learn Handsome Molly

Handsome Molly

10/1/2017

Hi,
The song of the week is Handsome Molly in the key of A.

Recordings
Here are 4 versions of the song to listen to. See how many differences you can notice among these in terms of form and arrangement. As you observe the differences, consider how these could lead to a great deal of confusion when playing the song for the first time at a jam in which some people are more familiar with one version, while others are more familiar with a different version.

Flatt & Scruggs: key of A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ughi19PTkeY

The Country Gentlemen - key of A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdyRyQAlWNA

Doc Watson: key of G
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ-wq5iq7OA

Stanley Brothers: key of G
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icqVstEBN6c

Progression, Form, and Arrangement
The form and arrangement of Handsome Molly on the Doc Watson recording is the most straightforward of the four versions of Handsome Molly given here. So, let's use Doc's version as our starting point for thinking about the chord progression.

On the Doc Watson recording, the same 8 measure sequence is consistently repeated all throughout the song:
1115
5551
(In the key of G: 1=G and 5=D. In the key of A: 1=A and 5=E)

Each verse is 8 measures long, with 2 verses being sung back to back between the breaks. The breaks are 16 measures long (i.e., twice through the 8 measure progression).

Notice that in Doc's version there is no room for fillin licks to be played at the end of any of the lines. In all the other versions, extra measures of the '1' chord are inserted into the progression for the breaks, and in some of them, during the vocal sections as well, so as to allow room for fillin licks to be played, resulting in a more typically Bluegrass-sounding arrangement of the song. I have written these extra measures where fillins can be played in bold print in what follows.

On the Flatt & Scruggs recording, each verse is 8 measures long, but Doc's second verse ("While sailing round the ocean, while sailing round the sea, etc.") functions as a chorus here. The arrangement is highly unusual for a song that has a chorus in that there is one spot in the song in which two verses are sung back to back followed by a break rather than by a chorus. The chorus, like the verses, is 8 measures long, except for the last chorus which is 9 measures long, allowing for a typical 2-measure ending lick to be played on the instruments over the '1' chord:
1115
55511
The breaks are 10 measures long:
1115
555111

On the Stanley Brothers recording, the breaks are 18 measures long:
1115
5551
1115
555111
Each verse is 9 measures long, with 2 verses being sung back to back between the breaks:
1115
55511

On The Country Gentlemen recording, the breaks are 19 measures long:
1115
5551
1115
5551111
Each verse is 9 measures long, and each chorus is 9 measures long:
1115
55511

Just like in the Flatt and Scruggs version, so also in the Country Gentlemen's version, the arrangement is highly unusual for a song that has a chorus in that there is one spot in the song in which a break intervenes between two verses without a chorus coming before the break: the arrangement being:

Break
Verse
Chorus
Break
Verse
Chorus
Break
Verse
Verse
Break
Verse
Chorus

The way that I lead the song at the jam uses the form that Flatt & Scruggs used for the verses and choruses (i.e., each verse is 8 measures long, and each chorus, except for the last one, is 8 measures long; the last chorus is 9 measures long), but, instead of the breaks being 10 measures long, they are 17 measures long:

1115
5551
1115
55511

Breaks
Since the last line of the chorus (or verse occurring right before a break) is played in some versions as a 5 measure line (55511), and in other versions as a 4 measure line (5551), it is necessary at a jam to play your break in a manner that makes it clear as to where exactly your break has started, so as to help your fellow jammers avoid confusion as to when to change to the 5 chord during the first line of your break.

When playing Handsome Molly in accord with the form that I use when leading the song at the jam, in which the last line of the chorus before a break is 5551, this can be accomplished by confidently playing three quarter-note pickup notes immediately after the last syllable of the chorus has been sung, and then following this by hitting the first melody note of the first complete measure of the break with extra force. (For the key of A, the pickup series I tend to use is: F#, F#, F, which leads down to an E note. For the key of G, the equivalent notes are E, E, Eb, which leads down to a D note.)

In the event that 2 breaks are played back to back, be careful not to start into the second break a measure too early: allow the first break to end with a complete 5 measure line: 55511.

When playing Handsome Molly in a version that uses a 55511 line for the last line of a chorus or verse occurring before a break, just simply insert a 1 measure fillin lick between the last syllable of the chorus and your three pickup notes, and this will make it clear where your break has started within this form.

Happy Pickin',
Jason