Annotation:My Only Jo and Dearie

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MY ONLY JO(E) AND DEARIE (O) [1]. Scottish; Air, "Slowish" Reel; Irish, New England, Polka. D Minor (Gow): E Minor (Howe, Wilson). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Howe): AAB (Gow). The melody was first published as a song in Johnson's Scots Musical Museum, vol. 6 (1803, p. 548). In London dancing master Thomas Wilson's Companion to the Ballroom (London, 1816), it appears among the 'figure' dances, listed as a Scotch tune, although Nathaniel Gow notes that it is "Supposed Irish." Ann Heymann (1990) sees this piece as a version of Irish harper Thomas Connellan's "Celia Connellan," although the relationship between versions of "Jo(e)" and O'Neill's "Celia" appear distant at best.

Source for notated version: Wilson's Companion to the Ballroom [O'Neill].

Printed sources: Carlin (Gow Collection), 1986; No. 309. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 3, 1806; p. 12. Howe (1000 Jigs and Reels), c. 1867; p. 123. Johnson (Scots Musical Museum, vol. 6), 1803; p. 548. Miller & Perron (101 Polkas), 1978; No. 50. O'Neill (Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody), 1922. Wilson (Companion to the Ball Room), 1816; p. 33.

Recorded sources:




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