Fiddle Tune History: “Corrina, Corrina”

Did you know that “Corrina, Corrina” was one of the first songs ever recorded on electric guitar? It was initially recorded by Bo Carter in 1928, then copyrighted in 1932. The Mississippi Sheiks recorded the song as “Sweet Alberta” in 1930, and today the song still goes by many names.

The song’s roots go back to the early 1900s. Here’s a Vaudeville recording of Vernon Dalhart performing “Has Anyone Seen My Corrine?” in 1918:

The Mississippi Sheiks also recorded a track called “Sweet Maggie” in 1930, which features the same lyrics as “Corrina, Corrina” but uses the name Maggie instead. And yes, you may recall they also recorded “Sweet Alberta” that year. Just goes to show that you can get a lot of mileage out of one song by substituting in different women’s names. Ha.

The song entered the Western Swing repertoire in 1934 when Milton Brown and His Musical Brownies recorded it as “Where Have You Been So Long, Corrinne.”

In 1935, Ray Newman and His Boys made history when they recorded the song using the first example of electrically amplified guitar on record. Five years later, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys recorded “Corrine, Corrina” and established it as a Western Swing standard.

Since then, the tune has been covered dozens of times in many genres. A twelve-bar blues, it’s a genre-crossing classic that works well at jam sessions and Western Swing dances.