Talk:Foggy Mountain Breakdown

Late Show -- live performance of FMB with Scruggs & Martin et al

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icMTVV5Lwaw&feature=related -- might it be an appropriate "external link", for those not familiar with the tune? 199.214.24.181 20:10, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

Anachronism?

The article calls the use of the song in Bonnie & Clyde an 'anachronism.' This is only true if the song was playing, for example, on a car radio, or on a speaker in the movie. If it's just used as background music, there's no implication that the song existed at the time of Bonnie and Clyde. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 140.163.254.158 (talk) 17:40, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

The name of the song fascinates me. It has poetic resonance in spades. Anyone know what it means? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.17.229.2 (talk) 21:20, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

Yes, it was named after the group Scruggs was in at the time, "The Foggy Mountain Boys". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.210.112.154 (talk) 13:53, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Earl Scruggs comes from the Smokey Mountains in North Carolina. Every morning, fog hangs over the lower elevations of this range, hence their name. I suspect that all the various "foggy mountain" references in Scruggs' career (Foggy Mountain Boys, Foggy Mountain Breakdown, Foggy Mountain Chimes, etc.) are references to his native geography.72.8.255.29 (talk) 16:13, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

And it's called a breakdown because it's broken down into sections played by different instruments, and isn't just banjo solo. This is standard terminology, cf. also Dixie Breakdown, Dickenson County Breakdown, Earl's Breakdown, Pike County Breakdown, etc. Paul Magnussen (talk) 20:37, 30 March 2012 (UTC) thank you so much! this solved the riddle for me as a non native english speaker...

Bluegrass' fastest piece?

Many five-string banjo players[who?] consider "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" one of the instrument's fastest and most rhythmically challenging pieces. Only very skilled five-string banjo players can play it at the same speed and beat that Scruggs can.[citation needed]

Yes, banjo players know that FMB is "rhythmically challenging" because of the all the syncopation.

But it's not the fastest piece. By virtue of its difficulty, it's not really the fastest piece in the bluegrass repertoir. But as a breakdown, the whole point is for the banjo player to perform it as fast as possible. The same could be said of many other breakdowns (solos) in bluegrass. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.111.153.190 (talk) 00:37, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

Bluegrass Breakdown

I "It is closely related to Bill Monroe's "Bluegrass Breakdown" which Earl helped to write" Actually, Earl wrote it but because he was a member of Lester's band, Lester got the credit for it. Sort of like the fact that I work for a software company and program in visual basic, but legally any software I write is the "property" of my employer. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.238.201.1 (talk) 20:23, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Being a close relative to Earl, the dispute was a little more complex than you might understand. Let me ask you something...if you clock out and go home and write a program in your living room on your personal computer, does it belong to your employer? No. The "work for hire" copyright process does not apply unless you are "on the clock" or have been retained to produce the material.

Earl's beef was HE wrote the song on his own time without Bills assistance or commission. Simply because he happened to be a member of Bill's band at the time does not invoke the "work for hire" principal. Earl felt that the credit should be his, not "the boss's" Now if they had co-written the tune during practice or at a practice jam or whatever, it may have been different.

I also program in Visual Basic. I've written several programs and sold them over the years, written right here at my home, and my employer has no copyright claim to them. I think your idea that only a person who is not unemployed can claim copyright is sort of out there. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.210.254.85 (talk) 22:36, 5 October 2019 (UTC)

Questionable Authorship

According to Tony Trischka, in his introduction to the tune at 2023 Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, the tune was originally written by Flatt and Scruggs bass player English P. “Cousin Jake” Tullock, who taught it to Earl Scruggs. See this video, starting around 12:00: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-7nz4SC1JY Paulmlieberman (talk) 14:02, 2 August 2024 (UTC)