Annotation:Governor Taylor's March

Back to Governor Taylor's March

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GOVERNOR TAYLOR'S MARCH. AKA and see "Officer on Guard (The)," "Officer of the Guard (The)," "I Won't Be a Nun," "Denis Murphy's Hornpipe." American, March (2/4 time). USA, southwestern Pa. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. Bayard (1981) identifies related tunes, perhaps from a common ancestor, as "Pewter Mug," "Tin-Ware Lass (The)," and "Ladies Dressed in Their Garments So Green (The)." However, it seems a variation of the Irish march/hornpipe tune family, for which see the alternate titles, above. Bayard notes that the tune is called "Napoleon Crossing the Alps (4)" in Dr. Keith Norman MacDonald's Gesto Collection (1895), but the title usually belongs to other tunes.

It may perhaps be one of the tunes named for, or credited to, the fiddling Governors of Tennessee, Alf [1] and Bob [2] Taylor (i.e. "Taylor's March," "Taylor's Quickstep"). After his second term in office, Bob Taylor toured the lecture circuit, delivering his presentation "The Fiddle and the Bow." If the connection with either Taylor is correct, then it may strengthen the association with the Irish march "Officer on Guard (The)," a title that might also signify political power and position.

An advertisement in the Johnson City Comet in 1891

Source for notated version: Hiram Horner (fifer from Westmoreland and Fayette Counties, Pa., 1944) [Bayard].

Printed sources: Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 54, p. 39.

Recorded sources:

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