Annotation:Dandy O (1) (The)

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DANDY O, THE. Irish, English; Air (2/4 time). England; Shropshire, Lincolnshire. D Major (O'Farrell, O'Neill): G Major (Ashman). Standard tuning. One part (Sumner): AABB (Ashman, O'Farrell, O'Neill). The melody was the vehicle for several late 18th and early 19th century songs, including "Pretty Peg of Derby," Thomas Moore's "Evelyn's Bower," "The Bonny Lass of Fyvie," "The Chesapeake and the Shannon," and the American "Constitution and the Guerriere," (the latter an American song commemorating a naval engagement if 1812). It was the tune used for a broadside ballad "The Dandy" (Later English Broadside Ballads edited by John Holloway and Joan Black, London 1979, vol. 2 p. 274). O'Neill (1915) states his version (presumably taken directly from O'Farrell's collection) bears no resemblance to others of the same name, however, Ashman's printing is clearly cognate if not so elaborate. O'Farrell gives an Irish provenance for the melody. According to Alfred Moffet, the tune was printed by Brysson in his Curious Collection. In America, it appears in Riley's Flute Melodies (p. 43) under the title "Brandy O or Peg of Darby," in an instrumental setting, notes Bruce Olson. Comic words to the tune begin:

Tho' late, as a waiter, I ran up and down,
With bottles, glasses, Claret, Rum and Brandy-O;
Now an officer I'm made, I'll have servants of my own
And be among the ladies quite the dandy-o.

My cravat sticks out like a pigeon's breast,
My hat so smart, my sword so long so handy-o;
Like a sheep's tail at each ear my hair's completely drest,
And crops I'm sure you'll own are quite the dandy-o.

Source for notated version: a c. 1837-1840 MS by Shropshire musician John Moore [Ashman]; the 1823-26 music mss of papermaker and musician Joshua Gibbons (1778-1871, of Tealby, near Market Rasen, Lincolnshire Wolds) [Sumner].

Printed sources: Ashman (The Ironbridge Hornpipe), 1991; No. 103b, p. 41. O'Farrell (Pocket Companion, vol. IV), 1810; p. 105. O'Neill (O'Neill's Irish Music), 1915; No. 114, p. 64. Sumner (Lincolnshire Collections, vol. 1: The Joshua Gibbons Manuscript), 1997; p. 83 (miss-labelled "A Andy O" in the contents).

Recorded sources: Topic TSCD494, Eliza Carthy - "Rice."

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