Annotation:Boney in the Dumps

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BONEY IN THE DUMPS. English, Jig. B Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. While the title probably refers to Napoleon Bonaparte (Old Boney), who at the time of Cahusac's publication was beset by the rebellion in Spain and the disintegration of his alliance with Austria. It is possible that the title derives from the slang term 'Boney Dumps'; 'boney' was the name for coal that had more rock than coal in it, and was once sorted and discarded. One had to be poor indeed to go down to the boney dumps to try to pick out usable coal to bring home.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Cahusac (Annual Collection of Twenty Four Favorite Country Dances for 1809), 1809; No. 24.

Recorded sources:

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