CLYDE DAVENPORT learned his version of "Liza Jane" from his father, WILL DAVENPORT, who learned it from a neighbor, Will Phipps, who was born in 1812. It is a popular tune among people who practice OLD-TIME FIDDLING, and Clyde's version is one of the very best.
Like most fiddle tunes for dancing, "Liza Jane" is divided into two parts, each part having sixteen beats. 'LIZA JANE,' PART 1, as played by Clyde Davenport consists of two phrases of eight beats each. Eight-beat phrases are common in these fiddle dance tunes because each dance figure takes eight counts to complete. Like the first part, 'LIZA JANE,' PART 2 also consists of two phrases of eight beats each. Each part is repeated once before passing along to the next part, and the tune is repeated through one or more cycles of dance figures.