Fiddle Tunes - "Jennie Jenkins" and "Soldier's Joy"

Performed by Mr. Charles Wright
Recorded by Professor McIntosh
August 1954
RP WMP MP3

Wright notes during the course of his interview that he has a blacksmith shop not far from Little Grassy Lake (east of Carbondale) and that he had been out sharpening plows earlier on the day of this recording.

Wright performs two solo fiddle tunes here. He makes frequent use of a technique known as the double stop, where two strings on the fiddle are played simultaneously to produce harmony notes behind the melody. In both songs, listen for his changeovers between single-note melodies and double-stop harmonies.

The first song begins with a traditional fiddle tune known as "Jennie Jenkins." One source notes that the earliest mention of this song was by an old Revolutionary War soldier in a publication from 1823. The lyrics to this tune describe how a young man invites Jennie Jenkins to a dance by asking her over and over what color she will wear.

Will you wear white, oh my dear, oh my dear
Oh will you wear white, Jennie Jenkins?
I won't wear white
For the color's too bright.

In the end, Jennie finally does agree to accompany her suitor to the dance.

The second song is the traditional fiddle tune "Soldier's Joy." Always a popular piece for dances, and still performed in folk music circles today, this tune may go back as far as the 1760s. In spite of its upbeat tempo and catchy melody, the term "soldier's joy" has a much darker meaning than is portrayed by the tune. Opinion has it that this term eventually came to refer to the combination of whiskey, beer, and morphine used by Civil War soldiers, presumably for pain relief. As the lyrics state:

Twenty-five cents for whiskey, twenty-five cents for beer
Twenty-five cents for morphine, get me out of here.
Chorus: I'm my momma's pride and joy
I'm my momma's pride and joy
I'm my momma's pride and joy
Sing you a song called the soldier's joy.
RP WMP MP3

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