BARE-FOOTED QUAKER, THE. English, Morris Dance Tune (6/8 time). G Major. Standard. AAB, repeat five times. From the Lichfield area of England's Cotswolds. Bacon (The Morris Ring), 1974; pg. 240. Mallinson (Mally's Cotswold Morris Book), 1988; No. 51, pg. 31.
BARTHOLOMEW FAIR. AKA and see "The Dutchwoman's Jigg." English, Air (6/8 time). E Flat Major. Standard. AB. According to Chappell the melody can be found in Pills to Purge Melancholy (Vol. i., 1699-1714, and vol. iii., 1719), The Dancing Master (1695 and later editions), The Quaker and other Ballad Operas. Chappell has identified the air's use in another ballad entitled "'Roger in amaize' or, 'The Countryman's Ramble through Bartholemew Fair'" (Pepys Collection). Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Times), Vol. 2, 1859; pg. 77.
BEGGING WE WILL GO, A. English, Scottish; Air (4/4 time). C Major. Standard. One part. Chappell (1859) states that this tune was the prototype of several "A...we will go" titles, including "A Hunting we will go," "A fishing we will go," "A bowling we will go", and "A hawking we will go." The song was introduced in Brome's comedy The Jovial Crew or The Merry Beggers performed in the Cockpit in Drury Lane, in 1641. It is printed in Playford's Choice Ayres (1685), Loyal Songs (1685), and Pills to Purge Melancholy, and appears in several ballad operas including The Quaker's Opera. Verses were collected in the tradition in England in modern times that are nearly identical to those in Choice Ayres. They begin:
***
There was a jolly beggar, he had a wooden leg;
Lame from his cradle, and he was forced to beg.
***
Peter Kennedy, in Folksongs of Britain and Ireland (p. 497), gives a later verse to the tune, thought to reference the habit of James V of Scotland travelling in disguise:
***
I fear no plots against me, I live in open cell;
Then who would be a King, when beggars live so well.
***
A Scottish verse describes a typical beggar of the times:
***
Afore that I do gang awa, I'll let my beard grow strang,
And for my nails I winna pare, for beggars wear them lang.
I'll gang to some greasy cook and buy frae her a hat,
Wi' twa-three inches o the rim, a-glitterin' ower wi' fat.
***
Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Time), Vol. 2, 1859; pg. 42.
BLITHE HAVE I BEEN. AKA and see "Merrily Danced the Quaker's Wife." Irish?, Jig. C Major. Standard. AABB. Harding's All Round Collection, 1905; No. 159, pg. 50.
BLYTHE HAE I BEEN ON YON HILL. See "The Quaker's Wife."
BLACK JOKE [1]. AKA and see "Black Joker," "Black Jack," "Black Jock," "The Black Joak," "But the House and Ben the House" (Shetland), "Sprig of Shillelah" [1]. English, Scottish, Shetlands; Country Dance, Jig and Morris Dance Tune (6/8 time). England; Northumberland, Yorkshire. G Major (Bacon, Carlin, Cooke, Mallinson, Raven, Vickers): A Major (Bacon, Gow, Merryweather & Seattle). Standard or AEAE (McLean). AB (Bacon {Stanton Harcourt}, Gow): AAB {x6} (Bacon {Ilmington}, Carlin, Cooke (two versions), Mallinson {Adderbury version}): AABB {x4} (Hall & Stafford, Mallinson {Bledington version}, Merryweather & Seattle, Raven, Vickers). "The Black Joke" was a widely popular, vulgar and bawdy street song in England in the early 1700's, though its popularity continued into the 19th century in that country and its colonies (including America). Irregular in form in many versions, its opening phrase has six measures, while the second has ten. It was heard in London as early as 1734 in Henry Carey's burlesque stage piece Chrononhotonthologos where it was called "that lowbrow little tune that has been used as an interval tune for years," referring to the music for dances performed in the entr'acte interval at the playhouses. Early English collections which contain the tune are Johnson's Wrights Collection (London, c. 1742) and Thompson 200 Country Dances Volume II. John Kirkpatrick (1976) dates the tune to 1715 without citing his source.
**
It is played today as the tune for the Lichfield Morris Dance The Barefooted Quaker, and for dances from other morris traditions. Mallinson's morris dance tune versions, for example, are from the Adderbury and Bledington areas of England's Cotswolds, while Bacon's are from the Adderbury, Ascot-under-Wychwood, Bledington, Ilmington, and Stanton Harcourt. A version of the tune from Badby, Northhamptonshire, is known as "Old Black Joe" [1], and lacks the distinctive two measure ending to both parts typical of most "Black Joke" versions. John Kirkpatrick (1976) is of the opinion that the Badby dance "flows more perfectly than any in the Cotswold Morris. No jumps, no jerky backwards movements, no need to fiddle the feet to get them right. An absolute joy." The tune collected with the dance in Bucknell (under the title "Old Black Joe") is perhaps nearest the original.
**
The tune is known as "But the House and Ben the House" in Shetland, and Cooke says some informants gave the first lines as:
But your house and ben your house
This house is like a bridal house.
The tune played by his source from the islands was the one commonly known throughout Britain and Ireland during the 18th century as "The Black Joke" (or Jock). A variety of songs were set to it, all of them bawdy and all concerned with sexual intercourse. "Some of the texts are the creations of music-hall hacks, such as the earliest published verses, entitled 'The Original black Joke, Sent from Dublin', which begin: 'No mortal sure can blame ye man/Who prompted by nature will act as he can'...(song sheet, c. 1720 Mitchell Library, Glasgow). Simple and more direct 'folk' versions were known in Scotland. Burns wrote a parody beginning 'My girl she's airy...'" (Cooke, 1986). The lyrics which appear below are taken from Andrew Crawford's 1826-28 Collection of Ballads and Songs:
**
A wee black thing sat on a cushion
Was hairy without and toothless within
Wi' her black Jock and her belley so white
**
A piper and twa little drummers came there
To play wi the wee thing well covered o'er wi hair
**
The piper went in and he jigged about
The twa little drummers stood ruffling without
**
But when he came out he hang doon his head
He look'd like a snail that was trodden to dead
**
Say's he thay wa'd need to hae something to spare
That meddle wi you or your wee pickle hair. (Cooke)
**
Cooke's informant, John Irvine, played it as a middle tune between two reels for the ceremony of the "bedding of the bride" around the turn of the century. This ceremony, in which the women of the community escorted the bride to her bed, was performed to fiddle music. "The use of the 'Black Joke' in this context is intriguing, Robert Irvine's knowledge of part of the chorus suggests that in earlier days the whole song might have been known and, unless the fiddler was having his own private joke by playing this piece, possibly even sung by the bride's attendants. Genuine bawdry is often found in such situations elsewhere in the world. According to Legman (1964), 'the purpose of such songs...was and is evidently apotropaic, being intended to ward off the evil eye...dangerously present at all moments of happiness, or of success and victory' (The Horn Book, 1964, p. 388). It is likely, too, that such humour served to release anxiety on the part of the young initiate. Finally, if the text were anything like the Crawfurd text, the explicit detail could have served also as a piece of last-minute sex education--an example of how music is sometimes used in a situation that allows one to sing what might be too embarrassing to say" (Cooke, 1986).
**
The Scotch versions are based on an English tune which was known as "Black Jock" in Scotland from about 1735 (Johnson). Johnson thinks the name was changed either on purpose, to 'Scottisize' it (it was known as "Black Jack" in Northumberland), or to distance it from the extremely obscene lyrics. If the latter, the distancing was largely hypocriphal, for the lyrics were well-known throughout the country. The Scots poet Robert Burns (who was no stranger to ribaldry) penned to the melody, in September, 1784, the words "My girl she's airy, she's buxom and gay," one of his earliest bawdy songs:
Her slender neck, her handsome waist,
Her hair well buckl'd, her stays well lad'd,
Her taper white leg with an et, and a, c,
For her a,b,e,d, and her c,u,n,t,
And Oh, for the joys of a long winter night!!!
The tune appears in the McFarlane Manuscript (1740) in a long variation set (18 strains) by Charles McLean, in Bremner's Scots Tunes (1759) in 30 strains, the Gillespie Manuscript (1768), the Sharpe Manuscript (c. 1790) with 18 strains, and a flute MS. of c. 1770; all have basically the same variations, though in different order.
**
In Ireland, Flood (1906) reports that Madame Violante set off a furor in Dublin's Smock-Alley Theatre in December, 1729, when Cummins danced the "White Joke," a set off to the then-popular "Black Joke."
**
American audiences heard the melody as the tune for air 13 in Andrew Barten's ballad opera The Disappointment (New York, 1767).
**
Sources for notated versions: Bremner (Scots Tunes, 1759) [Johnson]; John Mason via Cecil Sharpe (Stow on the Wold, England) [Bacon]; a MS by fiddler Lawrence Leadley, 1827-1897 (Helperby, Yorkshire) [Merryweather & Seattle]. Bacon (The Morris Ring), 1974, pgs. 15, 95, 210, 295. Carlin (The Master Collection of Dance Music for Violin), 1984; No. 47, pg. 37. Cooke (The Fiddle Tradition of the Shetland Isles), 1986; pgs. 86-87. Gow (Complete Collection), Part 4, 1817; pg. 10 (appears as "Black Jock"). Hall & Stafford (Charlton Memorial Tune Book), 1974; pg. 20 (appears as "Black Jack"). Johnson (Scottish Fiddle Music in the 18th Century), 1984; No. 32, pgs. 86-89. Mallinson (Mally's Cotswold Morris Book), 1988; No. 1, pg. 8 and No. 35, pg. 24. Merryweather & Seattle (The Fiddler of Helperby), 1994; No. 81, pgs. 48-49 (includes six sets of variations). Offord (John of Greeny Cheshire Way), 1985; pg. 107. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 116 (Black Jack), 81 & 95. Seattle (William Vickers), 1987, Part 2; No. 206. Gourd Music 110, Barry Phillips - "The World Turned Upside Down" (1992). Topic TSCD458, John Kirkpatrick - "Plain Capers" (1976).
T:Black Jock
L:1/8
M:6/8
S:Gow - 4th Repository
K:A
E|E2A AGA|BcB BAB|c>dc cBA|BcB BAF|A3 F2E|EFA A2 E/D/|
(CE)A AGA|(Bd)c BAG|(Ac)e edc|Bdc {c}BAG|~A>Bc ~F>GA|
EFG A2||d|(c2d e2)e|fdf {f}e2d|c2d e>fe|f>ga edc|d2b c2a|BcB {c}BAB|
~c>dc cBA|B>cB BAF|A3 ~F2E|EFA A2d|(cA)c (ec)e|(fd)f e2d|
(cA)c (ec)e|(fd)f {f}e2c|ddd ccc|Bdc B2A|(Ac)e (ed)c|(Bd)c {c}BAG|
~A>Bc ~F>GA|EFG A2||
CAPTAIN JINKS/JINX. AKA and see "Down the Ohio." American (originally), Canadian; Single Jig and Air. USA; Pa., New York State: Canada, Ottawa Valley. G Major (Bronner, Ford, Guntharp, Roche, Shaw): D Major (Bayard, Begin, Phillips, Sweet). Standard. AB (Begin, Shaw, Sweet): AAB (Guntharp, Phillips): ABB (Bayard): AABB (Bronner, Ford, Roche). The title is taken from a popular song of the 19th century, "Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines," which Sigmund Spaeth (A History of Popular Music in America) states was composed by an English music hall singer named William Horace Lingard who came to America in 1871. Confirming that Lingard wrote the lyrics, Denes Agay (Best Loved Songs of the American People, pgs. 156-157) however, credits the music to a T. Maclagan. Musicologist Sam Bayard (1991) traces the tune "ultimately (and indirectly)" back to a piece called "The Mill Mill O," a commonly printed and played duple time march from the 18th and early 19th centuries, and to the jig "Merrily Danced the Quaker('s Wife)," one of which was derived from the other. Another researcher cited by Bayard traces the melodic material in these tunes all the way back to 14th century plain-chant, although Bayard himself does not confirm or deny that line of thinking. He does believe that the mid-19th century tune known as "Captain Jinks" (and also the melody "Hundred Pipers") is an offshoot of the first part of the Mill air, via "The Quaker's Wife." It was listed as having been commonly played in the Orange County, N.Y. area for dances in the 1930's (Lettie Osborn, New York Folklore Quarterly, pgs. 211-215), about the same time Bayard collected the melody from western Pennsylvania sources, and Norman Cazden collected it from Catskill Mountian, N.Y. dances of the era. The original words to the song begin:
***
I'm Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines,
I feed my horse on corn and beans,
And often live beyond my means,
Tho a captain in the army.
***
Bronner (1987) notes that the lyrics reinforce the tune's connection to dancing:
***
I teach young ladies how to dance,
How to dance, how to dance,
I teach young ladies how to dance,
For I'm the pet of the army.
***
Bruce E. Baker communicates that he finds reference to the tune in WPA-collected narratives from 1937 with former slaves in South Carolina (reprinted in Edmund L. Drago's Hurrah For Hampton: Black Red Shirts in South Carolina During Reconstruction, Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 1998, pg.100). One interviewee, Charley Barber, born near Winnsboro, Fairfield County, South Carolina, remembered the piece from his slavery days. He recalled "Captain Jenks" (sic) thus:
***
A tune was much sung by de white folks on de place and took wid de
niggers. It went lak dis:
'I'm Captain Jenks of de Horse Marines
I feed my horse on corn and beans.
Oh! I'm Captain Jenks of de Horse Marines
And captain in de army!'"
***
Sources for notated versions: Floyd Woodhull, 1976 (New York State) [Bronner]; Archie Miller (Lewisburg, Pa.) [Guntharp]; Walter Neal (Armstrong County, Pa., 1952) [Bayard]; Don Woodcock [Phillips]; caller George Van Kleek (Woodland Valley, Catsekill Mtns., New York) [Cazden]; fiddler Dawson Girdwood (Perth, Ottawa Valley, Ontario) [Begin]. Adam, No. 11. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 596, pg. 523-524. Begin (Fiddle Music in the Ottawa Valley: Dawson Girdwood), 1985; No. 69, pg. 79. Bronner (Old Time Music Makers of New York State), 1987; No. 17, pg. 80. Cazden (Dances from Woodland), 1945; pg. 16. Cazden, 1955; pg. 15. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 120. Guntharp (Learning the Fiddler's Ways), 1980; pg. 77. Kraus, pg. 65. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 2, 1995; pg. 361. Roche Collection, 1982; Vol. 2, pg. 23, No. 249. Shaw (Cowboy Dances), 1943; pg. 379. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; pg. 19. Victor 36401A (78 RPM), Woodhull's Old Tyme Masters, 1941.
X:1
T:Captain Jinks
L:1/8
M:6/8
S:Shaw - Cowboy Dances
K:G
B2D D^CD|E2D G2B|A2c E2F|G2A B3|B2D D^CD|E2D G2B|
A2c E2F|G3G3||c2c ccc|c2B B3|B2A A3|A2G G3|c2c ccc|
c2B B3|B2A AB^c|d3 d3||
X:2
T:Captain Jinks
L:1/8
M:6/8
K:D
f2d ABA|{B/c/}(B2A) [D2d2]f|efg (B2c)|(d2e)(f2g)|aba A>AA|
[D2B2]A d2 (3fgf|efg (B2c)|e2[Dd] [Dd]Ad||[B3g3] [Bg]ag|
(f2d) Adf|e^de ede|fdB B/c/BA|[B3g3] gag|(f2d) f>gf|e>^de e>f^g|
a>ba (ag)||
COUNTRY GARDEN(S). AKA and see "Blue-eyed Stranger" [1], "The Vicar of Bray." English, Air and Morris Dance Tune (4/4 time). F Major (Karpeles): G Major (Mallinson). Standard: D Major (Chappell). AB (Chappell): AABB, x4 (Bacon-Fieldtown, Mallinson): AABBCCB'B'(Karpeles): AA'BBB (Bacon-Bampton). The song was first presented in 1728 in stage production The Quaker's Opera and subsequently appeared many other ballad operas of the 18th century. It was later included in Daniel Wright's Compleat Tutor for Ye Flute (c. 1735).
**
Fuld (1966) notes that Chappell included two versions in an early work on English airs (A Collection of National English Airs, London, 1838-1840) which "provide an interesting link between the 1728 version and the 'Handerchief Dance" (i.e. morris dance) tune collected by Cecil J. Sharp and Hervert C. MacIlwaine in 1907 and popularized by Percy Grainger in 1919." Indeed the morris versions were in use in tradition among dance musicians into the 20th century, a tradition which continues today. Mallinson's morris version is from the Fieldtown (Leafield, Oxfordshire) area of England's Cotswolds; Bacon gives morris versions from Bampton, Field Town, Headington, and Longborough. Kidson says the tune was used by morris dancers in Oxfordshire, where a fragment of the original song was remembered:
**
Madam, if you please
Will you buy a peck of peas
Out of my fine country garden?
**
Sharp (1907) calls the tune for the song "The Vicar of Bray" a 'free rendering' of "Country Gardens," and remarks: "Needless to say, the peasants do not sing and, probably, never have sung the 'Vicar of Bray'. Leaving out of account the tune, which lacks the spontaneity, artlessness and spirit of the genuine folk-melody, the words would not appeal to them" (see note for "Vicar of Bray"). The marriage of the words of "The Vicar of Bray" and the tune "Country Gardens" occurred in the late 18th century, appearing first in the publications Convivial Songster (1782) and Ritson's English Songs (1783). Parodies soon appeared, one called "A Gallon a Day" printed on music sheets. Edward Rushton used the melody for his song "The Neglected Tar."
**
Source for notated version: Arnold Woodley (Bampton) [Bacon]. Bacon (The Morris Ring), 1974; pgs. 50, 150, 185, 248. Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Times), Vol. 2, 1859; pgs. 122-123. Karpeles & Schofield (A Selection of 100 English Folk Dance Airs), 1951; pg. 33. Mallinson (Mally's Cotswold Morris Book), 1988, Vol.2; No. 16, pg. 10. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 75. Sharp (English Folk-Song), 1907; pgs. 112-113.
T:Country Gardens
L:1/8
M:C
S:Sharp - English Folk Song (1907)
K:F
F2B2B2d2|c>dc>B A2 A>B|c2F2G2B2|A3G F4:|
f>gf>d e2c2|f>ef>d e2c2|f2 f>e d2g2|e3d c2 A>B|
c2 f>e d2d2|c>dc>B A2 A>B|c2F2G2B2|A3G F4|
f2 f>e d2d2|c2 c>B A2 A>B|c2F2G2B2|A3 G F4||
FAIR QUAKER OF DEAL. English, Country Dance Tune (6/8 time). D Major. Standard. AABB. The tune dates to 1728. Barnes (English Country Dance Tunes), 1986.
HEY, THEN UP GO WE. AKA and see "The clean country way," "The good old cause." English, Air (3/2 time). C Major. Standard. ABCD. In various forms--3/2, 6/4, 6/8 or common time--it appears in a number of publications, including Musica Antiqua, The Dancing Master (1686 and all later editions), Pills to Purge Melancholy (1719), and the ballad operas "Beggars' Opera (1728), The Patron (1729), The Lover's Opera (1729), Quaker's Opera (1728), Silvia (1731), The Devil to pay (1731), and Love and Revenge. A great many ballads were written to this popular tune; Chappell (1859) lists 11 and says "it would be no difficult task to add fifty more to the above list." Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Time), Vol. 1, 1859; pgs. 204-205.
HUMOURS OF LAST NIGHT, THE. Irish, Jig. G Major. Standard. ABCD. A four-part set, a version of "(Merrily Danced/Kissed) The Quaker's Wife" or "Merrily Danced the Quaker." Source for notated version: "From O'Neill's collection, 1787" [Stanford/Petrie]. Stanford/Petrie (Complete Collection), 1905: No. 477, pg. 477.
IRISH RAGG. AKA and see "Around the House," "Merrily Kissed the Quaker-New Set." Irish. The melody, which is still part of the living tradition, appears in Burke Thumoth's collection of c. 1750 and Brysson's A Curious Selection of Favourite Tunes with Variations to which is appended "Fifty Favourite Irish Airs" (Edinburgh, 1790). Shanachie 79026, The Chieftains - " Bonaparte's Retreat" (appears as first tune of Around the House and Mind the Dresser set).
KATHARINE OGGLE/OGIE/OGGY. AKA and see "Catherine Logie," "Katherine Loggy," "Lady Catherine Ogle," "Ketrin Ogie," "Bonny Katherine Oggy." Scottish. The air, named after an unknown woman, was composed by Irish harper Rory dall O'Cahan, who lived in Scotland in the early 17th century. It appears earliest in the Scottish Panmure Manuscript #9454, c. 1675, Seventy Seven Dances, Songs and Scots Airs for the Violin, and was printed under this title in the Appendix to Playford's Dancing Master of 1686 (a note called it "a new dance"). On the strength of the Playford in his Dancing Master, 1686 edition, the English collector Chappell (1859) disputes the claim of Scottish ancestry. Chappell (1859), in fact, takes virulent exception to Stenhouse's scholarship regarding this tune after the latter claimed that the air was Scottish and dated it from the year 1680 (when it was sung by Mr. John Abell at a concert in Stationers' Hall). Chappell found that the only date Abell could possibly have sung it was in 1702, and he states that the earliest printing was in the Appendix to Playford's Dancing Master of 1686 (where it appears under the title "Lady Catherine Ogle"); Chappell, who claimed many Irish and Scottish airs as English, was evidently unaware of the version in the Panmure Manuscript when he accused Stenhouse of being deliberately misleading regarding its national origin. John Glen (1891) also disagrees with Chappell, noting that Chappell's own source, John Playford, published the tune a year before it was mentioned in The Dancing Master's appendix (1688) in Appollo's Banquet (5th edition, 1687) where it is called a "Scotch Tune" in footnotes and in fact appears under the title "A Scotch Tune" only. It appears in one of the earliest Scottish fiddler's manuscript repertory books, c. 1705, in the private collection of Frances Collinson (1971). Early Scottish printed versions include the Guthrie Manuscript (c. 1675), the Leyden Manuscript (c. 1692) and it is included in the Gillespie Manuscript of Perth (1768). Later Scottish printings were in Orpheus Caledonius (1725 and 1733 editions). A popular song to the air was written (or rather reworked) by Thomas D'Urfey in his Pills to Purge Melancholy (1719-20) entitled "Bonny Kathern Loggy." Later versions of the air appear in The Merry Musician; or, A Cure for the Spleen (1716) and Ramsey's The Tea Table Miscellany. Published editions of ballad operas which include the tune are The Quaker's Opera (1731), Polly (1729), The Beggar's Wedding (1729), Pattie and Peggie (1730), The Lover's Opera (1730) and The Highland Fair (1731). Later it was used by the poet Robert Burns as the vehicle for his song "Highland Mary" and appears in the Scots Musical Museum (No. 164). Flying Fish, Robin Williamson - "Legacy of the Scottish Harpers, Vol. 2."
T:Katrin Ogie
L:1/4
M:4/4
K:Am
F|DGGG|AGG/2A/2c|AGA2|F3/2G/2AF|DGGG|AGGc|ddcA|G2A||\
c|dddA|cccG|AAAG|FGAF|DGGG|AGGc|ddcA|G2A|]
LEGACY, THE [3]. AKA and see "Merrily Danced the Quaker's Wife." Riley (Flute Melodies), 1814, Vol. 1; No. 314.
LIGGERAM COSH. AKA and see "Sean Buide," "Over the Water to Charlie," "Pot Stick." See also note for "The Quaker's Wife."
MAGGIE LAUDER. AKA and see "Maggie Laidir," "Moggy Lawther." Scottish, Irish, English, American; Polka or Highland Schottische. USA, New England. D Major. Standard. AB. The Scottish dialect title means "strong Maggie" and dates from the mid-17th century when new words were adapted to the tune by John O'Neachtan about the year 1676. Flood (1906) traces reports of the tune back to 1696 when it was sung by Irish actor Thomas Dogget in his comedy called A Country Wake (who must have liked it for he used it again in 1711 for another play, Hob, or the Country Wake, a variant which appeared in Drury Lane that year). Having found a home in the ballad opera genre, the melody was utilized again in the Quaker's Opera in 1728, by Charles Coffey in 1729 in his Beggar's Wedding (under the title "Moggy Lawther"), and was mentioned by Allan Ramsay in his ballad opera The Gentle Shepherd in 1725. A Scottish version appeared in 1729 in Craigs. A rare, late text of Forbes of Disblair's "Maggie Lauder" variations appears in Perthshireman James Gillespie's 1768 MS. (where it is listed as "Moggie Lawther"). "Maggie Lauder" has also long been known in the north of Britain.
***
The nation of Ireland has often been portrayed euphemistically, personified similar to Uncle Sam for America or John Bull for England. "Strong Maggie" is a euphemism for Ireland, states Hardiman, who published the air in 1831 based on an unknown 1706 transcription. This may be so, however, the 17th century lyric (which Emmerson {1972} attributes to Francis Sempill) tells of a Scottish piper and his serendipitous meeting with a merry dancer in Fife, and may be enjoyed at face value:
***
For I'm a piper by my trade
My name is Rob the Ranter,
The lasses loup as they were daft
When I blaw my chanter.
***
Later:
***
Then to his bags he flew wi'speed,
About the drone he twisted;
Meg up and wallop'd o'er the green,
For brawly could she frisk it.
Weel done, quoth he, play up, quoth she,
Weel bob'd, quoth Rob the Ranter,
'Tis worth my while to play indeed,
When I hae sic a dancer.
***
Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 3; No. 201, pg. 23. Miller & Perron (101 Polkas), 1978; No. 31.
MERRILY DANCED/KISSED THE QUAKER('S WIFE). AKA - "Quaker's Wife." AKA and see "The Legacy," "The Humours of Last Night," "Blithe Have I Been," "Wilkes's Wrigle." Scottish, English; Jig. Irish, Slide. England, Northumberland. G Major (Gow, Mitchell): D Major (Hardie, Johnson, Kerr, Sweet). Standard. AB (Hardie): AABB (most versions): AABBCC (Mitchell, Taylor). A variant of "Merrily Kissed the Quaker('s Wife)." Phillips Barry, FSSNE, No. 11, pg. 13, traces the tune back to the 14th century plain-chant, "on the authority of Wilhelm Tappert's curious little book Wandernde Melodien' (Bayard, 1981). Bayard thinks that "Merrily Danced" is either devolved from "The Mill Mill O" or that both tunes evolved from a single tune; thus, to him if Barry is right and one tune stemmed from the late Middle Ages, then logically so does the other. John Glen (1891) finds the earliest appearance of the melody in print in Robert Bremner's 1757 collection (pg. 53), and it also early appears in the 1768 Gillespie Manuscript of Perth. The title appears in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes ("The Northern Minstrel's Budget"), which he published c. 1800. Merrily Danced the Quaker's Wife is also the name of a rather uncommon Scottish country dance.
***
The Quaker's wife sat down to bake
With all her bairns about her.
She made them all a sugar cake,
And the miller he wants his mouter (i.e. a fee for grinding flour).
Sugar and spice and all things nice,
And all things very good in it,
And then the Quaker sat down to play
A tune upon the spinet.
Merrily danced the Quaker's wife,
And merrily danced the Quaker
Merrily danced the Quaker's wife,
And merrily danced the Quaker.
***
Source for notated version: piper Willie Clancy (1918-1973, Miltown Malbay, west Clare) [Mitchell]. Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 460. Crosby (The English Musical Repository), 1811; pg. 121. Hardie (Caledonian Companion), 1992; pg. 40. Gale, pg. 21. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 2, 1802, pg. 17. Jarman, 1951; pg. 65. Johnson (Airs & Melodies of Scotland's Past), Vol. 10, 1992; pg. 14 (appears as "The Quaker"). Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; No. 18, pg. 32. Mitchell (Dance Music of Willie Clancy), 1993; No. 91, pg. 81. Saar, 1932; No. 48. Smith (Scottish Minstrel), 1820-24, Vol. 4, pg. 30. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1965/1981; pg. 25. Taylor (Music for the Sets: Blue Book), 1995; pg. 6. Flying Fish 299, The Battlefield Band - "There's a Buzz." Shanachie 79023, "Chieftains 3" (1971/1982). "The Fiddler's Companion" (1980).
X:1
T:Merrily danced the quaker's wife
M:6/8
Q:1/4=200
K:G
D|GAB D2B|c2B A2D|GAB D2D|E2F G2D|GAB D2B|dcB A2D|
GAB D2D|E2F G2D|GAB D17/8B3/4z/8|c2B A2D|GAB D2D|
E2FG2D|GAB D2B|dcB A2D|GAB D2D|E2F G2D|G2B d2B|
e2cd2B|GAB dcB|A2d d2d|e2c ABc|d2B G2D|GAB D2D|
E2F G2D|G2B d2B|e2c d2B|GAB dcB|A2d d2d|e2c ABc|
d2B G2D|GAB D2D|E2F G2||
X:2
T:Merrily Danced the Quaker's Wife
L:1/8
M:6/8
S:Gow - 2nd Repository
K:G
~G>AB D3B|{B}A2G E2D|G>AB D2D|E3G3|~G>AB D2B|
{B}A2 GED|G>AB D2D|E3G3:|
|:dcB edc|dcB ABc|dcB efg|B3 (d3|d)cB gfe|dcB {B}A2G|G>AB D2D|E3G3:|
MERRILY KISS(ED) THE QUAKER. AKA and see "Humours of Last Night," "Merrily Kissed the Quaker's Wife," "Merrily Kiss the Crater." Irish, Slide (12/8 time). Ireland, West Kerry. G Major (most versions): D Major (Feldman & O'Doherty). Standard. AA'B (Feldman & O'Doherty/O'Donnell #1): AABB (Feldman & O'Doherty/O'Donnell #2): AABBCC (most versions). The jig-like dance for the Irish slide is mainly done in the south west of Ireland, esp. west Clare and Cork, and County Kerry, according to the Boys of the Lough. The word 'crater' in the alternate title means whiskey. As "Humours of Last Night" the melody can be found in O'Neill's collection of 1787, set in four parts (reprinted in Stanford/Petrie, No. 477). Sources for notated versions: Boys of the Lough [Brody]; accordion player Johnny O'Leary (Sliabh Luachra region of the Cork-Kerry border), recorded in recital in 1985 at Kenmare [Moylan]; fiddler Danny O'Donnell (County Donegal) [Feldman & O'Doherty]. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 186. Bulmer & Sharpley (Music from Ireland), 1974, Vol. 1, No. 77. Feldman & O'Doherty (The Northern Fiddler), 1978; pg. 183. Mac Amhlaoibh & Durham (An Pota Stóir: Ceol Seite Corca Duibne/The Set Dance Music of West Kerry), No. 66, pg. 40. Moylan (Johnny O'Leary), 1994; No. 127, pgs. 74-75. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, Vol. 1), 1999; pg. 28. Island 9379, Chieftains- "Chieftains 3." Kicking Mule 206, Tom Gilfellon- "Kicking Mule's Flat-Picking Guitar Festival." Polydor 2383 379, Planxty- "Planxty Collection." Rounder 3006, Boys of the Lough- "Second Album" (1974). Shanachie 79009, "Planxty." Shanachie 79012, Planxty - "The Planxty Collection" (1974).
T:Merrily Kiss the Quaker
L:1/8
M:6/8
K:G
D|\
GAB D2B|c2A BAG|GAB DEG|A3 A2D|\
GAB D2B|c2A BAG|GAB D2F|G3 G2:|*
|:A|\
BGG AGG|BGG AGG|GAB DEG|A3 A2A|\
BGG AGG|BGG AGG|GAB D2E|G3 G2:|*
|:d|\
g3 aga|bge dBG|g2d gab|a3 a2f|\
gag fgf|efe dBA|GAB D2E|G3 G2:|
MERRILY KISSED THE QUAKER-NEW SET. AKA and see "Around the House," "Irish Ragg."
MERRILY KISSED THE QUAKER'S WIFE. AKA and see "Merrily Kiss the Quaker."
MILL OH, THE. AKA - "The Mill, Oh, the Mill." AKA and see "The Cuba March," "The Soldier's Return," "The Blue-Eyed Stanger." Scottish, English. England, Northumberland. D Major. Standard. AB. "The Mill Oh" or "The Mill Mill O" was a popular tune common to collections printed in the 18th and early 19th centuries, and was the air Robert Burns in 1793 set "The Sodger's (Soldier's) Return" to. Burns' poem is a reworking of a folk theme, popular since Homer's Ulysses, of lovers parted by war -- when the man returns he is unrecognized but finds his love has been true, reveals himself and is happily reunited. It begins:
***
When wild war's deadly blast was blawn,
And gentle peace returning,
Wi' mony a sweet babe fatherless,
And mony a widow mourning;
I left the lines and tented field,
Where lang I'd been a lodger,
My humble knapsack a' my wealth,
A poor but honest sodger.
***
Bayard (1981) believes that "(Merrily Danced) The Quaker's Wife" grew out of this tune, or else both tunes stem from an ancient original, primarly because of the "unmistakable" similarity of the 'B' parts, and the "noticable" resemblance of the 'A' parts. The title appears in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes ("The Northern Minstrel's Budget"), which he published c. 1800. Glen reported it was first printed by Thompson in his 1725 Orpheus Caledonius (No. 20); it also appeared in Thompson's 1733 edition (Vol. 1, pg. 40). Bremner (Thirty Scots Songs), 1770; pg. 30. Crosby (The Caledonian Musical Repository), 1811, pg. 48. Johnson, Vol. 3, 1787-1803, No. 242. S. Johnson (Airs & Melodies of Scotland's Past), Vol. 10, 1992; pg. 13. McGibbon (Collection of Scots Tunes), 1768, pg. 76. McGlashan (A Collection of Scots Reels), Vol. 2, 1781, pg. 4. Oswald (Caledonian Pocket Companion), c. 1780, Vol. 1, pg. 74.
MOLLY BAKER. AKA and see "Big Tater." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Oklahoma. G Major. Standard. AABB. Source for notated version: Joe Crane (Marshall County, Oklahoma) [Thede].
Knife and a fork and a great big tater,
Take that pretty girl to be my waiter.
***
O law, I guess I'll take her,
Take that pretty little Molly Baker.
***
I had a wife and she was a Quaker,
If she went to sleep the devil couldn't wake her.
***
Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; pg. 90.
PHILLIDA FLOUTS ME. English, Air (3/8 time). B Flat Major. Standard. AABBC. The song appears in Watts' Musical Miscellany (1729) and The Quaker's Opera (1728). Chappell notes that Walton's Angler (1653) references the tune when the Milkwoman asks, "What song was it, I pray? Was it 'Come Shepherds, deck your heads', or 'As the noon Dulcina rested', or 'Phillida flouts me'?" The tune was also called "Love one another," derived from a song called "The Protestant Exhortation," published by Playford in 1680, though in a "ruder and therefore probably earlier version of the one given" (in his Popular Music of Olden Time, Vol 2). Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Times), Vol. 2, 1859; pg. 133.
POT STICK. AKA and see "Lacrum Cosh," "Ligrum Cush," "The Marquis (Marquess) of Granby," "Over the Water to Charlie," "The Quaker's Wife," "Sean Buidhe" (Yellow John), "The Shambuy," "Wishaw's Delight." English, Country Dance Tune (6/8 time). D Major. Standard. AABB. Kidson (1890) traces this tune extensively throughout its Scotch, Irish and English printings, but states the national origin of the melody "would be a difficult matter to settle." He finds it earliest in Johnson's 200 Country Dances of 1748 (vol. IV), though after that date it appears under the Irish title "Shambuie" or "Shamboy" in Thompson's Country Dances (vol. I, c. 1759), Oswald's Caledonian Pocket Companion (vol. II) and others. As "The Marquis of Granby," a song by G. A. Stevens, it is printed in Aird's Selection of English and Foreign Airs (vol. I, c. 1775-76), and as "Ligrum Cush" or "Lacrum Cosh" (another Irish title) it is in Hime's Dances and Holden's Irish Airs. The Scots poet Robert Burns mentions in a letter to George Thomson that "Ligrum Cush" is a title given to the old Scotch melody, "The Quaker's Wife" (see note for "The Quaker's Wife); they are not the same tunes however, there are similarities in the general phrasing and cadences. In Gow's 3rd Collection of Strathspeys it is called "Wishaw's Delight." It's most famous attachment, however, is to the old song "Over the Water to Charlie," and under this title it appears in the Caledonian Pocket Companion (Book 4, c. 1775) and in Bremner's Reels (c. 1759). Kidson (Old English Country Dances), 1890; pg. 9.
QUAKER, THE [1]. English, Morris Dance Tune (4/4 time). G Major. Standard. ABB, x4. The tune and dance (a morris side-step and half hey) were collected from the village of Bampton, Oxfordshire, in England's Cotswolds. At beginning of the 20th century, when much morris material was collected, morris dancing in Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire was seldom still being performed, with the exception of that in the village of Bampton, kept alive largely by the enthusiasm of dancer and fiddler William "Jinky" Wells. Wells was recorded on 78 RPMs by the English Folk Dance and Song Society before he died. Bacon (The Morris Ring), 1974; pg. 34. Mallinson (Mally's Cotswold Morris Book), 1988, Vol. 2; No. 64, pg. 31. Cottey Light Industries CLI-903, Dexter et al - "Over the Water" (1993).
QUAKER, THE [2]. AKA and see "Merrily Danced the Quaker('s Wife).
QUAKER'S WIFE, THE. AKA and see "Merrily Danced the Quaker('s Wife)". English, Scottish; Jig. D Major. Standard. AABB. Bayard (1981) believes this tune derived from "The Mill Mill O". The Scottish national poet Robert Burns once wrote: "Among many of his airs (referring to the celebrated oboist Thomas Fraser's playing) that please me, there is one, well known as a Reel [it is really a 6/8 jig] by the name of 'The Quaker's wife' & which I remember a grand Aunt of mine used to sing, by the name of 'Liggeram cosh, my bonie wee lass'--Mr. Fraser plays it slow, & with an expression that quite charms me--I got such an enthusiast in it, that I mad a Song for it." The song Burns wrote he called "Blythe Hae I Been on yon hill." Jarman (Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes), No. or pg. 18. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book), Vol. 1, 1951; No. 97, pg. 48. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; pg. 32. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 110.
QUICK MARCH. A generic title, the tune in this case a version of "Merrily Danced the Quaker('s Wife)." Hinde, 1770; No. 26.
SCOTTISH JIGG, A. Scottish, Jig. C Major. Standard. AA. Published by Henry Playford in Apollo's Banquet (1663). Although "Scottish Jig" was used in the 18th century to describe a class of tunes (like "The Campbell's are Coming") that we recognize as jigs today, there was an actual dance called the Scots Jig, taught in 18th century Edinburgh dance schools, according to Emmerson (1972). It was mentioned in Sir Walter Scott's Redgauntlet (1867), where Darsie Latimer remarks:
***
The dance to be performed was the old Scots Jigg, in which you
are aware I used to play no sorry figure at La Pique's, when thy
clumsy movements used to be rebuked by raps over the knuckles
with that great professor's fiddlestick. The choice of the tune was
left to my comrade Willie, who having finished his drink feloniously
struck up the well-known and popular measure,
Merrily danced the Quaker's wife,
And merrily danced the Quaker.
My partner danced admirably, and I like one who was determined,
if outshone, which I could not help, not to be altogether thrown
in the shade.
***
Alburger (Scottish Fiddlers and Their Music), 1983; Ex. 6a & 6b, pg. 21.
SPANISH LADIES LOVE (FOR AN ENGLISH GENTLEMAN), THE. AKA - "The Spanish Lady." English, Air (3/4 time). C Major (Merryweather): A Major (Chappell, Kines). Standard. One part (Chappell, Kines): AA'BB' (Merryweather). The tune dates from the late 16th century, state Chappell (1859) and Merryweather (1989), apparently on the strength that it metrically matches the first line of a ballad of that time published by "the prolific" Thomas Deloney, which goes: "Will you heare a Spanish Lady, how she wooed an Englishman?" They also cites the 18th century Bishop Thomas Percy who alleged the the ballad "took its rise from one of those descants made on the Spanish coast in the time of Queen Elizabeth and, in all likelihood, from the taking of Cadiz" (which occurred in June, 1596). The ballad was entered at Stationers' Hall to William White in 1603 and the song appears in the Skene Manuscript (c. 1615 or 1620), Percy's Reliques, and The Quaker's Opera (1728). Kines (1964) reports the Englishman in the song has variously been identified as being Sir Richard Levison, Sir John Bolle, and a gentleman of the Popham family. Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Time), Vol. 2, 1859; pgs. 84-85. Kines, 1964; pg. 77 (appears as "The Spanish Lady"). Merryweather (Merryweather's Tunes for the English Bagpipe), 1989; pg. 30.
VICAR OF BRAY, THE. AKA and see "The Country Gardens." English, Air (4/4 time). D Major. Standard. AB. This popular English song dates from the latter 18th century. The vicar of the title is said to have been one Simon Aleyn, whose parish was in the village of Bray on the Thames, near Windsor, according to Kidson. Aleyn was remarkable for maintaining his position from 1640 to 1688, throughout the intense political and religious turmoil and changes in England at the time; a proverbial saying arose from his tenure, that "the Vicar of Bray will be the Vicar of Bray still." Nichols, in Select Poems, says that this song "was written by a soldier in Colonel Fuller's troop of Dragoons, in the reign of George I" (Chappell, 1859). Kidson, however, finds an early version of the song printed in the reign of Queen Anne in volume iii of Miscellaneous Writings in Prose and Verse (2nd edition, 1712), by Edward Ward, who had a reputations as a satirical writer. His song or poem is called "The Religious Turncoat," or "The Trimming Parson," and begins:
***
I loved no King in forty one
When Prelacy went down
A cloak and band I then put on
And preached against the Crown;
***
The original tune was not the now-familiar "Country Gardens," but the words instead were set to other well-known song tunes, including "London is a Fine Town" and "Bessy Bell and Mary Gray." For example, "Vicar of Bray" is set to the latter in Walsh's British Musical Miscellany, vol. I (1734), and this is the tune sung until about 1770 or 1780 (Kidson calls the melody "quite unvocal and inappropriate"). In fact, states Kidson, the use of "Country Gardens" is a late 18th century marriage. The tune appears as "The Country Gardens" in The Quaker's Opera (1728) and other ballad operas. Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Times), Vol. 2, 1859; pgs. 122-123.
WILKE'S WRIGLE. AKA and see "The Quaker's Wife," "Merrily Danced the Quaker('s Wife)." Scottish. Aird (Selections), Vol. 1, 1788, No. 145.