Checking with John Burke an old time fiddler in Seattle he said Rubber Dolly is in the key
of whoever sings it. Back up and Push is in C but the “B” part starts on the 4 chord (F).
The same tune though...
On Oct 30, 2019, at 8:30 PM, jim saxe via Musicians
<musicians(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
Thanks to Jim McKinney, David Firestine, and John Beland for identifying "Dusty
Roads" as "My Love Is [/She's] but a Lassie-O [/Lassie Yet]," also
known by many other names (see
https://tunearch.org/wiki/My_Love_is_but_a_Lassie_Yet_(1)
) including "Too Young to Marry," and not to be confused, by the way, with
"Take Me Back to Tulsa," also also known as "Too Young to Marry."
Regarding "Rubber Dolly"/"Back Up And Push," the annotations at
https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Rubber_Dolly_(1)
mention the song lyrics
My mama told me, If I'd be goody
That she would buy me, a rubber dolly
...
one version of which can be heard, for example, here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPquvsacG5M
Looking at the musical score on
https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Rubber_Dolly_(1)
I believe the words "told" and "me" in the song correspond the first
two notes of the first full measure: a quarter-note for "told" and a quarter
note tied to an eighth note for "me", both on C-sharp, or scale degree 3 (mi) in
the key of A major. In the music for "Back Up and Push" at
https://tunearch.org/wiki/Back_Up_and_Push_(1)
(notated as 2/2 instead of 4/4 and in the key of G instead of A), I believe the
corresponding notes are a half note on D (sol in G major) and a half note tied to a
quarter note on A (re). So those notes are rhythmically the same in (the cited
transcription of) "Rubber Dolly" as in (the cited transcription of) "Back
Up and Push, but melodically different: "mi mi" in RD vs. "sol re" in
BUAP).
Listening to the rendition of "Rubber Dolly" at
https://www.ceder.net/recorddb/viewsingle.php?RecordId=9791&SqlId=249698
that I cited in my earlier message, I think that in the place where I've just
described transcriptions on tunearch as having two long notes, the banjo player (Jack
Hawes) on the record plays seven notes:
told (ti-ka) me (ti-ka) ee
And yet I can still detect (albeit with a little stretching) a resemblance between that
recording and some recordings I've found of "Back Up and Push." But it does
set me wondering just how much two musical performances can differ from each other
rhythmically and/or melodically and still be regarded as renditions of the
"same" tune.
As I write this, I'm reminded of an occasion about 15 years ago when I was sitting in
a dining area with one of my aunts and she asked if I knew what tune was playing on the
P.A. system. I said I thought it was "Tea for Two" but she said it sounded
nothing like "Tea for Two". Years later (unfortunately when my aunt was no
longer living), I happened to hear this on the radio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLDHCDz7S2g
and the mystery was solved when the DJ announced the title.
--Jim
_______________________________________________
Musicians mailing list
Musicians(a)lists.sharedweight.net
http://lists.sharedweight.net/listinfo.cgi/musicians-sharedweight.net