in part B. There can be more or less of the C chord.
Foghorn String band plays it slow and crooked [utoob]. This beautiful video is live in the studio of WAMU Bluegrass Country. Hubie King, who hosted the Old Time Jam radio show, joins on the banjo. Good natured Hubie gets zoomed in on as he misses the crooked part -- twice! To be fair, the fiddler really winds around that crooked part, and Hubie does get it the last time. Mandolin player tells him, "Nice playing."
West Virginia fiddler Wilson Douglas plays a square melody with no Em chord. The two parts are very similar. He put this tune on a vinyl record that we haven't found. He was filmed performing it a the Clifftop festival [utoob] and on a TV show [utoob], both with banjo player Kim Johnson.
Canote Brothers have it on their learn by ear page [mp3] played ABB.Skip to third song (6:40) in this medley of 4 by
Brian Scott plays a really cool version he attributes to Estill Bingham. It has an E drone beat in the A part and a crooked B part and is played AABB [Utoob]
Brad Kolodner solo banjo from a rooftop in Spain [Utoob]
She plays a version attributed to Dave Bing [Utoob] in A, fiddle tuned AEAE.
Field recording at Centralia Cookout [Utoob] played AB.
Notorious [Utoob]. Medley warning! This is the third song in a medley of four.
Variation, just fiddle in the kitchen [Utoob]
Here is the requisite video of a seven-year-old playing it better than we do [google]
"Take 2." This fiddle/banjo duet in the living room is choppy but it has interesting ideas on both instruments [utoob]
Old recording of Estill Bingham [Slippery Hill]
Lyrics
This historical note gives old lyrics as a question and duplicitous answer: "Whose been here since I've been gone? (3x), Old Aunt Jenny with her night cap on." It cites an out-of-print book, Traditional Music of America by Ira William Ford. Thanks to Barb for sending this photo...
