Turkey in the Straw – Fiddle Tune a Day – Day 98

I have loved playing Turkey in the Straw for a very long time.  I often think that simple melodies (2-part tunes) like Turkey in the Straw and Arkansas Traveler don’t get the respect that they deserve. These are amazingly catchy tunes that have managed to survive for over 100 years. To me, they rock! 🙂

My favorite memory of this tune is playing it with Joel Whittinghill, Billy Lilly, and Rob “Chicken Man” Pearcy as we won the Old-Time String Band competition at the State of Tennessee Old-Time Fiddlers’ Contest.

Learn to play Turkey in the Straw on fiddle here

Turkey in the Straw according to Wikipedia

“Turkey in the Straw” is a well-known American folk song dating from the early 19th century.

The song’s tune was first popularized in the late 1820s and early 1830s by blackface performers, notably George Washington Dixon, Bob Farrell and George Nichols.^{[citation needed]} Another song, “Zip Coon“, was sung to the same tune. This version was first published between 1829 and 1834 in either New York or Baltimore. All of the above performers claimed to have written the song, and the dispute is not resolved. Ohio songwriter Daniel Decatur Emmett is sometimes erroneously credited as the song’s author.^[1]

Lyrics

“Zip Coon” has a vocal range of an octave and a minor sixth. Both the verse and the chorus end on the tonic, and both begin a major third above the tonic. In the verse, the highest note is a fifth above the tonic and the lowest is a minor sixth below. In the chorus, the highest note is an octave above the last note, and the lowest is the last note itself. The song stays in key throughout. It has many different lyrical versions. The earliest lyrics under the name “Zip Coon” were written by Dan Bryant (head of Bryant’s Minstrels) and published in 1861. The words were set to new music, with the “Turkey in the Straw” tune added at the end. The chorus as first published by Dan Bryant goes:

Turkey in de straw, turkey in de hay

Turkey in de straw, turkey in de hay

Roll ’em up an’ twist ’em up a high tuc-ka-haw

An’ twist ’em up a tune called Turkey in the Straw

One traditional version has a chorus with these lyrics:

Turkey in the hay, in the hay, in the hay.

Turkey in the straw, in the straw, in the straw,

Pick up your fiddle and rosin your bow,

And put on a tune called Turkey in the Straw.

Another goes:

Turkey in the straw — Haw haw haw

Turkey in the hay — Hey hey hey

The Reubens [farm people] are dancing to Turkey in the Straw

Hey highdy heydy, and a haw haw haw

There are versions from the American Civil War, versions about fishing and one with nonsense verses. Folklorists have documented folk versions with obscene lyrics from the 19th century.

Another version is called “Natchez Under the Hill”. The lyrics are thought to have been added to an earlier tune by Bob Farrell who first performed them in a blackface act on August 11, 1834.

Another one goes:

Turkey in the straw, turkey in the hay,

Turkey in the straw what do you say.

Funnest thing I ever saw.

It’s a little tune called Turkey in the Straw.