This transcription is based on a performance by the Mississippi Mud Steppers, OKEH 45504.
The Mississippi Mud Steppers recording has some unusual harmonies in bars nine and ten that are not reflected in the above transcription. In the recording, the guitar accompaniment plays a chromatic ascending line from C to D, causing bar nine to sound as a Db augmented chord, and bar ten to sound as a E half-diminished seventh chord in third inversion.
Alma Waltz Transcription
I’m sure it’s been said before but it seems like Irving Berlin lifted (stole?) this melody for his song “Marie”. Incidentally Berlin originally wrote Marie as a waltz.
Thanks for your note. Irving Berlin definitely borrowed freely from other people’s work, but, in this case, I don’t think the chronology works. Marie was copyrighted in 1928, and this recording was made in December, 1930.
That said, there’s absolutely melodic similarity between the tunes. Harmonically, they’re a bit different, as Marie starts on the subdominant chord, and Alma Waltz starts on the tonic chord. And there’s nothing quite like the weirdness in bars nine and ten, with a Db augmented chord leading to an Em7b5.