“Shove the Pig’s Foot a Little Further into the Fire” is an American old-time fiddle tune most closely associated with Western North Carolina fiddler Marcus Martin (1881–1974), who recorded it in a duet with his son Wayne. The tune’s curious title is a blacksmithing reference: a “pig’s foot” is a forge tool resembling a crowbar or poker, used to manipulate pieces of pig iron in a blacksmith’s fire — the title is the kind of plain-spoken instruction a working blacksmith would give to an apprentice while heating iron.
The tune sits in the broader Western North Carolina old-time fiddle tradition alongside the playing of Tommy Jarrell, Fred Cockerham, and other regional fiddlers, with the modal phrasing and asymmetric structure that characterize that local style. The piece is documented in several traditional fiddle-tune collections published from the 1990s onward, including those compiled by Stacy Phillips, Dan Songer, and Peter Silberberg.
The tune received unusual cinematic exposure through the 2003 Anthony Minghella film Cold Mountain, where the melody appears on the soundtrack, although the producers retitled it “Ruby with Eyes that Sparkle” for screen credits. “Shove the Pig’s Foot a Little Further into the Fire” has crossed into the contemporary old-time and bluegrass jam-session repertoires through workshop and festival circuits, and remains a regular at sessions that lean toward the modal-Appalachian repertoire. The unusual title is part of the tune’s cultural memorability.