- Style
- Old-time
- Tradition
- American old-time
- Form
- Reel
- Key
- D
- Level
- 2
- Played on
- Fiddle
In the public domain. Source
Music
90bpm
Click any note to start from there
Chord chart
History
Mike Yates reports it is believed to be by minstrel singer George Washington Dixon, from before 1827, and a version was printed in Christy's Negro Songster in 1855. One theory says Sugar Hill meant the rough side of town; another links it to drinking during maple sugaring.
It is now a Galax and Surry County standard, partly because the first records were by Crockett Ward and His Boys in 1928 and Dad Crockett in 1929. Fiddlers usually play it in D, cross tuned to ADAE.
Five cents in my pocket change, two dollars in my bill; If I had ten dollars more I'd climb old Sugar Hill.
Squirrel's got a bushy tail, Possum's tail is bare, Rabbit ain't got no tail at all, just a little old piece of hair.