Morris Tunes

[Nanette Hooker]

What are the most popular tunes played for Morris Dancing in your area?

[Aquarussell]

I don't really know. I just started learning tunes for the Moreton Bay Fig Morris Dancers. But the first ones I am set to learning are South Austrailia, and Trunkles. Easy and important in that order.

 

The tunes I have been given to learn are;

 

Priority One (Learn First)

 

Donkey Riding

Old Nolly Oxford

Young Collins

Lads-A-Bunchum

Lillibulero

Blue Bells of Scotland

None So Pretty

South Austrailia

Trunkles

 

Priority Two (Learn only after learning all Priority One tunes)

 

The Old Woman Tossed Up In A Blanket

Gallant Weaver

Ladies Pleasure

The Blue-Eyed Stranger

Old Peculiar / Virginia

 

Priority Three

 

Waltzing Matilda

Dearist Dickey

 

 

And I don't seem to know where Cuckoo's Nest belongs in the list.

 

Why did you ask? I hope this list doesn't lead you astray.

 

Russell Hedges

[JimLucas]

Folks posting the names of Morris tunes should really include the name of the tradition (village), if possible, for the old Cotswold tunes. Most have several different versions. "Princess Royal", e.g., has variants in both major and minor keys. (If concertizing, I usually play the Bampton version in Gm, though I can play along with any of them if playing with others for dancing.)

[premo]

Rumford MM (Essex UK) use standard tunes e.g. Vandals (Lichfield), Postmans Knock (Adderbury), Young Collins (Bledington). We also use other tunes that fit the dance e.g. a variation of 'Just as the Tide was Flowing' for Valentines (Fieldtown).

 

Other non-standard tunes include Primrose Polka (alternative Jingle Bells) to fit a Fieldtown style dance, 'The Maid and the Palmer' to fit a Badby style dance, 'Jenny Lind' to a Lichfield style and a Bledington stick dance to British Grenadier/Ode to Joy/Rule Britannia.

 

Other standard tunes include 'Jockey to the Fair' (Bucknell?), 'Balance the Straw' (Fieldtown), 'Trunkles', 'William and Nancy' (Fieldtown), 'Orange in Bloom', 'Rigs of Marlow', 'Old Woman Tossed Up', 'Maid of the Mill' (Ilmington), 'Bride in the Camp' (Eynsham)

 

Jigs - 'Lumps of Plum Pudding', 'Nelson's Praise'

 

Sword set - 'Oyster Girl' and 'Dingle's Regatta'

 

And, of course, 'Bonny Green Garters' (Bampton)

[kiminca]

From the San Francisco area, we have pick-up style social evenings called Hideous Wills. Here people from various teams come and dance "mass" dances. While I could give out names of tunes my Morris team dances, I think the "Mass" dance tunes would be approiate.

 

Sherborne:

Orange In Bloom, Cuckoos Nest

 

Ducklington:

Lollipop Man, Froggies first Jump

 

Ascot:

Valentine

 

Litchfield:

Vandalls, South Austrialia (also done in Bleddington?)

 

Bampton:

Simon's Fancy (Tune = Rambling Sailor), Highland Mary, Stork (Tune = Blue Eyed Stranger), Bonny Green Garders

 

Border:

Four Lane End, Ragged Crow (Tune = ??)

 

Fieldtown and others:

The Idiot, Young Collins, Princess Royale, Bean Setting (Badby), Beus of Londow (Addebury), Sweet Jenny Jones (Addebury?), Trunkles (Pick a tradition), Jockey to the Fair (Brackley), Contant Billy

 

There are plenty of others, but I'm just an amateur.

 

Kim

[Lester Bailey]

<snip>

Trunkles (Pick a tradition)

</snip>

 

Kim

<rant>

Sorry to be a Morris pedant but you can't say Trunkles (pick a tradition), all the Trunkles tunes are different and they are different for a good reason.

</rant>

 

As I have been elected foreman of my side we will be doing the following new dances this year:

 

Idbury Hill (Field Town style)

Over the Hills and Far Away (Bampton style)

Valentine (Field Town style)

[JimLucas]

While I could give out names of tunes my Morris team dances, I think the "Mass" dance tunes would be approiate.

Interesting to see in these lists recent (at least within the last 30 years) additions -- both dances and tunes -- to the Morris traditions. E.g.:

... Froggies First Jump - newly composed, which my old team (Greenwich Morris Men of New York City) danced as Fieldtown, not Ducklington.

... South Australia - new dance to old tune (the sea chantey "South Australia")

... Simon's Fancy - new dance to old tune. I know the Simon the dance was named for, a travelling historian-musician who styles himself "The Rambling Sailor". The tune -- Rambling Sailor, of course -- is a fine one that has also been used by various teams for various traditional dances (the GMM used it for Bledington "Morning Star"). I know the musician who I believe insinuated it into the American Morris scene. I don't know whether using the tune for Morris was his idea, or whether he got it from someone else in England. I do know that the way he played it on melodeon had a great deal to do with its rise in popularity.

... The Idiot - that name doesn't ring a bell, and we used to do a lot of Fieldtown. A new dance?

... Lillibulero (with several spelling variants) - this is another old song tune that became quite popular with Morris teams, and many a new dance was composed specifically for this tune.

... Old Peculiar / Virginia - I suspect these are also new dances.

 

One not mentioned so far is Island Mary, the Bampton Highland Mary, done to the tune of Jamaica Farewell.

 

Trunkles, Jockey to the Fair, Princess Royal, and Cuckoo's Nest are among those with different versions in several traditions. Jockey to the Fair is also known as an Irish set dance tune, while Princess Royal is said to have been composed by the blind Irish harper Turlogh O'Carolan. Many of the traditional Morris tunes were once popular songs, including some from English operas, while song parodies account for some of the similar-but-different names. The words to The Black Joke would today be considerd obscene.

[Peter Brook]

The words to The Black Joke would today be considerd obscene.

Be interested to see those words... (obscenity laws allowing)

 

and I thought it was Black Joak and that "Joak" was some sort of scarf.

 

there are at least two other "Joaks" as well , the Blue Joak and the Yellow Joak.

[JimLucas]

The words to The Black Joke would today be considerd obscene.

Be interested to see those words... (obscenity laws allowing)

I don't think Paul would appreciate my posting them here, but if I can find my copy I'll let you know off line.

 

and I thought it was Black Joak and that "Joak" was some sort of scarf.

I don't know anything about a scarf. "Black Joak" doesn't surprise me, since I've seen various spellings of the tune name, including "Black Jack", "Black Jock", and "Bleck Jock"... the latter from a Dutch manuscript. It was apparently fairly widespread at one time.

[Robin Harrison]

The " Idiot " is a Stan Rogers tune taken from the song he wrote of the same name and deliberately written in a Morris idiom....his description of Morris dancers on his live recording is very funny.

It's a fine song and does make a Morris great tune.They use it in this neck of the woods for clog dancing.

 

" So bid farewell to the eastern town you never more will see

There's self-respect and a steady cheque in this refinery.

You'll miss the green and the woods and streams and

the dust will fill your nose.

But you'll be free , and just like me , an idiot , I suppose.

 

Songs from Fogarty's Cove.......OFC Publications

[JimLucas]

The " Idiot " is a Stan Rogers tune taken from the song he wrote of the same name...

Thanks, Robin. I hadn't remembered that, but there was

Songs from Fogarty's Cove.......OFC Publications

lying on my sofa -- taken out for another reason, -- and yes, there's "The Idiot".

Cool!

[Pete Dickey]

Thought this link might be of some interest. I'm looking forward to attending the next gathering in January, should be a well lubricated and lively event.

 

Pete

 

 

http://www.freaksinthepeaks.com/

[kiminca]

<snip>

Trunkles (Pick a tradition)

</snip>

 

Kim

<rant>

Sorry to be a Morris pedant but you can't say Trunkles (pick a tradition), all the Trunkles tunes are different and they are different for a good reason.

</rant>

In my humble viewing, I said pick a tradition because I have seen this danced and played in several traditions. Since one does not stand out more in my mind than any other, picking your favorite tradition seemed appropriate.

[Lester Bailey]

<snip>

Trunkles (Pick a tradition)

</snip>

 

Kim

<rant>

Sorry to be a Morris pedant but you can't say Trunkles (pick a tradition), all the Trunkles tunes are different and they are different for a good reason.

</rant>

In my humble viewing, I said pick a tradition because I have seen this danced and played in several traditions. Since one does not stand out more in my mind than any other, picking your favorite tradition seemed appropriate.

 

 

Sorry no offence meant!

[Animaterra]

I am a humble beginner in the world of playing for morris, but I did play out in my first tour this fall! My team, the Harrisville Morris Women, dance mostly Fieldtown and some Headington (although most of us are getting too old in the knees for many more cross-backs...).

Frequent tunes/dances in our repertoire:

Trunkles (both Fieldtown and Headington)

Rigs

Cambell's Farewell to Redgap (for "Three Musketeers")

Waltzing Matilda (for a dance of that name)

Orange in Bloom

Double Setback (does that tune have a name?)

Nutting Girl

Durham Jail (for a dance of that name)

Valentine

Highland Mary (for all who will)

Lass of Richmond Hill

 

I'm sure there are others, but at this early hour I'm drawing a blank.

[JimLucas]

My team, the Harrisville Morris Women,...

Shouldn't you change your avatar to a chocolate flamingo?

[Jim Besser]

We do Sherborne and Ilmington.

Orange in Blue (or bloom, depending on where you got it)

Haste to the Wedding.

Champions.

I'll Go and Enlist

Howdya Do.

A dance called GLory, which we used to do to The Gobby-O, but now do to Alan Day's Chocolate Rabbit.

A dance called Nash Rambler, which we do to the Engish dance tune The Jockey

The aforementioned Trunkles.

Saturday Night

The Old Woman Tossed Up

Cuckoo's Nest

Constant Billy

Nina's Frolic (to a tune I wrote by that name)

Bedlam Boys

Juice of Barley, to an English country dance tune, I believe.

Young Collins

 

THat's all I can remember without my notes. I do all these solo; mostly transposed to C, to maximize chording and volume on a CG.

[JimLucas]

A dance called Nash Rambler, which we do to the Engish dance tune The Jockey

What? Not to the tune of that old (late 1950's?) song about the Nash Rambler and the Cadillac?!