Annotation:Old Wife of Coverdale

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OLD WIFE OF COVERDALE. AKA - "T'Auld Wife of Coverdill," "T'owd Wife of Coverdale." English, Jig (9/8 time). A Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'BB'. Researcher and collector Maud Karpeles (1885-1976) recorded (in notes to Cecil Sharp, 1926) that the tune was played by an Arkengarthdale, North Yorkshire, fiddler named Christopher Reine (pronounced 'Wren'), and that it had been transcribed from his playing by the Rev. John Tinkler in the 1870's. Barry Callaghan (2007) notes that the slip jig appears in Sharp's published collection of sword dances (The Sword Dances of Northern England, vol. III, London, 1913) as an alternate tune for the Ampleforth sword dance. It is now the tune most associated with the dance.

"The Old Wife of Coverdale" is the name of a rather grim Child Ballad [1] (No. 79) that begins:

There lived an old wife in Coverdale,
Merrily turns the wheel;
There lived and old wife in Coverdale,
Children she had three;
She sent them away to the Northern lands,
She sent them away to learn their grammerie.

A caution against boarding school.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Callaghan (Hardcore English), 2007; p. 82.

Recorded sources: CD Baby, Horseplay - "Roughshod." (2006). Osmosys Records OSMO CE 001, Blowzabella - "Blowzabella Compilation" (1995). Osmosys Records, OSMO CD 005, Blowzabella - "Wall of Sound" (1996. A re-release of the 1986 album).

See also listing at:
See/hear versions on youtube.com [2] [3]
See/hear the tune at Lester Bailey's site [4]

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