Annotation:Drunken Wives of Carlisle (The)

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DRUNKEN WIVES OF CARLISLE. AKA and see "Gi'e the Mawking mair o't," "Gi'e the canty carle mair o't," "I saw my love come passing by," "I Saw My Love Come Passing By Me," "My love comes passing by me." Scottish, English; Reel. Scotland, Lowlands. England, North-West. G Mixolydian (Johnson/Sinkler): G Major (Riddell). Standard tuning (fiddle). ABCDEFG. A double tonic tune (based on two adjacent major chords) composed for the lowland pipes from the early-mid eighteenth century. The title comments on the comportment of the Cumbrian (Borders) town of Carlisle's women, although there were other tunes dedicated to the "Drunken Wives" of various locales. Riddell himself identifies the air as an "English West Border tune," and says that "an unpublished reel is added to complete the page."

See also Northumbrian pipe versions as "I Saw My Love Come Passing By Me," and James Oswald's "Gi'e the Mawking mair o't."

Source for notated version: Source for notated version: the (Margaret) Sinkler Manuscript, p. 9.

Printed sources: Johnson (Scottish Fiddle Music in the 18th Century), 1984; No. 14, p. 29. Riddell (Collection of Scotch Galwegian Border Tunes), 1794; p. 16.

Recorded sources:

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