Annotation:Andrew Carey
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ANDREW CAREY. AKA - "Andrew Kerr," "Andrew Carr." English, Scottish; Country Dance Tune (9/8 time), Slip Jig. D Major (Athole, Cole, Gow, Kennedy, O'Farrell, Raven, Roche): G Major (Bruce & Stokoe, O'Flannagan, Vickers). Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (Athole, Gow, Hunter): AABB (O'Farrell): AABBCCDD' (Kennedy). A tune popular enough to have been widely disseminated, perhaps originally a song air. A distanced version, perhaps a precursor, can be found as the vehicle for a country dance called "Scotland" in Playford's Dancing Master (1709) series, although a relationship has yet to be established. The Tune appears in London dancing master Daniel Wright's Collection of Scots Dances (1730, as "Andrew Kerr"), Wright's Compleat Collection of Celebrated Country Dances (London, 1740), Walsh's Third Book of the Compleat Country Dancing Master (London, 1735 & 1749), and Simpson's Compleat Tutor for the Flute (London, 1745). Later it was published in Thompson (1777), James Aird's Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 5 (Glasgow, 1797), and the Gow's Complete Repository, Part 1 (1799). The tune's title appears in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes ("The Northern Minstrel's Budget"), which he published c. 1800. The titles naming Andrew as a 'Kerr' predate the 'Carey' titles. The Kerr's were a Scottish Middle-March Borders family well-known for their raiding, cattle reiving and feuding [1] (see George MacDonald Fraser's The Steel Bonnets for a comprehensive text on Scottish and English Borders activities).
"Andrew Carey" and variant titles appears in several British musicians' manuscript collections, including William Vickers (Northumberland, 1770), John Fife (Perthshire and at sea, 1780, where it is noted as a "Retreat"), Joseph Crawhall (Northumberland, 1872), the Tiller ms., and Thomas Hammersley (London, 1790). In North America the tune was included by Henry Beck in his commonplace book for the flute (1786), Aaron Thompson (New Jersey, 1777-1782), William Morris (Hunterdon County, New Jersey, 1776-1777), and by Thomas Molyneaux in his flute copybook (Shelburne, Nova Scotia, 1788).
Bruce & Stokoe print lyrics to the tune, beginning:
As I went to Newcastle, My journey was not far,
I met with a sailor lad, His name was Andrew Carr.
And hey for Andrew, Andrew, Ho for Andrew Carr,
And hey for Andrew, Andrew, Ho for Andrew Carr.
A slower version of the melody is played in the Shetlands as "Yairds o' Finnigirth (The)." Peter Kennedy gives the alternate English title "Derby Carey." It has survived in Irish tradition as the slip jig "Hills of Tipperary (The)" and "Tipperary Hills," and "Michael Gorman's."
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Aird (Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 5), 1797; No. 106, p. 40. Bruce & Stokoe, Northumbrian Minstrelsy, 1882; p. 179 (appears as "Andrew Carr"). Callaghan (Hardcore English), 2007; p. 80. Charlton Memorial Tune Book, 1956; p. 17 (appears as "Andrew Carey"). Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 78. Gow (Complete Repository, Part 1), 1799; p. 36. Haverty (One Hundred Irish Airs vol. 3), 1859; No. 281, p. 140. Howe (Musician's Omnibus No. 2), c. 1864; p. 101. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 290. Kennedy (The Fiddler's Tune-Book: Slip Jigs and Waltzes), 1999; p. 3 No. 1. O'Farrell (Pocket Companion, vol. II), c. 1806; p. 119. O'Flannagan (The Hibernia Collection), 1860; p. 4. O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems), No. 430 (appears as "Tipperary Hills"). Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 130. Roche Collection, 1982; vol. II, p. 24. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; p. 138 (appears as "Andrew Carr"). Seattle (Great Northern/William Vickers), 1987, Part 2; No. 306. Walsh (Caledonian Country Dances), c. 1745; p. 21 (appears as "Andrew Kerr"). Wilson (Companion to the Ball Room), 1816.
Recorded sources: Redwing Music RWMCD 5410, Abby Newton - "Castles, Kirks and Caves" (2001).