Shove That Pig's Foot A Little Closer To The Fire: A Song History

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The fiddler most closely tied to this tune is Marcus Martin (1881–1974) of Swannanoa, North Carolina. Martin learned to fiddle from his father, worked as a watchman at the Beacon Blanket Mill, often opened Bascom Lamar Lunsford's Mountain Dance and Folk Festival in Asheville, and was named champion fiddler at the 1949 North Carolina State Fair.[1] His "Shove the Pig's Foot" is among the tunes the Swannanoa Valley Museum associates with him.[1] He recorded it for the Library of Congress in the 1940s and later on an LP, playing it as a duet with his son Wayne.[2][3] The Traditional Tune Archive adds that Martin was influenced by East Tennessee fiddler J. Dedrick Harris.[2]

Mezzotint of blacksmiths at work by the glow of a forge, watched by onlookers

Richard Earlom after Joseph Wright of Derby, The Blacksmith, mezzotint, 1771. The Cleveland Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0).

The long title shifts from player to player: the pig's foot goes "closer to," "further in," or "farther in" the fire, and some versions push rather than shove it.[2][3][4] What the name means is uncertain. The Tune Archive explains a "pig's foot" as a crowbar-like blacksmith's tool for moving pig iron in a forge, but other writers offer competing explanations, and none has been settled.[2][5]

Recordings of Martin from the collection of Peter Hoover, including this tune, have been issued by the Field Recorders' Collective.[4][6] Bruce Molsky recorded the tune on Big Hoedown (Rounder, 1997) and teaches it from Martin's version.[2][3] It is heard, renamed "Ruby with the Eyes That Sparkle," in the 2003 film Cold Mountain; the soundtrack credits that track to Stuart Duncan and Dirk Powell.[2][7] The Bluegrass Situation counts it a classic among old-time tunes with odd names.[5] It also appears in Stephen Seifert's mountain dulcimer collection Join the Jam II.[8]

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Sources

  1. Swannanoa Valley Museum & History Center: "Marcus Martin".
  2. The Traditional Tune Archive: "Annotation:Shove that Pig's Foot a Little Farther in the Fire".
  3. Peghead Nation: "Shove the Pig's Foot a Little Further in the Fire, Part 1: A Part Melody".
  4. Slippery-Hill: "Shove That Pig's Foot A Little Further Into The Fire".
  5. The Bluegrass Situation: "10 Old-Time Fiddle Tunes With Outrageous Names".
  6. Field Recorders' Collective (Bandcamp): "Shove the Pig's Foot a Little Farther in the Fire".
  7. SecondHandSongs: "Ruby with the Eyes That Sparkle by Stuart Duncan & Dirk Powell".
  8. Stephen Seifert: "Join the Jam II".