Annotation:Mrs. Casey (1)

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MRS. CASEY. AKA and see “Billy O'Rourke's the Buachaill (1).” English, Air, Jig and Morris Dance Tune (6/8 time); Scottish, Jig. E Minor (Bacon Ascot, Mallinson, Raven): A Minor (Bacon Fieldtown, Howe, Kerr): B Minor (Gibbons, Kennedy). Standard tuning. AB {x5}, A (Bacon, Mallinson): ABA (Howe): AABB (Kennedy, Kerr). The late Bruce Olson believes the title comes from a song by J. O’Keefe in his play Fontainbleu (1784), which begins “The British Lion is my sign.” The Gows printed a version of the tune as “Madam Cassey” and included it in a section of ‘Fashionable Dances in Edinr. 1787-88’, about the same time it was published by the London firm of Samuel, Ann and Peter Thompson (in their Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 5). As a morris dance tune, it was played for dances in the villages of Ascot under Wychwood (Oxfordshire) and Fieldtown (Leafield, Oxfordshire), in England's Cotswolds.

Source for notated version: the 1823-26 music mss of papermaker and musician Joshua Gibbons (1778-1871, of Tealby, near Market Rasen, Lincolnshire Wolds) [Sumner].

Printed sources: Bacon (The Morris Ring), 1974; pp. 22 & 160. Howe (1000 Jigs and Reels), c. 1867; p. 114. Kennedy (Traditional Dance Music of Britain and Ireland: Jigs & Quicksteps, Trips & Humours), 1997; No. 120, p. 29. Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 3; No. 299, p. 32. Mallinson (Mally’s Cotswold Morris Book), 1988; No. 48, p. 30. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 7. Sumner (Lincolnshire Collections, vol. 1: The Joshua Gibbons Manuscript), 1997; p. 19. Thompson (Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 5), 1788; p. 6. Wilson (A Companion to the Ball Room), 1816; p. 89.

Recorded sources:

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