Darling Cora | Performance
Added 2018-04-20 20:57:40 +0000 UTC(banjo is tuned eAEAA, relative to gCGCC aka "Darling Cora" tuning)
As per your requests here is "Darling Cora." I use the same tuning, melody and words as George Gibson learned from his father, Mal Gibson, who was born about 1900, if I am not mistaken. George says this tuning, one of several known as 'dulcimer tunings,' was once common in south east Kentucky.
In some versions of the song, Cora is described as a whiskey maker on the run from government revenue agents. Although the theme is very old (about 200 years ago MANY liquor distillers in the U.S. and Britain were actually women) the song is usually said to have originated in the late 19th-century lumber and railroad camps of southern Appalachia.
-----------------Lyrics----------------
Wake up wake up my darling what makes you sleep so sound?
Them highwaymen are riding they're gonna burn this whole damned town.
Wake up wake up my darling go run and get my gun,
I ain't no one for trouble but I'll die before I'll run.
Last night upon my pillow last night upon my bed,
Had them prison bars all around me them cold chains on my legs.
Dig a hole dig a hole in the meadow dig it deep in the cold, cold clay
Dig a hole down in the meadow let me lay this woman away.
First time I seen my woman she was setting on the bank of the sea,
Had a rifle on her shoulder and a five-string on her knee.
Last time I seen my woman she had a dram glass in her hand,
She was drinking down her troubles with some low-down sorry man.
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Comments
L.O.L. yes I have always heard it sang, "six gun," "pistol," "forty-four" &c. but for some reason, since I was a young child, I've always sang "had a rifle on her shoulder." Only recently did I begin to notice that she might've had some difficulty with that and catch myself inserting the asside: "I don't know how she did THAT!" Well, clearly she had a good sturdy strap on her rifle--Cora, like any good soldier, never left her gun leaning up against a tree.
Clifton Hicks
2018-06-20 13:21:42 +0000 UTCThanks, Joel I hadn't seen this film of Frank. He may have drawn from my "Darling Cora" (which I completely stole from George Gibson) but he's definitely performing a very original arrangement there. To my ear it's like he took "Reubin" and "Cora" and crossed them with his own re-edit of "Ellen Smith." It's the repeating-open-string-pull-offs that he uses which make it sound reminiscent of Gibson's "Cora" more than anything else. PS I spent a few days around Frank in 2016 at New York City and he has my full stamp of approval both as musician and man. People lament that he is now performing very little (if at all) and works as a carpenter, plumber, electrician &c. I sympathize with him deeply, having myself taken years off from music to focus on archaeology, gardening and odd jobs. We haven't heard the last from Mr. Fairfield, I am sure.
Clifton Hicks
2018-06-20 13:03:57 +0000 UTCI have wondered for a while where Frank Fairfield pulled the unusual melody (I haven't heard it elsewhere anyway) for his version of Poor Ellen Smith (which he plays in open C). It's quite similar to this version of Darling Cora. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=GCg2GH6OuXI" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=GCg2GH6OuXI</a>
joel brady
2018-06-20 12:46:15 +0000 UTCI've seen "rifle" replaced with "six-gun"--that might have been easier to accommodate with her 5-string. :-)
joel brady
2018-06-20 11:41:01 +0000 UTCIt's days and days I keep listening to this version. The Dulcimeer tuning has a beautiful melancholic sound hidden in it
Lorenzo A
2018-05-05 20:00:22 +0000 UTCAlex, it doesn't seem to let me message you. Here is a link of how I'm playing it. Working on implementing some fanning in it. Still needs some polishing, but getting there maybe? <a href="https://youtu.be/9MIq2s9b_uY" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/9MIq2s9b_uY</a>
Alan
2018-05-03 01:20:42 +0000 UTCSame tuning but that mountain banjo was tuned by ear, so probably closer to gCGCC that the eAEAA I used here. And, since that instrument was fretless, my left hand work was a LOT different than what I'm doing here. Perhaps I'll need to revisit this in the future on a fretless?
Clifton Hicks
2018-04-27 18:14:23 +0000 UTCVery nice! Was this rendition done in a different key than you've done before? I remember seeing you perform this a few years back on a mountain banjo.
Jim Turner
2018-04-27 02:22:42 +0000 UTCAlex, I should have time to youtube my Reilgh and Spencer in a couple of days. I'll try to message it to you.
Alan
2018-04-23 21:44:08 +0000 UTCYou got a video of you playing it in that tuning? I'd love to learn it.
Alex Schupick
2018-04-23 18:30:21 +0000 UTCfirst song that i've learned on banjo
Timofey Tverdiukov
2018-04-23 15:02:06 +0000 UTCYes, sir I'll post those words ASAP. When George Gibson played it for me years ago he started out finger picking it, sang a verse or two and then transitioned into the harder overhand style. I have always performed it that way ever since. Transitioning BACK to finger picking at the end may be "jumping the shark" a bit, but I always do that too.
Clifton Hicks
2018-04-22 14:16:24 +0000 UTCThat was brilliant......
louie goodwin
2018-04-22 11:41:23 +0000 UTCThis going back to fingerpicking at the end is very nice. I learn a lot from this video! It would be great if you could post the lyrics. Thanks!
Jonas Nottbeck
2018-04-22 11:14:25 +0000 UTCYears ago, after listening to about every version on youtube, coming across yours was when I first became a fan. You kill it! I play Raleigh and Spencer in that tunning too!
Alan
2018-04-21 12:48:35 +0000 UTC
