Sheet Music: On Top of Old Smoky

TitleOn Top of Old Smoky
Alternate titlesOn Top of Old Smokey
On Top of Spaghetti
ComposerTraditional American
InstrumentationFlute and Guitar chords
KeyG major
RangeG4–G5
Time signature3/4
Tempo48 BPM
Performance time0:40
Difficulty leveleasy
Download printable scorePDF Sheet Music (58 kB) (preview)
Download audio tracksMIDI (change tempo/key) MP3 (589 kB)
Play-along accompanimentMIDI (change tempo/key) MP3 (618 kB)
Date added2010-02-25
Last updated2010-02-25
Download popularity index☆☆☆☆☆ 0.4 (below average)
Categories
Ballads, Nursery rhymes, Traditional/Folk

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Thursday 25 February 2010

Tune of the Day: On Top of Old Smoky

Traditional American folk song

Old Smoky is often identified with a high mountain somewhere in the Ozarks or the central Appalachians, since the tune of this traditional American ballad bears the stylistic hallmarks of the Scottish and Irish people who settled that region. Possibilities include Clingmans Dome, named “Smoky Dome” by local Scots-Irish inhabitants, but exactly which mountain it is may be lost to antiquity.

On top of Old Smoky, all covered with snow
I lost my true lover, for courtin' too slow

“On Top of Old Smoky” was notably recorded by The Weavers in 1951, using an arrangement by Pete Seeger; it reached the pop music charts, and sold over a million copies.

The song has many parody versions, the most famous being the 1963 hit “On Top of Spaghetti” by Tom Glazer, which deals with the loss of a meatball “when somebody sneezed.”