Annotation:Clout the Caldron (1)

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CLOUT THE CALDRON [1]. AKA - "Clout the Cauldron." AKA and see "Hammermens' March (The)." Scottish, Irish; Air or March (cut or 2/4 time). B Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. The tune is originally from a manuscript originally called the Guthrie MS. Guthrie was a minister beheaded in 1661 for writing a seditious pamphlet, but as a Covenenter he was no friend of dance music; apparently someone with a sense of humor sewed the music MS. into a book of Guthrie's sermons (Alburger). At any rate, the tune is one of the oldest Scottish dance tunes ever found. The melody apparently was associated with the tinker's trade, as it appears as "Hammermens' March (The)" in James Aird's Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs (1782), with the alternate title "Tinker's Occupation." The Incorporation of Hammermen was the once-powerful metalworkers' guild.

Source for notated version: "From O'Neill's collection, 1787" [Stanford/Petrie].

Printed sources: McGibbon (Scots Tunes, book II), c. 1746; p. 45. Stanford/Petrie (Complete Collection), 1905; No. 403, p. 102.

Recorded sources:

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