Annotation:Cheese It
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CHEESE IT! AKA and see "Barrack Street Boys (The)," "Brides Away," "Bride to Bed (The)," "British Naggon," "Corney is Coming," "Crawford's Reel (1)," "Kelly's Reel," "Knit the Pocky," "Merry Bits of Timber," "Miss Wilson," "My Love is in the House (1)," "Shannon Breeze (2)," "Six Mile Bridge." American, Reel. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABBA. A reel, presumably of Irish origin (see alternate titles), collected in the United States and included in William Bradbury Ryan's 1883 volume. Partridge's Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (1970) says that 'cheese it' meant, from the year 1855, to 'be quiet' (as in the old film line: "Cheese it! The Cops!").
Printed sources: Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 30. Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 56.