Annotation:Downhill of Life (2)
X:1 T:Downhill of Life [2], The M:3/4 L:1/8 R:Air Q:"Andante Animato" B:David Vinton - "The Masonick Minstrel" (Boston, 1816, pp. 288-289) F:https://archive.org/details/masonickminstrel00vint/page/288/mode/2up Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:Eb G>A|B2B2B2|e4 B>G|F2G2A2|G>F E2 B>B|c2e2d2|e2A2 G>A| {G}F4 G>A|B2B2d2 |e4 e>d|c2d2e2|d>c B2 c>c|d3e2f2| {f}e2d2c2|B4 F>F|B2B2A2|G2G2 B2 |e2e2 ^d2|{d}c4 c>c|c3d e2| A2A2G2|GF3B2|B3c _d2|{d}c4 cc|c2d2 e>f |{e}d4B2|e3f g2| f2e2d2|e2e2B2|c2c2c2|d2d2d2|e3f g2|{g}f2e2d2|e2e2||
DOWNHILL OF LIFE [2]. AKA - "In the downhill of life," “Tomorrow; or, The Happy Fellow.” English, Air (3/4 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. "The Downhill of Life" was written by English actor and poet John Collins (d. 1808) and published in newspapers around the year 1804. It proved popular and appeared on broadsides and in songsters well into the nineteenth century.
In the downhill of life, when I find I'm declining,
May my lot no less fortunate be
Than a snug elbow-chair can afford for reclining,
And a cot that o'erlooks the wide sea;
With an ambling pad-pony to pace o'er the lawn,
While I carol away idle sorrow,
And blithe as the lark that each day hails the dawn,
Look' forward with hope for to-morrow.
"The Downhill of Life" was also printed in G.E. Blake's Gentleman's Amusement (Philadelphia, c. 1824, p. 21)
