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EggerRidgeBoy - Posted - 10/20/2012: 10:29:15
This week's Tune of the Week volunteer is unable to post due to a medical emergency, so I will post a very quick and simple "emergency back-up" tune.
That tune is Nancy Dalton. I heard it for the first time yesterday on a CD I just came across at Spruce Tree Music in Madison, Wisconsin - "Stranger on a Mule: 31 Traditional Fiddle Tunes From the Southern Appalachians", by Don Pedi and Bruce Greene. The CD contains many great tunes that I had not heard, nor head of, before. I chose Nancy Dalton in part because there was at least one banjo version on YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=gZNalaU3tYc . I haven't found any tablature yet.
Dan Gellert has fiddle version on YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=_-x-Y-HR5tI
There is a brief history of the tune in Jeff Titon's "Old Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes" book: tinyurl.com/9x5hhcp
Sorry this is such a short write-up. If I find any more information in the days ahead I'll post it.
Edited by - EggerRidgeBoy on 10/20/2012 10:34:20
JanetB - Posted - 10/20/2012: 11:37:25
Thanks for filling in, Brett, and including a nice tune for our enjoyment. Here's the link to the Slippery Hill site with Kentucky fiddler Isham Monday's version. It's #107:
slippery-hill.com/Titon///slippery-hill.com/Ti
RG - Posted - 10/20/2012: 12:59:28
Dan's version is based on Jim Bowles' version I believe, very bluesy...that's the version I like to play on fiddle these days...
aeroweenie - Posted - 10/20/2012: 19:48:30
Interesting tune, I've never heard of it. I think I like Monday's version best. Thanks for stepping in for TOTW!
hendrid - Posted - 10/21/2012: 08:50:18
From ibiblio.org Fiddlers Companion. Also sheet and abc music on abcnotation.com ibiblio.org/fiddlers/NA.htm
NANCY DALTON. AKA – “Nancy Dawson.” Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Kentucky. D Major. Standard or ADae (Monday/Titon) tunings. AABB. The tune was in the repertoire of south-central Kentucky fiddler Jim Bowles (b. 1903), who learned it from local musicians. Isham Monday (1879-1964), also from Kentucky, played the tune and called it “Nancy Dawson;” his 1959 recording is in the Western Kentucky University archive. As a variant, it was apparently not widely known outside Bowles’ local area, however, Jeff Titon (2001) identifies it as a member of the “Old Dubuque” family of tunes which is more widespread. The family includes “Dubuque,” “Hell Up Coal Holler [2],” “Old Dubuque” and “Duck River” (see notes for those tunes).
NANCY DAWSON [1]. AKA ‑ "Nancy Dawson's Hornpipe." AKA and see “Here we go gathering nuts in May,” "Here we go round the Mulberry Bush," "I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In," "Piss on the Grass," "Scottish Perrigordien," "Sixieme Anglaise de la Reine." Scottish, Irish, English; Air, Country Dance Tune (6/8 time), Single Jig or Morris Jig. England; North‑West and Northumberland. B Flat Major (Gow): G Major (most versions). Standard tuning. AB (Chappell, Emmerson): AAB (Gow): AABB (most versions). "Very old" (Gow). This well-known dance tune appeared in performances of John Gay's ballad opera The Beggar's Opera (1729) where it was labelled a hornpipe, although it must be noted that any step‑dance at the time could be called a "hornpipe." It also appears in Love in a Village (1762, as a housemaid’s song), and actually may be found in many country dance collections (such as the Gillespie Manuscript of Perth, 1767). In J. Walsh's Caledonian Country Dances (book iii, pg. 36, 1744) and MWA 200 Country Dances (c. 1740) it appears under the earthy title "Piss on the Grass." It was also printed in Peter Thompson's Compleat Tutor for the Flute, c. 1750-54.
==== The later "Nancy Dawson" designation for the melody derives from the name of a stage dancer of great popularity, Nancy Dawson (1728-1767), who performed to the tune in England during the 1760's. Miss Dawson came to public attention through her dancing at Sadler's Wells, but gained renown in 1759 by dancing a solo rendition of the tune between the acts in a Covent Garden, London, revival of Gay's The Beggar's Opera in 1759. A song in eulogy of her:
Of all the girls in our town,
The red, the black, the fair, the brown,
That dance and prance it up and down,
There's none like Nancy Dawson. etc.
***
Her easy mien, her shape so neat,
She foots, she trips, she looks so sweet;
Her every motion’s so complete,
I die for Nancy Dawson.
Edited by - hendrid on 10/21/2012 08:52:47
Randy Adams - Posted - 10/23/2012: 04:58:54
This is an extry good tune!...perfect for the totw. That 'Stranger On a Mule' record is chock full of good tunes. Dulcimer player Don Pedi plays those fiddle tunes like a banjo player wished he could!... : )....
Love that Dan Gellert version!
Sure would like to hear some more banjo renditions tho? Only one on u-tube....what?
Edited by - Randy Adams on 10/23/2012 05:02:59
JanetB - Posted - 10/24/2012: 06:14:17
Here's Maya Whitmont's tabbed version and a drawing of the famous London dancer and actress Nancy Dawson (1728-1767) known for the hornpipe/ballad named after her and performed in an opera.
I listened to Isham Monday's version, as well as Dan Gellert and Scott Prouty. Maya Whitmont's tab can be played along with them and makes good fiddle accompaniment, though Scott has a different B part.
EggerRidgeBoy - Posted - 10/24/2012: 11:37:48
quote:
Originally posted by JanetB
Here's Maya Whitmont's tabbed version and a drawing of the famous London dancer and actress Nancy Dawson (1728-1767) known for the hornpipe/ballad named after her and performed in an opera.
I listened to Isham Monday's version, as well as Dan Gellert and Scott Prouty. Maya Whitmont's tab can be played along with them and makes good fiddle accompaniment, though Scott has a different B part.
Thanks Janet for all your contributions to this thread - the recordings, the tab, and that great drawing!
EggerRidgeBoy - Posted - 10/24/2012: 11:40:32
Thanks to all for "filling out" this TOTW. I didn't really know much about the tune at all when I posted it, and I have enjoyed hearing the various versions and learning more about its history.
