Annotation:Marlbrouk

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MARLBROUK. AKA and see "Malbrouck," "Malbrouk," "Marlbrough," "Molly Brooks," "We Won't Go Home Until Morning," "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow." English, French, American; Country Dance Tune (6/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune probably originated in 18th century France, though Barnes dates it to 1808. It is the vehicle for a country dance of the same name, printed by Morrison.

Sigmund Spaeth, writing in his book A History of Popular Music in America (1948), gives a background:

People who like to sing "We won't go home until morning," or, less belligerently, "For he's a jolly good fellow," are not aways aware that the tune is one of the oldest in the worlk, originally known as "Malbrouck" or "Malbrough," with French words about he Duke of Marlborough's going to war, usually dated 1709. But the music may go all the way back to the Crusades of even earlier. (It has been compared with the old Chanson, "Le Convoi de Duc de Guise," 1563.)

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Barnes (English Country Dance Tunes), 1986. Chase (American Folk Tales and Songs), 1956; p. 195? (appears as "Molly Brooks"). Morrison (Twenty-Four Early American Country Dances, Cotillions & Reels, for the Year 1976), 1976; p. 51.

Recorded sources:

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