Two chord songs?

[pops1]

Same tunes, right?

Angeline the Baker and Angelina Baker are not the same tunes. Similar, the chorus is the same,but different A part.

[Mark Wilson]

Angeline the Baker and Angelina Baker are not the same tunes.

Good to know. I thought they were same progression. Which one is the 2 chord version?

[pops1]

Angeline the Baker. Angelina is a Stephan Foster song with 3 chords. Angeline the is a fiddle tune, tho it also has several verses and chorus

[Mark Wilson]

Angelina is a Stephan Foster song with 3 chords.

like this?

[sbhikes]

I think Dry and Dusty has one chord. Okay, maybe 2.

[Charlie Bernstein]

Take Me Back to Tulsa
Tulsa Time
Aiko Aiko
Ai Ay Ay
Chain of Fools
Which Side Are You On?
Jambalaya
Coconut (one chord)
Fire On the Mountain (the Dead's, not Marshall Tucker's song of the same name)
Wang Dang Doodle (one chord)
Brother John
Cold Rain and Snow
Who Do You Love?

If I think of any more, I'll come back.

[sblock]

I think Dry and Dusty has one chord. Okay, maybe 2.

Not maybe. Definitely two chords. But it's not a song, it's a fiddle tune.

[Steve Lavelle]

(Last Night) The Bottle Let Me Down

[Dave Bradford]

My favorite two chord song is probably “Honky Tonkin’” by Hank Williams.

https://youtu.be/OsH3C94b4IU

[pops1]

like this?

Well it's a waayyy different version than the one I know, but the same song. I didn't listen to it all, but you most likely can take any song and change it to a 2 chord song if you sing it that way. The melody varies a lot from the way I am familiar with it.

[soliver]

Jimmy Brown the Newsboy. Usually in G,... just G and D

Just found this tune myself and been learning it, its a fun one.

[Willie Poole]

Now wait, You mean to tell me there are more than two chords?....I`ll have to learn them, that's for sure...

It`s grand to have someone to love you,
crazy heart, I wish I didn`t love you...

Willie

[AlanN]

Ashes of Love

[Jess L.]

Angeline the Baker and Angelina Baker are not the same tunes. Similar, the chorus is the same,but different A part.

Now I'm confused. Other posts say it's the same tune:

1. From MandolinCafe Song-a-Week #367 - Angeline the Baker (Angelina Baker) "Angeline the Baker, also known as Angelina Baker."
   
   
2. "Angeline the Baker", particularly interesting is Charlieshafer's post #3: "Several musicologist-types feel that it pre-dates the civil war, and was an old slave song that was turned into a fife song during the war..." So in that scenario, if I'm reading this right, Foster could have borrowed/stole a folk song/tune & put his own name on it... An intriguing possibility and certainly wouldn't be the first time some bigwig composer borrowed from pre-existing music.
   
   
3. "Most popular trad tunes" From post #5: "Angeline the Baker... melody was derived from the Stephen Foster minstrel song Angelina Baker, from 1850, which is quite similar."

When I get back to my computer tomorrow, I'll have a listen to stuff on YouTube to get a better idea. (Posting this from phone right now, don't want to use up my entire month's metered phone "data" on a handful of videos, so will wait 'til back at computer with its now-oldfashioned but still very useful wired Ethernet connection.)

[pops1]

Here is a conversation on that topic. Words are completely different and A parts completely different.

https://www.banjohangout.org/archive/288826

https://www.banjohangout.org/archive/198304

https://civilwarfolkmusic.com/2013/1...-baker-foster/

[Jess L.]

Here is a conversation on that topic. Words are completely different and A parts completely different.

https://www.banjohangout.org/archive/288826

https://www.banjohangout.org/archive/198304

https://civilwarfolkmusic.com/2013/1...-baker-foster/

Thanks. Interesting stuff.

The last link you provided has a link to apparently the Foster sheet music. What's odd is that the two tunes seem a lot more similar while I'm looking at the Foster sheet music (parts of it anyway), than they do when listening to those other people's renditions of the Foster version. When I *hear* them play it, I barely recognize any of it. But looking at the sheet music and sorta thinking/humming some of the notes, I'm like "yeah ok I can see a similarity here, and here, and there..." (maybe just expectation or faulty music-reading on my part)... I guess I'd have to study it further and in more detail to determine why. Guess it doesn't really matter, just a curiosity.

Actually, the impression I get when listening to those recordings of the Foster version, is that those keep reminding me of other (unrelated) even-older tunes and ballads... hmm. Well, small world, I suppose everything's musically connected to everything else in some way or another if one traces it all back far enough.

Anyway... back to the topic of two-chord songs...

[fatt-dad]

cold and frosty morning.

. . . and other modal tunes like it!

f-d

[Charlie Bernstein]

Another perky one: Wake Me, Shake Me

[Mandolin Cafe]

Native Ground Music is working on a book on this very subject - Easy 2-Chord Songs for Mandolin. It's been listed on amazon.com and available for pre-order for awhile but appears delayed on the author's web site. It was originally assigned a February 15 release date but as we know, those dates are rarely accurate from any publisher.

When it becomes officially available we'll post a news release about.

[Willie Poole]

I`ll just go away...A song, not me...

Willie

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . and Turn On Your Love Light.

[Charlie Bernstein]

And a couple of Dylan tunes:

Wicked Messenger
Lonesome Hobo

[lflngpicker]

Great two chord simple song I teach budding guitar players-- "Tom Dooley". Literally two chords.

[lowtone2]

[Austin Bob]

Horse with no name by I think America.

I'm just saying, that with all that time alone in the desert, he could have named that horse.