Jitterbug Swing

So, first a thank you to tony Parkes for sharing info about the Jitterbug Swing relative to Pistol Packin' Mama. I was fiddling with it and trying to figure how to make it work for my Beaver Lake dance party. I decided in the end that the music for Pistol Packin' Mama was pretty boring. I was already subjecting my band to "The Farmer" same little 16-bar ditty like 17 times. And we ended up doing Deep in the heart of Texas which is similarly finger-numbing. Anyway, thinking about music -- something about the dance reminded me of a like from a song that went "sweet mamma, tree-top tall, won't you kindly turn your damper down" I didn't place my source for it at first. I found a song on youtube -- but it was crooked. finally I found a country version of it that was square. The tune reminded me of "Alices's Restaurant and I thought about using that for music. Then I placed the source -- an early Tom Rush recording -- maybe -- but I can't seem to locate it on his discography but anyway, it was back to Sweet Mamma. Here's a link. Listen at the :45 second mark -- that's what we ended up using for the dance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC2Wq39gXvc However, we did it with a much more raggy/swingy feeling and slower tempo. I was still working on paper and didn't really watch the dancers but my bandmates said the dancers wetting it and having lots of fun with it. For contra dancers, I'd make it an opposite swing then come back to partner for the Jitterbug swing I think. I tend to use the heads to the right and do the figure, heads in the middle do figure and then go to other side to do figure pattern for visiting couple figures. Anyway, this is a work in progress, but I thought it might be worth sharing. Feel free to comment and suggest, etc. Oh, and re: the turn, it's nice because the musician have a lot of freedom and the singer has lots of room to improvise too. I think the combination has a top of potential. R. *************** The Jitterbug Swing Music: Sweet Mamma Treetop Tall *Verse* Heads/sides to the right, circle a half with your opposite turkey wing (and with your opposite swing) That’s a right elbow, about once and half (swing a little while than find your own) then catch your partner for a jitterbug swing Push em away and pull em back in and give em a big old hug; Push em away and pull em back in just like a little jitterbug. *Opener/Closer* All join hands and circle a while go about half a mile Head two couples, promenade straight home right down the center aisle Now the sides take a walk; go back home everybody do that jitterbug thing Push em away, pull em back in and that’s the jitterbug swing -- Ridge Kennedy [Exit 145] When you stumble, make it part of the dance. - Anonymous And we should consider every day lost on which we have not danced at least once. And we should call every truth false which was not accompanied by at least one laugh. - Friedrich Nietzsche