John Specker plays Bonaparte's Retreat on Phil Shapiro's radio show 'Bound For Glory' in Ithaca, NY, on Sunday November 18, 2012
Пікірлер: 170
@ae38982 ай бұрын
Just four strings, a bow, and two feet. What an amazingly powerful performance.
@gfh1102 жыл бұрын
That's how you make one fiddle sound like a whole damn army!
@congero113 Жыл бұрын
Wow, that’s a fiddle & stomping tour de force. 👏👏👏👏👏
@gwynstephen96895 жыл бұрын
Best use of feet Can really hear the bodhrans not to mention best rendition of Bonaparte’s Retreat on fiddle ever
@bobbyjeffery7309 Жыл бұрын
This man is an American treasure
@sukapap2 жыл бұрын
It's hard to listen to this song without being moved to tears. The rhythm of his feet sound just like the marching of soldiers, going away, away, in mournful retreat. Gosh.
@NickleJ Жыл бұрын
... yes, a mournful- and increasingly hurried- retreat.
@cherylsmith65284 жыл бұрын
I never get tired of listening to this. And watching John enjoy himself so much… His whole body in the music.
@lscdc194711 ай бұрын
i have been known to listen to this for at least 2 strait hours . . . need i say i love it?
@kevinl62485 ай бұрын
Me too!
@thomasmyer45442 жыл бұрын
Bittersweet, beautiful and genuine - I feel the emotion in every note. It is hard for me to express how much I appreciate this tune. Thank you Mr. Specker.
@gerardwalsh43462 жыл бұрын
Possibly it needs to be somewhat slower from an Irish perspective. I should have mentioned the Irish supported Bonaparte in Ireland. Thanks for this fabulous rendition.
@Kitiwake5 жыл бұрын
As far as I know... Napoleon disbanded the last of the "Irish Brigade" which had soldiered for France and won many victories over the British since first being made up of the wild geese Irish troops who emigrated to the continent after the Treaty of Limerick 1691. He used those former Irish brigade troops, essentially an officer corps, to form 4 Irish led regiments in his own army who eventually went on to perform many gallant acts and constantly hungered for action on the field against the British.
@crinolynneendymion875511 ай бұрын
Got to wonder if those soldiers enjoyed coming up against their kin fighting for Wellington. Oh the irony, the irony.
@robertbond93584 жыл бұрын
Brilliant ! His footwork lends the performance such a hypnotic DRIVE.
@jackfletcher10005 жыл бұрын
Napoleon is regarded with some affection in this country (Ireland) and is known as The Green Linnet in many songs.
@chrisbaker5282 жыл бұрын
John took it to another whole level!!!!!! Wonderful.
@leimaniax2 жыл бұрын
Yeeeeeaah! This boy’s got it down. Plays in the groove so perfectly. Inspirational, absolutely beautiful energy. Thank you for sharing with us.
@billadney7004 жыл бұрын
This is what I would Call Heavy Metal. I cant stop moving. I still Feel it. Superb
@aze2163 жыл бұрын
Many years ago I was lucky enough to hear John Hartford in a small venue. This reminds me so much of that concert. Wonderful memory. Love this music!
@verilyheld4 жыл бұрын
Funny thing- one night I dreamed of Bonaparte doing a stand-up routine about the Retreat from Moscow. Can't remember what he said, whatever it was I was laughing hard enough to wake me up! Turned on the radio, and heard "You have been listening to the Bonaparte Retreat."
@taylormorris_ Жыл бұрын
This guy's New York hipster persona couldn't be more abrasive to my eyeballs, but alas music is for the ears, and this is fine, mighty fine!
@IdaMaeSpecker Жыл бұрын
Lol he is from Queens and has retired the vest 🙏🏼
@Genetk44 Жыл бұрын
@@IdaMaeSpecker Living in Vermont now isn"t he?
@IdaMaeSpecker Жыл бұрын
@@Genetk44alive and well in Vermont
@tonyhayes49809 ай бұрын
Funny observation
@DavidDellman4 жыл бұрын
One of my favorite KZbin videos ever. I keep returning to watch it again and again. So much soul, energy, and passion. It makes me feel alive.
@grahamwhittington1090 Жыл бұрын
Wow
@MichaelChristiaens6 ай бұрын
Magnificent!!!
@williamsearle5435 жыл бұрын
so here it is seven years later and I find this... I love this.
@nswwsn12 жыл бұрын
Fantastic performance, and a great bit of history conveyed. Thank you.
@bobbyjeffery7309 Жыл бұрын
Special ,so special
@tablature61215 жыл бұрын
Beautiful. I have now been educated on the provenance and proper rendering of one of my all time favorite fiddle tunes. Thank you.
Why would anybody give this a thumbs down. I wish that I could play this tune with the effort that he puts into it. Someday.
@jackduffy18176 жыл бұрын
Napoleon Bonarparte's retreat, John Specer's hands have been touched, He play's it as it really was, Society is in retreat once again, Retreat, Regathere, Reform, Then continue the campaign. Eye's to the front. Over and Out.
@marklozano83884 жыл бұрын
it still sounds snappy, a snappy dirge..love it
@DanielSmith-ou7es7 жыл бұрын
Whoa! This is like trying to pat your head and rub your tummy! Impressive!!!
@robdavidson52956 жыл бұрын
What an awesome job you did, I am gonna learn his song. Again John you did an inspiring job on this
@chiarawalwyn26122 жыл бұрын
Right there back in time ... beautiful x
@hilariousname68268 ай бұрын
You should always take accounts of the origins of fiddle tunes and what they're 'really about' with several truckloads of salt, unless there is a known composer who has stated what the tune is 'about' - then just take it with one truckload of salt. Here's an excerpt from the lengthy Fiddler's Companion entry on this tune: In fact, the tune has Irish origins, though Burman-Hall could only find printed variants in sources from that island from 1872 onward. "It has been collected in a variety of functions, including an Irish lullaby and a 'Frog Dance' from the Isle of Man" (Linda Burman‑Hall. "Southern American Folk Fiddle Styles," Ethnomusicology, vol. 19, #1, Jan. 1975). Samuel Bayard (1944) concurs with assigning Irish origins for "Bonaparte's Retreat," and notes that it is an ancient Irish march tune with quite a varied traditional history. The 'ancient march' is called "The Eagle's Whistle [1]" or "The Eagle's Tune," which P.W. Joyce (1909) said was formerly the marching tune of the once powerful O'Donovan family. Still, states Bayard, the evidence of Irish collections indicates that it has long been common property of traditional fiddlers and pipers, and has undergone considerable alteration at various hands.
@rlwilk5 жыл бұрын
What an experience! I wish I had been there!
@joshgrimes9554 Жыл бұрын
Bravo!
@pare20716 жыл бұрын
Heard this played from childhood up. I like this rendition.
@calliopelintwig2852 жыл бұрын
This is the best version of Bonaparte's Retreat ever. Thank you for this.
@lesleysmith63866 жыл бұрын
Please sir I want some more!
@snakepit101 Жыл бұрын
This is so good. Listened to it many times over the years
@gerardwalsh43462 жыл бұрын
John Specker is one of the few artists that got this right. The tune can be played in two tempos, slow and sad per the Irish or slightly upbeat per the English. Thanks John for pointing this out. It gets even better when we have Bonaparte crossing the Rhine. Celebratory if he is going eastwards..from an Irish perspective.....lots more on this....
@oliverseeler10185 жыл бұрын
Fabulous!
@rogertrozelle81596 ай бұрын
Thank You John.
@fredagates-pozefsky3426 жыл бұрын
Legendary, incomparable!
@onyxopera81415 жыл бұрын
Toutefois bravo pour cette composition .
@suzannetouminet2784 жыл бұрын
Magnifique musique
@moragmacgregor67925 жыл бұрын
Very new reading to me. Love the drone sound and love the rhythm.
@scottlewisparsons95514 жыл бұрын
Hi John, I think you failed! I have listened many times, and enjoy it more each time. I find it to be a happy tune! Well played and thank you very much.😊
@benoitpetitbon34677 жыл бұрын
Amazing, sir. You're awsome.
@garyhart92507 жыл бұрын
I watch this every morning to set my timing for the day . Thanks
@clivelangman8696 Жыл бұрын
Great tune , excellently played but I've pointed out on another video that John Specker's friend has told him all wrong re the origin. The retreat the tune refers to is not from 1815 Waterloo but 1812 Moscow...which is why it is a happy tune. Many such tunes commemorating this retreat appeared in Britain, mainly England, arouind the same period. The Waterloo explanation is also wrong for another reason. The Duke of Wellington was himself Irish and around one-third, 8,500, of all the British Isles troops were made up of principally 3 Irish regiments. .
@andizukifoo4 жыл бұрын
So much glorious sound from one lovely soul! Bravo!
@DavidDellman4 жыл бұрын
stunning!
@numberJ510 жыл бұрын
One of my favorite tunes from one of my favorite musicians.
@douglasmaclean58365 жыл бұрын
fantastic !
@bennymountain173310 жыл бұрын
Great. Love the performance.
@Genetk444 жыл бұрын
I’ve listened to at least 9 or 10 versions of this played by different artists but yours is the best of all in my humble opinion.👍👍👍
@yaddahaysmarmalite40594 жыл бұрын
He's got it pretty close in this one but the way John Salyer played it is probably the most authentic to how it was played- as a dirge to the tempo of a march. It really should sound like a call to retreat to the rest of the troops.
@rogertrozelle81596 ай бұрын
I first heard it from Benny Martin, with John Hartford on an old Album I had, I always thought it was from when the russians kicked his butt. another tune with Napoleon / Russian scotts Irish connection, is a bonny bunch of roses.oh. if I were still playing the song, it would be around 40 years for me also. He makes me want to get out a fiddle . I never made the song sound this good.
@garrettg790 Жыл бұрын
Great rendition russ barenburg transatlantic sessions is also great. Have a wonderful day everyone.
@gskessingerable Жыл бұрын
A masterpiece!!
@mobilechief6 жыл бұрын
DAMMMM Beautiful, Thanks!
@f1neman2 жыл бұрын
Utterly brilliant
@dancingdog67325 жыл бұрын
Absolutely ❤this
@zindy295 жыл бұрын
love his music, he is a one man show, so full of energy.
@armaghlore6 жыл бұрын
just absolutely brilliant unique rendition see chieftains version
@strutt016 жыл бұрын
Freaking sweeeeeet man!
@jeffreysiegel91256 жыл бұрын
Amazing! Really great performance! Thank you for posting this!
@johnthacker51714 жыл бұрын
Very nice version
@mikecaul42167 жыл бұрын
That is so sweet....love it! Thanks for playing Linda Caul
@MikeDial3 жыл бұрын
I just set my mind to finding out how this tune got its name and, lo and behold, you told me in the first video I looked at.
@GladysWils5 жыл бұрын
Absolutely love it!!
@sandrakerr50245 жыл бұрын
Yes, lovely it sounds a nice bit Scottish thank you for that
@Kitiwake5 жыл бұрын
He said it was Irish
@ThePrairieFiddler2 жыл бұрын
Very powerful. Love this performance.
@jackfletcher10002 жыл бұрын
This guy is a genius.
@WessPeter3 жыл бұрын
like this kind of not too fast ,rythmic fiddling with a haunting melodie ! very good john !
@kowens19567 жыл бұрын
Holy crap! unreal!
@martiemutsch74617 ай бұрын
Love the foot work! Tune makes you want to move your feet.
@AnBrocMeala3 жыл бұрын
And there was I thinking it was referring to his retreat from Moscow in 1812!
@DanPurdy12 жыл бұрын
I do believe that you are right. The retreat was from Moscow. There was just nothing left of Napoleon’s army. He, and the small contingent of French who were still able, fled for home. Everyone else had to fend for themselves.
@TheAdmirableAdmiral4 жыл бұрын
Thank you for this awesome interpretation. A few weeks ago I was looking up new fiddle songs to learn and the title Bonaparte's Retreat piqued my interest, I was expecting something slow and Celtic, I was shocked to find out it was essentially Copland's Rodeo and a little dissapointed since its kind of cheery and already well known. But this version really reconciles the two, the begining is plodding and somber and the end is resilient and defiant. I feel like your version is closer to the spirit of the tone the original writers were going for 200 years ago. This video has inspired me to try and learn this piece.
@kcalhoun32 Жыл бұрын
Copeland's Rodeo was actually lifted from William Stepp's version, which was housed in the Library of Congress, where Copeland found it and used it.
@RiverFunsies4 жыл бұрын
This is the first history of this song I have heard anyone mention before. The Irish would have to wait for another hundred years to be free after Napoleon got sent into retirement.
@ThisOldHat3 жыл бұрын
bad new,s Ireland still aint free.
@BobWarnerBarn2 жыл бұрын
Wow !....:)
@aformalevent7 жыл бұрын
awesome! thank you :)
@DanielGarcia-ws7cd6 ай бұрын
Love how this theme is played by this man, ELP, Glen Campbell and Pee Wee King.
@alistairglennie55252 жыл бұрын
Haunting
@mjnyc86555 жыл бұрын
Spirited performance.
@surajsunny597511 жыл бұрын
classic
@houstonsam61634 жыл бұрын
Thanks very much for demonstrating the unity of the traditional and William Stepp versions. First time I've ever heard them played in such a way that I can actually hear the same tune in both.
@mfeltes3 жыл бұрын
Thank you for confirming that they're the same melody. I was going back and forth between Willie Nelson and Jay Ungar's covers and getting terribly confused. So just to be clear, the William Stepp interpretation is faster and emphasizes the first figure, like we hear in Aaron Copland's _Hoedown_, but the traditional version is more like Willie Nelson's without the swing, which is slower and emphasizes the second figure?
@houstonsam61633 жыл бұрын
@@mfeltes I'd say you're a much better musician than I. The faster Stepp version begins here at about 4:32 then really kicks in about 4:42. I understand the conventional wisdom is that Stepp's version was recorded or at least transcribed by Depression-era government archivists, and later found by Copland, who of course made it famous. I've not heard Willie Nelson's version but there are many covers played with the traditional slower rhythm, a dirge or march compared to Stepp's reel; my favorite traditional cover is by Aly Bain and emphasizes the slow, stately dirge tempo. I think the key to recognizing both versions here is that Specker spends the first 4 1/2 minutes playing the traditional version at the faster tempo of the Stepp version.
@mfeltes3 жыл бұрын
@@houstonsam6163 Oh, I think this would be clear as day to me if I were any kind of musician, but it's a fascinating puzzle all the same. Digging through the history, it appears that Willie's version follows Pee Wee King's interpretation, which added lyrics and transformed the melody into a mid-tempo dance number. I can't hear the _Hoedown_ line in Willie's version at all, though, which is why I wondered whether Willie's version was just completely unrelated and only mentioned "Bonaparte's Retreat". That's why I appreciated your saying that you could hear the same tune. For that first section up to 4:32, I can sort of hear the two interpretations in tension, but as soon as the William Stepp/_Hoedown_ line comes more to the fore toward the end of Specker's version, it's all I can hear. Somehow it seems like an aural version of the faces/vase optical illusion. A real testament to how a great melody can be adapted to many arrangements, each of which has its own character. Thanks! kzbin.info/www/bejne/mHnbi3WBab2hhdE
@jackduffy18176 жыл бұрын
SPECKER, Is the Can-More, Over and Out
@cuervoblanco41227 жыл бұрын
nice
@erichbrewer64033 ай бұрын
Fantastic! Originally made for a bagpipe?
@DavidDellman4 жыл бұрын
soul spirit and passion... rocks my world
@joannehack7588 Жыл бұрын
😎
@sierrasky32873 жыл бұрын
🙏🏻💚
@lindafox78225 жыл бұрын
Very pretty. Good job.
@terrencewildman17325 жыл бұрын
Great! I am a minor collector of versions of this tune.
@jappedut90094 жыл бұрын
So you have the version with Emerson, Lake and Palmer ? It's called Hoedown
@kennethlamb2926 Жыл бұрын
Look at the Glen Campbell live London performance.
@thenewlostmountaintravelers2 жыл бұрын
Jesus that was good. Traditional tuning?
@IdaMaeSpecker2 жыл бұрын
DDAD is the tuning
@thenewlostmountaintravelers2 жыл бұрын
@@IdaMaeSpecker Thank you.
@writerrad4 жыл бұрын
Not just the Irish, but the United States and much of the insurgent world favored Bonaparte against the conservative coalition the British assembled including the Russian Czar , the Austrian Emperor and the like. The US War of 1812 was fought against the British while Napoleon fought them. It is often called the second war of independence. Very much old time music in the US comes from the early 19th century alignment with France in this country. Much of square dancing combines French fashionable dances of the time especially the quadrille with very strong African American influences.
@writerrad4 жыл бұрын
I have found at least 30 different old time fiddle tunes played in the US with Bonaparte in the title, this along with Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine, is the most widespread one.
@endoalley6806 жыл бұрын
I bet this would sound good on a 5 string tuned to a low D.