Ida Red: A Song History

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"Ida Red" turns up all across the South and Midwest, both as a fiddle breakdown and as a song with words.[1] Its origin is uncertain. Folklorist Jeff Titon has suggested that the lyrics point to an African American or minstrel-stage origin, while noting that no direct ancestor has been found.[1] By 1915 the title was on the tune lists kept by students at Berea College in Kentucky.[1] In August 1924 Fiddlin' Cowan Powers and his family band from southwestern Virginia recorded it for Victor.[1][2] The Powers family is remembered as the first family string band to make commercial records.[3] North Georgia musician Riley Puckett's version, released in 1926, is reported to have been the second best-selling country record of that year.[1] Dykes Magic City Trio (Brunswick, 1927) and Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers (Bluebird, 1934) recorded it too.[1]

Monet painting of a woman in a red hooded cloak glimpsed through a window, passing by in the snow

Claude Monet, The Red Kerchief, oil on canvas, about 1868–73. The Cleveland Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0).

The tune also had a long life outside old-time music. Bob Wills, the Texas fiddler and western swing bandleader, kept the melody but used new words, some of them taken from an 1878 song called "Sunday Night."[1][4] Wills returned to it with the boogie-woogie "Ida Red Likes the Boogie," which reached the country Top Ten in 1950.[4][5] In 1955 Chuck Berry brought his own reworking of the tune to Chess Records.[6][7] Leonard Chess wanted a different title, and it was released as "Maybellene."[7][8] The song came from Berry's first recording session and reached number five on the pop charts.[9] Berry later remarked that the new name scanned with the same rhythm as "Ida Red."[7]

Back among fiddlers, "Ida Red" is played in A major or G major depending on the source, sometimes with the fiddle cross-tuned to AEae.[1] Later recordings include Tommy Jarrell's on Rainbow Sign (County, 1986) and Ed Haley's on Forked Deer (Rounder, 1997).[1] Smithsonian Folkways holds many versions of the tune.[6]

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Sources

  1. The Traditional Tune Archive: "Annotation:Ida Red".
  2. Wikipedia: "Cowan Powers and his Family Band".
  3. Birthplace of Country Music: "Fiddlin' Cowan Powers and His Family String Band: Pioneers in Early Country Music".
  4. Wikipedia: "Ida Red".
  5. Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (via Encyclopedia.com): "Wills, Bob (actually, James Robert)".
  6. Smithsonian Music: "Chuck Berry Influences Rock and Roll at Smithsonian Folkways".
  7. NPR: "The Story of Chuck Berry's 'Maybellene'".
  8. A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs: "Episode 3: 'Ida Red' by Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys".
  9. Encyclopaedia Britannica: "Maybellene".