Annotation:Nottingham Swing

Back to Nottingham Swing

---

NOTTINGHAM SWING. AKA - "Hilly-Go Filly-Go All the Way," "Cumberland Reel," "King of the Cannibal Islands." English, Jig. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. There is an English ceilidh dance called the Nottingham Swing, from northern England, adapted from notes by Miss Silvia Thursfield, who collected it in the 1930's. The dance was first published by Sibyl Clark in her book Seven Midland Dances (1955). In her introduction she notes:

The "Nottingham Swing" started the hunt for local dances in Northants. It was an argument between dancers from Benefield, Oundle and Titchmarsh as the "right way to do it" that made me and the local dancers realize that there was still a very live tradition of country dancing in Northants. The version included here is from Mr. Donald Spendlove, and is, he says, the "way it has always been done," at least in Titchmarch, in his lifetime!

As is typical with popular dances, various tunes would be played as the accompaniment to the steps, and, through association the tune often began to be called by the name of the dance. See the alternate titles for more on the tune, which dates to the early 19th century. "Phillibelulah all the Way" is also a tune that was used to accompany the dance

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book, vol. 1), 1951; No. 86, p. 42 (appears as "Hilly-Go, Filly-Go All the Way"). Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 107.

Recorded sources:

---