Clementine (1884)
Percy Montrose
Found a Peanut (1940s)
folk, USA
key: F major
| Euroclassical function names: | tonic | dominant |
| Tagg: | tonic | counterpoise |
| Riemann: | T | D or D7 |
| scale degrees: | I | V or V7 |
| chord names: | F | C or C7 |
F C
|///|///|///|///|
C F C F
|///|///|///|///|
mode: F major/ionian — F G A Bb C D E F
melody: STdrmfs
form: AB
meter: triple
suggested time signature: 3|4
other recordings:
(Clementine)
Bing Crosby, Db
Gene Autry, Eb
Pete Seeger, Eb
Jay Laga’aia, E
Tom Lehrer, F (just for fun)
Bobby Joe Bratcher, G
(Found a Peanut)
Susie Tallman, C
Lisa Loeb, A
I started with “Clementine,” but discovered “Found a Peanut” (never sang it as a kid!) and realized that lyrically it was much closer to where my 9- & 10-year-old students were at, than a old-timey death ballad. I suppose it’s closer to where I am at, as well.
What do we call a “folk” song when we actually know who the composer is? Is it just a pop song? A pop song from the 1880s? Just because there weren’t top 40 countdowns on the non-existent radio doesn’t mean we don’t know what songs were popular. Is it country? Is it western?
The first phrase has a clear tonic-counterpoise structure, second has a counterpoise-tonic/dominant-tonic/V-I shuttle.
two chords 