- Style
- Old-time
- Tradition
- Appalachian
- Form
- Breakdown
- Key
- A Dorian
- Level
- 3
- Played on
- Fiddle
In the public domain. Source
Music
90bpm
Click any note to start from there
Chord chart
History
Folklorist Mike Yates found a text dated 1886 in an article on South Texas Black work songs. Fiddle versions differ so much from player to player that often the only thing they share is a chicken squawk somewhere in the tune. It is also a banjo favorite, and fiddlers often play it cross tuned in AEae, the "sawmill key."
Tommy Jarrell learned it from Tony Lowe, who played it with plucked "clucks" and swung the fiddle out and back without losing the beat. Fiddlin' Cowan Powers was playing it on stage with the Stanley Brothers in Saltville, Virginia, in the early 1950s when he had a fatal heart attack.
My old hen's a good old hen, She lays eggs for the railroad men; Sometimes one, sometimes two, Sometimes enough for the whole damn crew.
First time she cackled, she cackled in the lot, Next time she cackled she cackled in the pot; Cluck Old Hen, cluck and squall, Ain't laid an egg since late last fall.