Annotation:John of the Green Ye Cheshire Way

Back to John of the Green Ye Cheshire Way

---

JOHN OF YE GREEN CHESHIRE WAY. AKA - "John of the Greeny Cheshire Way." English, Triple or Old Hornpipe (3/2 or 6/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABCD: AABBCCDD (Kirkpatrick). The melody was published by dancing master Daniel Wright in his Extraordinary Collection of Pleasant and Merry Humours (c. 1715, No. 7). The title was printed as "John of the Green, ye Cheshire Way," but looks at first glance like 'Greeny' instead of the separate words, and this miss-reading led the tune to be called "John of the Greeny Cheshire Way" in the latter 20th century, since corrected. An excerpt from this old-style hornpipe tune appears in John Offord's article "Lancashire and Cheshire Hornpipes" (English Dance and Song, Summer 1990, 52{2}). There are several tunes with the title "Jack of the Green," "John of the Green," "Jack on the Green" etc.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Kirkpatrick (John Kirkpatrick's English Choice), 2003; p. 16. Offord (John of the Greeny Cheshire Way), 1985.

Recorded sources: Mally DMPCD0301, John Kirkpatrick - "Orlando's Return" (2003)

---