Annotation:Clout the Caldron (1)

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X:2 T:Clout the Caldron [1] M:2/4 L:1/8 S:Stanford/Petrie (1905), No. 403 Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:Bmin A | B/c/d/e/ dA | Bc df | ed cB | c2 BA | B/c/d/e/ dA | Bc df | ed cB | c2 BA | FE EF/A/ | BA FD | FE EF/A/ | B2 AF | FE EF/A/ | BA FD | FE EF/A/ | B2A ||

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CLOUT THE CALDRON [1]. AKA - "Clout the Cauldron." AKA and see "Hammermens' March (The)." Scottish, Irish; Air or March (cut or 2/4 time). A Minor (Thomson): B Minor (most versions). Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Thomson): AABB (McGibbon, Stanford/Petrie): AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ (Oswald). The tune is originally from a manuscript originally called the Guthrie MS. Guthrie was a minister beheaded in 1661 for writing a seditious pamphlet, but as a Covenenter he was no friend of dance music; apparently someone with a sense of humor sewed the music MS. into a book of Guthrie's sermons (Alburger). At any rate, the tune is one of the oldest Scottish dance tunes ever found. The melody apparently was associated with the tinker's trade, as it appears as "Hammermens' March (The)" in James Aird's Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs (1782), with the alternate title "Tinker's Occupation." The Incorporation of Hammermen was the once-powerful metalworkers' guild.

Allan Ramsay's mildly bawdy lyric "Clout the Caldron" may be found with vocal music in Thompson's Orpheus Caledoneus, vol. 2 (2nd ed., 1733, Song 25, p. 101).

Have you any pots or pans,
Or any broken chandlers?
I am a tinkler to my trade,
And newly come frae Flanders.

As scant of siller as of grace,
Disbanded, we've a bad-run;
Gar tell the lady of the place,
I'm come to clout her caldron.
Fa adrie, didle, didle, &c.

Robert Burns knew the tune from it's use songs he collected ("The Tinker" and "The Turnimspike"), and used it for one of his own lyrics, "My bonnie lass, I work in brass..." from his "Jolly Beggars" cantata. He also used it for two bawdy songs, "The Fornicator" and "Supper is na ready," both printed in his collection Merry Muses of Caledonia, published discretely in 1800, after the poets death.

Roseberry tae his lady says,
"My hinnie and my succour,
O shall we dae the thing ye ken,
Or shall we take oor supper?"

Chorus:
Wi' a riddle come a ra,
Wi' a fal come a ra,
Wi' a riddle come a randy.

Wi' modest face sae fu' o' grace,
Replies the bonny lady:
"My noble lord, do as you please,
But supper is nae ready.

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