In a world predating radios, recorded music, and mobile DJs, social gatherings thrived on interactive musical experiences. Events like quilting bees and church socials were lively with Fun Dance Tunes that offered young people a safe and engaging way to socialize. One such gem, dating back to at least the early 1800s, is “Jenny Jenkins,” a delightful dialogue song designed to initiate dance. This tune cleverly sets the stage for a boy to invite a girl to dance through song. The boy starts by singing lines and choosing a color, prompting the girl to respond with a rhyming verse. If she couldn’t find a rhyme, tradition dictated she would accept the dance, making it a charming and playful interaction.
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“Jenny Jenkins,” celebrated by artists like Jerry Garcia with David Grisman and Lisa Loeb, is appreciated for its simplicity and endearing nature. Here, it’s arranged in D major, a key accessible for guitarists, utilizing just three chords, including the familiar open D and G shapes. Instead of a standard open A, a richer A7sus4 chord is used—an A7 variant where the fourth (D) replaces the third (C#). These chord voicings are unified by the shared D note (string 2, fret 3), creating a resonant drone effect throughout the song.
For the guitar picking technique, the song begins with a gentle boom-chuck rhythm. This involves playing single bass notes on the first and third beats and strumming the higher strings for chords on the second and fourth beats, as shown in the initial four-bar intro. This pattern, also demonstrated in the accompanying video, is consistently applied throughout the song.
Embracing the interactive spirit of “Jenny Jenkins”—and leveraging modern picture-in-picture technology—singer and actress Margaret Belton joined in to respond to playful inquiries about her wardrobe choices, mirroring the song’s boy-girl dialogue. Let the fun, interactive dance of “Jenny Jenkins” roll on!
Guitar music notation for the fun dance tune Jenny Jenkins, showing chords and melody for easy guitar playing.
This article was originally featured in the March/April 2023 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine.
