Annotation:I'm a top of Tom Tickler's Ground

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I'M A TOP OF TOM TICKLER'S GROUND. English, Jig. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody also appears in John Johnson's 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 8 (London, 1758). 'Tom Tiddler's Ground' is the name of a children's game, a kind of 'tag' where 'it' is 'Tom Tiddler' with players dashing into his territory crying "We're on Tom Tiddler's ground, picking up gold and silver." The phrase 'Tom Tiddler's ground' allusively means a place that offers rich items to be gathered up.

A group of children play Tom Tiddler in a garden

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Thompson (Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 1), 1757; No. 125.

Recorded sources:

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