"Molly and Tenbrooks," also known as "The Racehorse Song," is a traditional song of the late 19th century. One of the first recordings of the song was the Carver Boys' 1929 version called "Tim Brook."
[Wolfe 1996, p. 42.] The song was recorded by
Bill Monroe
William Smith Monroe ( ; September 13, 1911 – September 9, 1996) was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter who created the bluegrass music genre. Because of this, he is often called the " Father of Bluegrass".
The genre takes its n ...
and His
Blue Grass Boys on October 28, 1947, but not released until 1949. In 1948,
The Stanley Brothers
The Stanley Brothers were an American Bluegrass music, bluegrass duo of singer-songwriters and musicians, made up of brothers Carter Stanley (August 27, 1925 – December 1, 1966) and Ralph Stanley (February 25, 1927 – June 23, 2016). Ralph a ...
released a recording of it in the Blue Grass Boys' style, marking the first recorded adoption of the
bluegrass style by a second band. The song was also recorded by
Steve Gillette on his self-titled debut album in 1967 in the folk style and a very different adaptation, by Gillette and Linda Albertano. Their version was later recorded by the well-known Canadian folk duo
Ian and Sylvia
Ian & Sylvia were a Canadian folk and country music duo which consisted of Ian and Sylvia Tyson. They began performing together in 1959 (full-time in 1961), married in 1964, and divorced and stopped performing together in 1975.
History Early ...
for their album, Play One More. Tom T. Hall recorded "Molly and Tenbrooks" with Bill Monroe contributing on his mandolin on July 13, 1976 for Hall's LP The Magnificent Music Machine, released in 1976.
Song plot
The song deals with a match race between two champion horses. According to most song versions, Tenbrooks "ran all around The Midwest and beat the Memphis train," while "out in California Molly did as she pleased, came back to Kentucky and got beat with all ease."
Historical facts
This song is a fictional account of the
July 4, 1878 match race between the Kentucky horse
Ten Broeck and the California
mare
A mare is an adult female horse or other equidae, equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more th ...
Mollie McCarty
Mollie McCarty (sometimes spelled Mollie McCarthy) foaled in 1873, was an outstanding California-based Thoroughbred racehorse who won her first 13 race starts and was second on the two occasions when she was defeated.
Breeding
Mollie McCarty was ...
at the Louisville Jockey Club (now
Churchill Downs
Churchill Downs is a horse racing complex in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States that hosts the annual Kentucky Derby. It opened in 1875 and was named for Samuel Churchill, whose family was prominent in Kentucky for many years. The first ...
). Ten Broeck won the race before a record crowd of 30,000. The song commonly states that Ten Broeck "was a big bay horse", and although he was a bay, he was "very compactly built". The song refers to a fatal outcome, which did not in fact occur; Mollie McCarty lived nearly five more years, winning multiple races and producing three foals.
See also
*
Skewball is a topically related song, but it is melodically, lyrically, and historically distinct, although they have sometimes been
conflated.
* Tenbrooks appears again later on
Peter Rowan
Peter Rowan (born July 4, 1942) is an American bluegrass musician and composer. He plays guitar, fiddle, dobro, banjo, bass, piano and mandolin. He has a wide vocal range and yodels. He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall o ...
's ''Muleskinnner'' album, in the song "Blue Mule", in which the horse is pitted against a blue mule who is the child of
Babe the Blue Ox.
Footnotes
References
* Rosenberg, Neil V. 1985. ''Bluegrass: A History''. Urbana: University of Illinois Press
* Wolfe, Charles K. 1996. ''Kentucky Country: Folk and Country Music of Kentucky''. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky
External links
from a well-known version recorded by Bill Monroe">from a well-known version recorded by Bill Monroe
Bluegrass songs
American folk songs">Bill Monroe
Bluegrass songs">Bill Monroe">from a well-known version recorded by Bill Monroe
Bluegrass songs
American folk songs
Folk ballads
Bill Monroe songs
The Stanley Brothers songs
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