Annotation:Salt Fish and Dumplings
X:9 T:Salt Fish and Dumplins A:England;London M:4/4 L:1/8 Q:1/2=100 S:J.Walsh,Third Book of the most celebrated jiggs,etc 1731 Z:Pete Stewart, 2004 <www.hornpipemusic.co.uk> with vmp revisions K:A cB|A3B ABcd|fgaf ecBA|d3f ecBA|G2B4Bc| d3e fgaf|ecBAG3B|Ac Bd ce Bd|c2A4|| af|ecAc e3f|efde cdec|dcde fgab|g2e4dc| dcde fgac|dcBA GBeB|ceac Bcdec2A4|]
SALT FISH AND DUMPLINGS. AKA – “Salt Fish.” AKA and see “Cairding O't (The),” “Shepherd's Hornpipe.” Scottish, English; Country Dance (whole time). A Major (Walsh): G Major (Aird, O’Neill). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The tune appears under this title in London publisher John Walsh's Third Book of the Country Dancing Master (c. 1735, p. 201, reprinted in the 3rd volume of 1749), John Johnson's Wright's Compleat Collection of celebrated country Dances (1740, p. 11), and in Glasgow musician and music publisher James Aird's Selections of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs (1788). It is also reportedly in Walsh’s Lancashire Jigs, Hornpipe, Joaks etc. (3rd Volume, c. 1730). London musician Thomas Hammersley entered it into his. 1790 music manuscript collection.
Poet Robert Burns wrote his song "The Cardin' O't" to be set to the tune "Salt-fish and dumplings." It begins:
I coft a stane o' haslock woo',
To make a wat to Johnny o't;
For Johnny is my only jo,
I loe him best of ony yet.
The cardin' o't, the spinnin' o't,
The warpin' o't, the winnin' o't;
When ilka eil cost me a groat,
The tailor staw the lynin o't.
For though his locks be lyart grey,
And tho' his brow be held aboon;
Yet I hae seen him on a day
The pride of a' the parishen.
Saltfist and dumplings is still a favorite dish in Jamaica.