Annotation:Cairding O't (The)

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CAIRDING O'T, THE. AKA and see "Queensbury's Scots Measure," "Salt Fish and Dumplings," "Shepherd's Hornpipe." Scottish, Country Dance or Scots Measure. A Major (Howe, Kerr, Songer): G Major (Hunter). Standard tuning. AB (Kerr, Hunter): AABB (Howe, Songer). The melody has been set as a reel, pipe march, Scots measure and an air. The title refers to the carding (in Scots dialect 'cairding') of wool, or the labor of straightening and ordering with a carding comb. Hunter (1988) finds the earliest appearance of the tune in print in Margaret Sinkler's Manuscript (c. 1710), where it is called "Queensbury's Scots Measure." James Aird published it (in his Selections, 1788) under the title "Salt Fish and Dumplings;" referenced by Stenhouse notes to his 1839 republishing of the Scots Musical Museum, who called it "a lively old Scotch measure..." See also O'Farrell's hornpipe setting "Shepherd's Hornpipe." As an air it can be found as the vehicle for the words "Come Taste the Cup," and the Robert Burns song ("The Cardin O't," Number 437 in Part 5 of James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum c. 1796) which goes:

The cardin o't, the spinnin o't,
The warpin o't, the winnin o't;

Source for notated version: Aird's Selections of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs (Glasgow, 1788) [Henderson].

Printed sources: Henderson (Flowers of Scottish Melody), 1935. Howe (1000 Jigs and Reels), c. 1867; p. 146. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 308. Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 2; No. 4, p. 3. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; p. 44 (appears mistakenly as "The Cairin' O't").

Recorded sources: Green Linnet SIF 1047, John Cunningham - "Fair Warning" (1983). "James F. Dickie's Delights" (1976).

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