Annotation:I'll Get Wedded in My Auld Claes

Back to I'll Get Wedded in My Auld Claes

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I'LL GET WEDDED IN MY AULD CLAES. AKA and see "Bride Next," "Hexham Quadrille," "I'll get Wedded in My Old Clothes," "My Wife She canno be Guided," "My Wife's a Wanton Wee Thing (1)," "We'll all be wed in our old claes, we canna tell when we'll get new." English, Scottish; Jig. England, Northumberland. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCC. While a part of the core Northumbrian repertoire (c.f. Billy Pigg's recording), it is more properly categorized as a Borders tune. The title (as "We'll all be wed in our old claes") appears in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes ("The Northern Minstrel's Budget"), which he published c. 1800. Scottish versions are more numerous under the "My Wife's a Wanton Wee Thing (1)" title, by which the tune is usually known. Matt Seattle remarks that the title "I'll get wedded in my auld claes" is a local Northumbrian lyric set to the tune, and that it which was recorded by musician and collector John Bell in the 19th century.

The jig has also been played by Cape Breton musicians who had it independent of Robin Williamson's book (from which many 'revival' fiddlers learned the tune). Stan Chapman, an influential teacher and fiddler from nearby Nova Scotia, learned it from an old tape of Washabuck, Cape Breton, fiddler Joe MacLean.

Billy Pigg

Source for notated version: Northumbrian small-pipes player Billy Pigg (1902-1968).

Printed sources: Williamson (English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish Fiddle Tunes), 1976; p. 38.

Recorded sources: Leader Records LEA 4006, "Billy Pigg, The Border Minstrel" (1971). Rounder CD 7040, Stan Chapman – "MacKinnon's Brook: Traditional fiddle music of Cape Breton, vol 4" (2009). Mike Herr & Jill Smith – "The Quiet Path" (2014).

See also listing at:
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recordings Index [1]

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