Annotation:New Rigged Ship (1) (The)

Back to New Rigged Ship (1) (The)

---

NEW RIGGED SHIP [1], THE. AKA and see "Chapel Hill Serenade" (old-time), "Charley Over the Water (1)," "Coleman Killed His Wife," "Miss Findley's Delight," "Mrs. Finley's Delight," "Miss Finlay's Delight," "Old Hickory," "Over the River to Charley's" (old-time), "Piper's Fancy (1)," "Raw Recruit (The)." Scottish, English, New England; Jig and Country Dance. England; Shropshire, Dorset. D Major (most versions): C Major (Emmerson, Gow, Hunter, Skye, Wilson): G Major (Ashman). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Wilson): AAB (Emmerson, Gow, Hunter, Skye): AA'B (Kerr): AABB (most versions): AABBA'B' (Karpeles). A popular and old English/Scottish country dance melody. It was suggested by the antiquarian Stenhouse that the ancient duple-time tune "John Come Kiss Me Now" survives in the second part of "New Rigg'd Ship," however, when Emmerson (1971) compared both melodies he thought them dissimilar enough to amend that "New Rigg'd Ship" was perhaps only a set of the older tune, and closer in spirit and tone then actuality. John Glen (Early Scottish Melodies, 1900) called Stenhouse's assertion, simply "fallacious."

The English novelist Thomas Hardy (Return of the Native, The Mayor of Casterbridge) grew up in a musical family and was an accomplished dance fiddler and accordion player from early youth. He was influenced by his father (himself a locally famous dance fiddler), an uncle and a cello-playing grandfather, all of whom played for a church band in addition to more secular amusements. Young Thomas played with his father at village dances and, at the age of twelve, was reported to have played "The New Rigged Ship," a favorite dance, for nearly three quarters of an hour before his hostess stopped him for fear he might burst a blood vessel (Allison Thompson, Dancing Through Time, pp. 182-183). "New Rigged Ship" also appears in the manuscript collection of Northamptonshire poet and fiddler John Clare. The tune was recorded by the English traditional "revival" band Oak (Rod and Danny Stradling, Tony Engle, Peta Webb) in the early 1970's, at the beginning of the resurgence of interest in English traditional dance music played for English dances. New Rigged Ship is also one of the core Scottish Country Dances [1].

Older American version can be found in Edward Murphy's music copybook (c. 1790, Newport) and in Ann Winnington's music manuscript book, c. 1810 (No. 28, set in the key of 'C'). The inscription inside the front cover of the latter book indicates she lived in New York. A six-eight time version survived in the repertoire of Missouri fiddle Art Galbraith, who knew it as "Over the River to Charley's." However, "New Rigged Ship" has been more popular in the United States in a reel-time setting, called "Green Willis (1)" or "Raw Recruit (The)." See also the American old-time variants "Chapel Hill March," the first part of "Oklahoma Run," and the second strain of "Down on the Big Sandy."

Sources for notated versions: a c. 1837-1840 MS by Shropshire musician John Moore [Ashman]; contained in the Joseph Kershaw manuscript-Kershaw was a fiddler who lived in Slackcote, Saddleworth, North West England, in the 19th century, and his manuscript dates from around 1820 onwards [Kershaw].

Printed sources: Ashman (The Ironbridge Hornpipe), 1991; No. 106b, p. 43. Emmerson (Rantin' Pipe and Tremblin' String), 1971; No. 1, pp. 13-14. Gow (First Collection of Niel Gow's Reels), 1784, vol. 1, p. 8. Gow (A Second Collection of Strathspey Reels), 2nd edition, 1803 (1st ed., 1788). Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 281. Huntington (William Litten's Tune Book), 1977; p. 29 (appears as "Ship New Rigged"). Karpeles & Schofield (A Selection of 100 English Folk Dance Airs), 1951; p. 8 (appears as "Piper's Fancy"). Kennedy (Fiddler's Tunebook, vol. 1), 1951; No. 90, p. 44. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 3), c. 1880's, No. 236. Knowles (The Joseph Kershaw Manuscript), 1993; No. 3. Lerwick (Kilted Fiddler), 1985; p. 38. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; p. 176. Manson (Hamilton's Universal Tune Book, vol. 2), 1846; p. 23. Martin & Hughes (Ho-ro-gheallaidh: Sessions Tunes for Scottish Fiddlers), 1990. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddlers Repertoire), 1983; No. 41. Murphy Manuscript, 1790, p. 26. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 2, 1995; p. 373. Preston (24 Country Dances for the Year 1804), No. 580, p. 225. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 102 (appears as "Piper's Fancy"). Trim (Thomas Hardy), 1990; No. 41. Wilson (Companion to the Ballroom), 1840; p. 122.

Recorded sources: Alcazar Dance Series FR 204, Rodney Miller - "New England Chestnuts 2" (1981). CCF2, Cape Cod Fiddlers - "Concert Collection II" (1999). Culburnie CUL110, Abby Newton - "Crossing to Scotland" (1997). Flying Fish FF 70572, Frank Ferrel - "Yankee Dreams: Wicked Good Fiddling from New England" (1991). Musical Traditions MTCD327-8, Oak _ "Coutnry Songs and Music." Parlophone ‎F. 3463 (78 RPM), Jimmy Shand and His Band (). Topic 12TS212, Oak - "Welcome to Our Fair" (1971). Topic TSCD752, Oak - "Stepping Up" (2004. Compilation CD). Wildgoose Records, Rattle on the Stovepipe - "8 More Miles" (2005).

See also listings at:
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [2]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [3]

---