When you and i were young. maggie

[Michael H Geimer]

Anyone know if this tune is more like a fiddle tune where the key is predetermined, or if it's more of a vocal tune where the key is changeable depending on the singer's range?

I have a recording of it played on fiddle and banjo. I just listened and I think they're playing in G, but figured it out a while back by ear ... in the key of A. I'm now trying to decide if I should to change anything in order to conform to the norm, or just keep playing it as I've learned it and enjoy the tune as is.

Thanks,

- Benig

[AlanN]

Around these parts, the banjo pickers do it in A chord.

[Michael H Geimer]

Good to hear. Unless there is some clamor for a different key, I think I'm just gonna keep picking it in A.

Thanks Alan!

[MandoSquirrel]

It's a song from the late 19th to early 20'th century(I believe that's the time frame, I could be a few decades late), but it's been a bluegrass banjo classic for years, so I expect the banjo players have a standard key for it, probably whatever key Don Reno used. I always sang it in F, with the guitar capoed to use D fingering, it lays out great under those chords on guitar.

[Michael H Geimer]

It's got some nice lyrics I ran across while searching for clues on the key.

I certainly like the way it lays out in A on the mandolin.

You mention it being a banjo classic, so maybe I'll ask around ... over there ... where the banjos players hang around and see what they say about it. (Last time I typed that website name in post it was CENSORED by the board's filters! Ha ha ha ha)

[Dena Haselwander]

The song was first published in 1866. The story of its origin adds even more poignancy to the lyrics; it's based on a poem by a schoolteacher, George W. Johnson, written for his wife, Maggie, who died the same year they were married. How sad is that! (should be added to the saddest song ever list)


Dena

[JeffD]

I certainly like the way it lays out in A on the mandolin.

I agree.

[Michael H Geimer]

How sad! I think this might just want to be a vocal tune with a story like that ... so we'll see if I can sing it in A, or if I might need to go down to G after all.

Thanks everyone!

[Jim Yates]

The poem was written in Mount Hope, Ontario. George Johnson wrote it in 1866 as Dena told us. Maggie Johnson died of consumption in 1867 and a Mr. Butterfield, an American, put the poem to music in 1868, so Maggie never heard When You And I Were Young Maggie as a song. The people I play with do it in A as an instrumental banjo duet, clawhammer and three-finger, but when I do it with my wife, Maggie, she likes to sing it in C.

[Michael H Geimer]

I've taken to singing just one chorus, the last (B) section, by putting together two different couplets.

They say I am aged and grey, Maggie
The trials of life nearly done,
But to me you're as fair as you were, Maggie
When you and I were young.

(Oh oh ... here come the waterworks! )

[Bruce Evans]

Maggie is the first song that I ever learned when I joined the Barbershop Harmony Society (then called the SPEBSQSA) 26 years ago.

I wandered today to the hill, Maggie,
To watch the scene below.
The creek and the creaking old mill, Maggie,
Where we used to long, long ago.

The green grove is gone from the hill, Maggie,
Where once the daisies sprung.
The creaking old mill is still, Maggie,
Since you and I were young.

And now we are aged and gray, Maggie.
The trials of life are nearly done.
But to me you're as fair as the day, Maggie,
When you and I were young.

The traditional music players around here play it in G.

[MandoSquirrel]

I didn't know they'd changed their name.

[Jim Yates]

My wife has always sung:

They say we are aged and grey, Maggie,
As spray by the wild breakers flung,
But to me you're as fair as you were, Maggie,
When you and I were young.

[Michael H Geimer]

Blep,
I'm definately taking some liberties in mixing up verses. I hope that won't offend anyone. I took parts of these two:

They say we are aged and grey, Maggie
As spray by the white breakers flung
But to me you're as fair as you were, Maggie
When you and I were young.

And now we are aged and grey, Maggie
The trials of life nearly done
Let us sing of the days that are gone, Maggie
When you and I were young.

As well, I changed the line to "they say I am aged" as it seems a bit delusional to suggest Maggie herself has grown older.

I don't know if it's a good thing or bad, but I do this all the time. The Folk Process and all.

[Bruce Evans]

I suspect that all the lyrics presented here are legitimate. It wasn't unusual for a song published at that time to have 5, 10 or even more verses, stanzas and/or choruses. I think The Man On the Flying Trapeze had at least 12 verses. There were no 3 minute time limits imposed by radio stations then.

[Jim Yates]

Benignus - Since I've been guilty of mixing and matching (Often by accident) myself, you certainly won't offend me.

My favourite version of this song is the very slow vocal by Tom Rush.

[Dena Haselwander]

Just a comment on the lovely melody of this song: last fall I was discussing melody with my jr. high orchestra class--what they listened to, what I liked--I played the song for them on the violin and they got really quiet. I told them the words and the story behind the words, and we had to pass around the tissues; even the boys were misty-eyed (these are kids who listen to nothing but rap music.) Quite often throughout the year they would ask me to play "that real sad song".

Dena

[MandoSquirrel]

Yet the B***o players keep driving it like a race car! Some tunes are Meant to be Slow, how can that melody be appreciated at breakdown/breakneck speed??

[allenhopkins]

"Maggie Blues" is a more up-tempo bluegrass instrumental arrangement of the melody, I believe. Working entirely from (faulty) memory, I recollect this as a Josh Graves Dobro-lead cut on the "Flatt & Scruggs Live at Vanderbilt" album.

My choice (for what that's worth) would be to keep it slow and plaintive if you're going to sing it, and only to speed up if you're planning to make an instrumental out of it.