Nico
Muhly,

The Only Tune was written for Sam Amidon, a singer and instrumentalist (guitar, banjo, drum) trained in the tradition of American folk music. The “Two Sisters” murder ballad, upon which The Only Tune is based, is an old and widely disseminated invention of the folk tradition, with close relatives across Northern Europe and America.

In most versions of the tale, one sister kills the other over a boy””one is dark, and one is fair; one receives a token of the boy’s love, while the other seethes with envy. When the song is sung in Ireland, for example, her hair is used to string a harp played on the murderess’s wedding day, whereas in this rendition it strings a fiddle-bow.

What most of these songs have in common is this musical necromancy, fashioning a dead body into a musical instrument. Muhly uses the morbid tableau as a metaphor for the acts of violence and dissection inherent in any folk-song arrangement: The Only Tune is split into three distinct sections, each introduced by a turbulent and chaotic prelude. The harmony is embroidered with strange dissonances. Even the lyrics are dismembered and rebuilt, with a nod to the process-driven text setting of minimalist music. – Program Notes © 2007 Daniel Johnson

Credits
Sam Amidon: banjo, guitar, vocals; Valgeir Sigurðsson: knives, electronics; Ben Frost: Frost-bass programming, hair;
Sigríður Sunna Reynisdóttir: hair; Nadia Sirota: viola

Texts

There there there were there were there were two there were two there were two sis there were two sis there were two sisters there were two sisters there were two sisters wah there were two sisters wah there were two sisters walking there were two sisters walking there were two sisters walking down there were two sisters walking down there were two sisters walking down by there were two sisters walking down by there were two sisters walking down by a there were two sisters walking down by a there were two sisters walking down by a there were two sisters walking down by a there were two sisters walking down by a stream there were two sisters walking down by a stream There were two sisters walking down by a stream Oh, the wind and the rain Older one pushed the younger one in Oh, the dreadful wind and rain Pushed her in the river to drown Oh, the wind and the rain Watched her as she floated on down Oh, the dreadful wind and rain! Floated on down to the old mill pond Oh, the wind and the rain Floated on down to the old mill pond Oh, the dreadful wind and rain! Pushed her in the river to drown Oh, the wind and the rain Watched her as she floated on down Oh, the dreadful wind and rain! Floated on down to the old mill pond Oh, the wind and the rain Floated on down to the old mill pond Oh, the dreadful wind and rain! She floated on down to the old mill pond Oh, the wind and the rain Floated on down to the old mill pond Oh, the dreadful wind and rain! The miller fished her out with his long long hook Oh, the wind and the rain He brought this maid in from the brook Oh the dreadful wind and rain! He laid her on the bank to dry Oh, the wind and the rain A fiddling fool came passing by, Oh, the dreadful wind and rain! He made a fiddle bow from her long yellow hair Oh, the wind and the rain, he made a fiddle bow of her long yellow hair Oh, the dreadful wind and rain! He made fiddle pegs from her long finger bones, Oh, the wind and the rain, he made fiddle pegs from her long finger bones Oh, the dreadful wind and rain! He made a fiddle bridge from her own nose bridge, Oh, the wind and the rain, he made a fiddle bridge from her own nose bridge Oh, the dreadful wind and rain! and he made a fiddle from her own breast bone Oh, the wind and the rain, whose sound could melt a heart of stone Oh, the dreadful wind and rain! and the only tune that fiddle could play Oh, the wind and the rain, the only tune that fiddle would play was, “Oh, the dreadful wind and rain!” (oh oh the oh the dread oh the dreadful oh the dreadful wind oh the dreadful wind and oh the dreadful wind and rain)

Sam Amidon rehearsing The Only Tune in Zankel Hall, March, 2007

Nico & Ben after negotiating the bass sounds, Reykjavík

Nico & Sam during The Only Tune recordings, Þingvellir, Iceland