Annotation:Prestwich Wakes

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PRESTWICH WAKES. English, Morris Dance Tune (4/4 time). England, North West. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune is used for a polka step in the North West morris dance tradition. It was employed for the Prestwich, Lancashire, Rush-cart processional around the year 1850. Anne Gilchrist, in her article "Lancashire Rush-Cart and Morris Dance" (Journal of the English Folk Dance Society No. 1, 1927, p. 25) records:

This tune, which looks like a pipe-and-tabor air, was played when moving off after the stationary dance before a house or inn. The steps were different, the tempo slower, and I should judge that it was kind of 'Morris Off', which I have not encountered elsewhere among the Lancashire dances.

The tune is different than the similarly titled "Preston Wakes" although it refers to the same event).

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Wade (Mally’s North West Morris Book), 1988; p. 13.

Recorded sources:

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