Annotation:Black and the Grey (1) (The)

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BLACK AND THE GREY [1], THE. AKA and see "New Market Jig." English, Jig. England, Northumberland. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Bruce & Stokoe): AABBCCDDEEFF (Peacock). The title, which is an English renaming of the Scottish melody "John Patterson's Mare," appears in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes, which he published c. 1800. The title comes from the first line of a song set to the melody (see note for "Talk:John Patterson's Mare"). A similar tune called "Black and All Black" appears in John Johnson's A Choice Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 6 (London, 1751). The titles "Black and Grey" and "Black and All Black" refer to racehorses. The tune (as "Scotch Black and Grey" to distinguish it from the English version) was contained in the Northumbrian music manuscript collection of John Smith, dated 1752, which is unfortunately now lost. The contents were copied by 19th century folk-music collector John Stokoe in 1887, when the manuscript was in the possession of Lewis Proudlock. Stokoe's volume Northumbrian Minstrelsy had been printed five year prior, and his interest in Smith’s ms. demonstrates Stokoe's continuing commitment to older Northumbrian music.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Bruce & Stokoe (Northumbrian Minstrelsy), 1882; p. 188. Peacock (Peacock's Tunes), c. 1805/1980; No. 28, p. 11.

Recorded sources:

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