Annotation:Ditherum Doodle

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DITHERUM DOODLE. AKA and see "Moll Roe (1)." Irish, Air and Slip Jig (9/8 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody is but one version or variant of a large air and slip jig family of Irish tunes, for which see note to "Moll Roe (1)" for more. The "Ditherum Doodle" title for the tune comes from its use as the vehicle for the song "Though late I was plump," in which 'ditherum doodle' starts off the burden or chorus. The lyric was printed in The Encyclopedia of Comic Songs (1820, p. 500):

Though late I was plump, round, and jolly,
I now am as thin as a rod;
Oh, love is the cause of my folly,
And soon I'll lie under a sod.
Sing ditherum doodle, nagety, nagety, tragety rum,
And goosetherum, foodle, fidgety, fidgety, nigety mum.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Mulhollan (Selection of Irish and Scots Tunes), Edinburgh, 1804; p. 6.

Recorded sources:

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