what's the best fiddle tune ever?

[futrconslr]

I like Jenny Lynn and Clinch Mountain Backstep......and Cluck old Hen

[halfdeadhippie]

right now

Golden Eagle Hornpipe

"Coo coo's nest" has always been a favorite, we generally play it coupled with "Staten Island"

also right now the "Corrente" from the Sonata #4 in Dm by that real old time fiddler ( I do mean real old time), from over yonder Southern Germany, the late great
Johnny Batch
rumor is he played the Johanna and perty dern good too
[B]
All of my presented statements are subject to change without notice

[mandolooter]

another vote for J. Ridge. That song just gets me going with its power! Fiddle tunes are great but tons of em started out with words and were played way slower originally and I dig those versions a lot as well...here's a few examples. Old Joe Clark, Red Haired Boy, Whiskey Before Breakfast and the list goes on and on. The way I see it pickers got together and no one wanted or could sing, so wala, a fiddle tune was born. Any more educated thoughts out there?

[John Millring]

Good tunes, all. Phil, I didn't know you did "Nail The Catfish..." We'll have to do that when we get together again. (Jesse taught it to me and Jim).

I like the tunes that change keys between parts -- like Flop-Earred Mule or Forked Deer or.....hey, Nail The Catfish does it as well. I'd pick Flop-Earred Mule though.

'Nother favorite -- Kitchen Girl. I wish I could play it with me because I have an even better Guitar part than my mandolin part.

[woodwizard]

My vote goes for "Ways of the World" ... a great OT fiddle tune usually tuned AEAE on the fiddle. It's awesome !

[JeffD]

There are so many good fiddle tunes. The way it works for me is that I get obsessed with a tune and it becomes the best ever while I learn it.

Then there is the distinction between the best fiddle tune ever to listen to, and the best ever to play. Not the same. I can never get enough of playing Chorus Jig, but I don't particularly want to hear it again. And Angline the Baker and Mairi's Wedding are two songs I can't hear enough, but my fingers get bored playing them.

[Paul Lucas]

Indiana Breakdown as played by Clyde Curley. Something about that tune and Clyde's playing gets my toes tapping every time. I never tired of playing that tune.

I also like John Hartford's version of Shove That Hog’s Foot Further In The Bed which he learned from Ed Haley. I learned John's version off the 2000 documentary and concert film Down From the Mountain.

[woodwizard]

Indiana Breakdown as played by Clyde Curley. Something about that tune and Clyde's playing gets my toes tapping every time. I never tired of playing that tune.

I also like John Hartford's version of Shove That Hog’s Foot Further In The Bed which he learned from Ed Haley. I learned John's version off the 2000 documentary and concert film Down From the Mountain.

I'm gonna get my Down From the Mountain vid out and watch thaten' again. Great video

[mrmando]

Best fiddle tune ever? It hasn't been written yet. I'll write it tomorrow.

[Jim Nollman]

Beethoven violin concerto

[JeffD]

I heard a music professor once comment, "Yea, Barotok, he could write a mean tune."

[yankees1]

That's like deciding which of your children you like the best !

[fatt-dad]

I'm going with "John Ryan's Polka." That's the best fiddle tune ever, it just took me a few years to finally decide, otherwise I'da written something earlier. . .

f-d

[ralph johansson]

'Jerusalem Ridge' by Kenny Baker -No?

Baker more than helped write it. If you google jerusalem ridge+hotel site:mandolincafe.com you can find the full account in my first post. Interesting to note the hostile reactions even after I cited my highly reliable source.

Interesting tune, three parts waiting for the fourth. I used to believe there wasn't much you could do with it until I heard
Mark O'Connor's version with Thile, Sutton, and House. We ordinary clods had better leave it alone, however.

A really good fiddle tune lends itself to varitation and improvisation. I would say Gold Rush is superior in that respect.
Or Don't Let the Deal Go down; listen to O'Connor's version (same cast as above), about 54 variations on the same
eight bar circle-of-fifths sequence and never once boring.

[woodwizard]

Now I've changed my mind. Ed Haley's Half Past Four is pretty hard to beat. If I start to thinkin' tho' I'll change my mind again because there are just so many darn good fiddle tunes. There is probably none really better than all the rest. Lots of ties tho'.
So many tunes and so little time to learn them is what I'm thinkin'

[yankees1]

Without a doubt, it is Orange Blossom Special !

[JGWoods]

It's a hard choice even though there's only two- the slow one and the fast one.
I like the fast one, but can only play the slow one.

[yankees1]

It's a hard choice even though there's only two- the slow one and the fast one.
I like the fast one, but can only play the slow one.

OBS is not a mandolin piece but if you ask most audience's what fiddle tune they want to hear on a fiddle, they always ask for the OBS ! A standard among fiddle tunes !

[Wilbur James]

The quail is a pretty Bird

[Mercury]

Well, being Greek, I'd have to say the Dodecanesian Sousta in one of its manifestations is easiest the "best fiddle tune" around. This one is from the island of Rhodes.

[Charles E.]

Without a doubt, it is Orange Blossom Special !

Just so there is no doubt who wrote this. My wife and I saw this on Hwy 55 , on our way to the beach.

[woodwizard]

I don't know ... Orange Blossom Special is sort of like Foggy Mountain Breakdown to me. Can't stand either one... I guess because they have been run in the ground so much. Burnt out on em I guess.

[JonZ]

There is this one tune about a boy named Johnny down in Georgia who beats the Devil at a fiddlin' duel.

Now that's some good fiddlin'.

[MikeEdgerton]

I was under the impression that there were really only two fiddle tunes. One was Soldier's Joy and the rest weren't.

[Bernie Daniel]

I agree that "Jerusalem Ridge" is a great fiddle tune (and I don't really care whether Monroe or Baker wrote it), also "Orange Blossom" special is another great one already mentioned. Clearly this is a Bluegrass dominated crowd so I'm not surprised at JR getting being so favored here. "Faded Love" and the "Golden Eagle Hornpipe" (also both mentioned) are outstanding too. And "Grey Eagle" has to be in the running. But none of these are the greatest fiddle tune. That happens to be Ward Allen's "Maple Sugar" written in 1956. I been told (and I think I remember that too) that "Maple Sugar" is the only pure fiddle tune to have cracked the top 40 popular tunes in the USA. Here the best fiddle tune ever -- enjoy!



I have never been able to document that Top-40 claim -- if anyone else can find a link that confirms this I'd love to have it -- "Maple Sugar" may be my favorite tune to play on mandolin now too.