Jimmie Rodgers and the Semiosis of the Hillbilly ... - Musical Quarterly

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Page 14 of 39 The Musical Quarterly with Tears in My Eyes,” and “Yodeling My Way Back Home,” incorporate this yodel tune in triple time, even if, as in the last song mentioned, that involves a change of meter for the yodel. The “Sleep, Baby, Sleep” yodel melody serves as a synecdoche that recurs with variations in his work and in that of his contemporaries. The tune appears in very much the same form in other of his recordings, such as “Lullaby Yodel,” while phrases derived from it occur in songs such as “Treasures Untold.” These two songs extend the mood associations. In the “Lullaby Yodel,” the lullaby theme is mixed with longing for the lost child, taken when the lovers parted: My baby I know that you want me, Each lonely night and day. Your dear blue eyes how they haunt me, Though you’re far away. “Treasures Untold” has a similar mood of longing, this time longing for the love of a girl he has just met: And though I have met you just now, I’ll tell you of my love somehow. If I could but win your heart, little girl, Then I would have treasures untold. This yodel even features in some of his romantic cowboy songs, such as “The Land of My Boyhood Dreams” and “The Cowboy’s Last Ride,” the latter fitting another synecdoche within it: the cowboy’s “yippee ti yi yay” anthologized by John Lomax in 1910. 46 Yet the theme of nostalgia predominates even here, as is indicated by the very titles of these songs. Thus, this yodel melody seems to have been Rodgers’s way of evoking that mood, drawing as it does from its long history of associations. Moreover, the “Sleep, Baby, Sleep” tune is prevalent also in recordings made by some of Rodgers’s contemporaries. Goebel Reeves can be singled out. Styling himself the Texas Drifter, Reeves incorporated this melody in songs such as “The Tramp’s Mother,” “Hobo’s Lullaby,” and “The Wayward Son”—all featuring lyric themes that are sentimental, backward glancing, and “down home.” They share with the Rodgers’s songs a nostalgic longing, typically a yearning to return home. They also share the 3 4 meter most frequently used in Rodgers’s sentimental songs. 47 This tune is also heard in Cliff Carlisle’s “Nevada Johnny,” a song about a young adventurer who left his happy family only to die in Nevada. Despite its much faster tempo and the duple time, the nostalgic association is maintained since the song once again couples the melody with the theme of separation and inability to return home. Downloaded from http://mq.oxfordjournals.org/ by guest on July 15, 2013
Other Home Tropes: Generic Sixths and the 5–6–5– 3–1–5 Pattern Possibly deriving from segments of his version of the “Sleep, Baby, Sleep” yodel is another first-species figure that Rodgers employed in similar mood contexts. Because its derivation is uncertain and its melody quite rudimentary, this figure can be regarded as a generic sixths pattern. After all, patterns involving descending yodeled sixths occur in many yodels from the nineteenth century; “Sleep, Baby, Sleep” is simply one example of that. And yodel songs such as Matt Keefe’s “The Strolling Yodler [sic]” recorded in 1914 show that the figure was current in turn-of-the-century yodels. 48 In Example 3, transcribed from his recording, the descending-sixths pattern follows as a yodeled tag to the sung verse. With regard to Jimmie Rodgers, this basic stepwise series of yodeled sixths is heard first in “My Old Pal,” “You and My Old Guitar,” and “Daddy and Home,” all of which were recorded on 6 December 1928. While this pattern is generic in the sense that many yodels employ such a figure, it is also generic in the sense that Rodgers inserted it into many of his later recordings. Simply constructed of rising and falling yodeled sixths, it lacks the fuller melodic extension of the “Sleep, Baby, Sleep” yodel and in some instances seems quite perfunctory. However, “Dear Old Sunny South by the Sea,” quoted above, is a good example of an extended yodel based upon generic sixths; it is, moreover, another song with the theme of return, but in this case hopeful, lighthearted, and carefree. Aside from the yodel tune of “Sleep, Baby, Sleep” and the variants of a generic sixths pattern, Rodgers uses only one other traditional tune with any regularity, and it is also typically associated with nostalgia. That tune can be labeled by the scale degrees it is built upon: the 5–6–5–3– 1–5 pattern, prevalent in an earlier generation of yodelers (Ex. 4). 49 An earlier manifestation of this well-known yodel tune can be heard in Ward Barton’s “Rock-a-bye Baby,” and much later it gets a 5 Jimmie Rodgers and the Semiosis of the Hillbilly Yodel Page 15 of 39 while stroll - ing a - long hum - ming a song o lay ee o lay ee o lay ee Example 3. Matt Keefe, “The Strolling Yodler,” start of verse with yodel tag based on a series of descending yodeled sixths (beginning at 8 00 ). Downloaded from http://mq.oxfordjournals.org/ by guest on July 15, 2013
Page 1 and 2: The Musical Quarterly Advance Acces
Page 3 and 4: Jimmie Rodgers and the Semiosis of
Page 9 and 10: 5 Jimmie Rodgers and the Semiosis o
Page 13: the past in a way that is nostalgic
Page 17 and 18: 5 swung Jimmie Rodgers and the Semi
Page 19 and 20: In his article “Jimmie Rodgers, A
Page 27 and 28: eally resembles his. In short, it s
Page 29 and 30: 19) My Little Lady 12 June 1928 O d
Page 31 and 32: 57) Those Gambler Blues 5 July 1930
Page 33 and 34: 88) Mother, the Queen of My Heart 1
Page 35 and 36: Notes Jimmie Rodgers and the Semios
Page 39: Jimmie Rodgers and the Semiosis of

Jimmie Rodgers and the Semiosis of the Hillbilly ... - Musical Quarterly

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?