Shiru

Sail Away Ladies is a popular old-time tune that goes back to probably the early 19th century. It definitely has the sound of Irish or Scottish music and was likely brought to America by immigrants from the British Isles. Many people recorded it. Maybe the most famous, certainly one of the earliest, is Uncle Dave Macon and the Fruit Jar Drinkers in 1927. More recently, the New Lost City Ramblers did a version of it as well as Doc Boggs, a Virginia bajo player who had his own way of playing it. Another name for the song is “Don’t You Lie Daddy.” It’s got a repetitious rhythm and slide in the chorus that raises the tempo. Mirmor Shir is the first sense of kedusha entering after “Lekhu Leranena” opened the gate. It’s not there yet, but one knows it’s coming. Joyous, but the week still hangs on. Sail Away Ladies has the sense of being swooped up, think of contra dancing, which feels right for this next stage of ascent. The lyrics are sometimes silly because they were playing it so many times as they were playing for dancing. They just made of all kinds of verses that varied regionally. A nice version by The New Lost City Ramblers, one of the preeminent groups of the American Folk Revival.
For example,
I chew my tobacker and I swaller my juice
Sail away, ladies, sail away.
I'd like to go to Heaven, but it ain't no use.
Sail away, ladies, sail away.

Mizmor l’’dovid

Shaving a Dead Man is an old-time tune banjo probably written by Oscar Wright from Princeton, West Virginia. We played it in an odd tuning (F#CF#CD). In its original version the “N” word was used for “Man.” It was later changed and sometimes called “Protect the Innocent.” I am not familiar with any lyrics to this tune, but I am sure there are some. We felt it fit nicely with Mizmor le-David because of its light tempo. I played it on a Banjola which is a banjo on a hollow guitar body that projects the sound the way an acoustic guitar does. It gives the tune a more melodic and less rhythmic sound. Oscar Wright’s version is still the classic.

Lecha Dodi 1

John Brown’s Dream is a well-known old-time tune. It probably originated in the Blue Ridge Mountains and then was made popular on banjo with Hobart Smith’s rendition. Smith was from Virginia. Tommy Jarell, a very popular old-time fiddler with immense amount of oral history from North Carolina, claimed it is a derivation from “Pretty Little Miss.” It was a dance tune – hence we chose it for Lekha Dodi – and thus the lyrics are other nonsensical or oddly comical. For example
John Brown’s dream, John Brown’s dream, John Brown’s dream, that the devil is dead John Brown’s dream, John Brown’s dream, John Brown’s dream, that the devil is dead Come on, Lula, come on Lula, come on Lula, you’re hogging the bread…
The sliding up tempo worked well for Lekha Dodi. The second part of the verse is much slower and lower in both tunes. It allows for a sudden rise to dance. In addition, in Hasidic tradition, the tune is changed halfway through

Lekha Dodi as a way to change the tempo to reach a crescendo in the final verse, where the congregations stands and faces the door, welcoming the Sabbath bride who is entering. We do two separate tunes for Lekha Dodi, the second one being Sally Anne. You could hear how clogging, which was a common form of dancing, would have fit right into this tune. Lekha Dodi is the runway. Here is Tommy Jarrel sitting on hos porch in the Round Peak section of North Carolina, playing fiddle with a banjo player.

Lecha Dodi 2

This tune has multiple variations, sometimes called “Sally Anne” and sometimes called “Sail Away Ladies.” It originates in the south or southwest as “Great Big Taters” maybe from the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas. Alan Lomax collected the tune and thought it goes back to the mid-19th century, but no one is quite sure. The first sound recording of the tune dates to 1929 but most think it is considerably older than that. We played it in the key of G (GDGBD), part B starts with a G with the first string on the 5th fret that give it is light brisk sound perfect for the second part of Lekha Dodi that leads into the last stanza where the congregation rises faces the door and joyously welcomes the Sabbath bride. This version by Bib Wills and the Texas Playboys give the tune a Texas swing far from its hardscrabble roots, but is a fun version to listen to.

Mizmor Shir

Ducks on a Millpond, also known as “Deaf Woman’s Courtship” is an old-time tune likely derived from fiddle Emmett Lundy (1864-1953). Its origins are likely sometimes in the 19th century. It was collected by Alan Lomax from Galax County, Virginia in 1937. Some think it is related to another tune called “Old Dan Tucker.” Played in double C (GCGCD) it begins with a nice open four string arpeggio as the centerpiece of part A that is upbeat and we thought fit nicely into Mizmor Shir. Hearing Tommy play fiddle and Kyle Creed accompanying him on banjo is a treat.

Raza

Pretty Polly is a very well-known tune played in America as a murder ballad, a whole genre of old-time music. A man kills either his wife or wife to be for some unknown reason and that wails about what he’s done. Another classic tune in this genre is “Down by the Old Ohio.” Very melancholy, dark, something on the edge. Raza has that quality, a medieval Aramaic text (the Zohar) teaching briefly about the cosmic meaning of Shabbat, only oneness and unity. And yet there remains something dark about it. Pretty Polly carries that otherworldly quality, the tune is simple with little variation between their two parts. That makes it smoother, easier to carry a kind of melancholy, brings you into a new world but it’s not yet, it almost makes the darkness darker. We chose this contemporary version by Abigail Washburn and Bela Fleck because it captured the darkness of the song, its sorrow and its desperation. The secret.

Ma’ariv

Shady Grove is a very popular old-time tune from what is known as the Upper South. Its origins likely go back to the 18th century under, probably from Ireland or Scotland, various others titles such as “The Foggy Dew” and “Barbara Ann.” The Virginia fiddler Henry Reed, discovered by Smithsonian folklorist and fiddle Al Jabbour does a version that became popular. More recently. Doc Watson recorded a popular version, which is where I think I first heard it, as did David Grisman and Jerry Garcia in their album titled “Shady Grove.” The song only has one part as opposed to the usual A and B parts and thus works well with a repetitive lyric which we put to the last line of the first paragraph of the Shabbat eve evening blessings before the Shema. In our recording Matt Turk offers a beautiful and melodic mandolin solo. This song is widely played but Doc Watson’s early version, here on banjo, is still a classic and later renditions try to capture his style.

Yedid Nefesh

Frosty Morning is likely a tune by Virginia fiddler Henry Reed and was recorded by the folklorist for the Smithsonian and fiddle Al Jabbour. It is sometimes called “Cold and Frosty Morning.” The origin of this tune is not known, although a tune by this name (not necessarily the same tune) was listed as played in a fiddle contest in LaFollette, Tennessee in 1931. Reed says, “It’s got a lonesome sort of sound” that we thought fit Yedid Nefesh quite well. This is a contemporary version by banjo great Bela Fleck

Shalom Aleichem

I learned this tune that we called “Dovid’s niggun” from Dovid Din, an enigmatic and charismatic Hasidic rabbi who lived in Boro Park, Brooklyn and was my teacher. He died in 1986. Dovid was a ba’al teshuva (newly religious) teacher who also spent considerable time teaching in Jewish and Ashrams and inter-faith venues. Known for his piety and expansive sense of religious practice and devotion, he was a popular teacher of Hasidism and Kabbalah who wrote almost nothing. Dovid used to sing this tune every Shabbat afternoon at the “third meal” (seudat shlishit) to the psalm “Mizmor le-David.” I spent many Shabbat afternoons at his table when it was sung communally. There is a caveat to this rendition. I have heard from a few people that the tune was actually composed by Yankele Shames at the House of Love and Prayer in San Francesco in the late 1960s and sung to “Shalom Alekhem.” I was never able to confirm this. We decided to use to for “Shalom Alekhem” due to it slow melodic register as a welcome song for Shabbat. The version we used is the one I learned from Dovid.