SONG INFORMATION

First release by Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys (1950)
Bill Monroe wrote this song to honor his uncle James Pendleton Vandiver. A young Bill could hear his Uncle Pen playing fiddle on top of the hill by his house. Bill Monroe credited his uncle with teaching him how to play.

LYRICS

Oh the people would come from far away
They’d dance all night till the break of day
When the caller hollered “do-se-do”
You knew Uncle Pen was ready to go

Late in the evening about sundown
High on the hill and above the town
Uncle Pen played the fiddle lord how it would ring
You could hear it talk, you could hear it sing

He played an old piece he called “Soldier’s Joy”
And the one called “The Boston Boy”
The greatest of all was “Jenny Lynn”
To me that’s where the fiddle begins

I’ll never forget that mournful day
When Uncle Pen was called away
They hung up his fiddle, they hung up his bow
They knew it was time for him to go

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