Annotation:Shepherd's Wife (The)

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X:1 T:Shepherd's Wife, The M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Air Q:"Lively" B:William Napier - Selection of Scots Songs, vol. 3 (1794, p. 29) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:Eb P:"Vocal air" V:1 B,|E2F G2A|B2e {e}d2B|(cd) e (BA) G|(FG) E {E}D2B,| E2F G2A|B2e {e}d2B|(Bc) e f>e d|e3 E2|| e|g>ag (f>e)d |(e>f) e e d B|(cd) e (BA) G|(EF) E D2B,| g>a g (fe) d|(e>f) e {e}d>c B|(c>d) e f>e d|e3 E2|| P:"Violin part by Haydn" V:2 B,|E2D E2F|G2G F2E |E3- EDE|C3 B,2z| G,/B,/E/B,/A,/B,/ G,/B,/E/B,/A,/B,/|G,/B,/E/B,/G/E/ GF B,/E/|C/E/D/F/E/G/ [CF]z[A,D]|[G,E][G,E][G,E] [G,2E2]|| z|EGB DFB|CG=A B2G|_A3 GFE|A,2 =A, B,2z| [G3e3] [Fe]d[Fd]|([Ed]c)[Ec] ([Dc]B) _D/B/|C/B/A/=D/E/G/ A,/F/G,/E/A,/D/|E/B,/G,/B,/G,/B,/ G,2||

SHEPHERD'S WIFE [1], THE. AKA and see "Hesitation Waltz" (America?). English, Waltz; Scottish, Slow Air (6/8 time). G Major (Kennedy, Raven): E Flat Major (Gow). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Kennedy, Raven, Silberberg): ABB (Gow): AA'B (Matthiesen). "The Shepherd's Wife" is an air, sometimes used as a waltz in modern times. Poet Robert Burns re-wrote a traditional song for Johnson’s Scots Musical Museum called “The Shepherd’s Wife,” beginning:

The shepherd's wife cries o'er the knowe,
'Will ye come hame, will ye come hame?'
The shepherd's wife cries o'er the knowe,
'Will ye come hame again e'en jo?'
'O what will ye gie me to my supper,
Gin I come hame, gin I come hame,
'O what will ye gie me to my supper,
Gin I come hame again e'en jo?

A jig or quadrille version of the tune appears as "Tennessee Hornpipe" in Bayard's 1981 collection (No. 499, p. 458), collected in southwestern Pennsylvania.

Additional notes

Source for notated version: - Steve Trampe [Silberberg].

Printed sources : - Carlin (Gow Collection), 1986; No. 375. Gow (Fourth Collection of Niel Gow’s Reels), 2nd ed., originally 1800; p. 22. Johnson (The Kitchen Musician's Occasional: Waltz, Air and Misc.), No. 1, 1991; p. 10. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book, vol.2), 1954; p. 32. Matthiesen (The Waltz Book), 1992; p. 43. Petrie (Third Collection of Strathspey Reels), 1802; p. 11. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 139. Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 143.

Recorded sources: -F&W Records 1, "F&W String Band." Front Hall 024, Fennig's All Stars "Fennigmania" (1981).

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