Annotation:Lads a Bunchun (2)

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LADS A BUNCHUN [2]. English, Morris Dance Tune (6/8 time). G Major (Mallinson): F Major (Bacon). Standard tuning (fiddle). ABBB (x4), ACCC (x4), A. A different melody than "Lads a Bunchum (1)" (Adderbury), collected in the village of Sherborne [1], Gloucestershire, in England's Cotswolds. In The Morris Book, Part IV (1911, p. 12), collector Cecil Sharp gives the title of the tune he noted in Sherborne, Dorset, as "Lads a-Bunchun," and notes:

The title of the Sherborne dance “Lads a-Bunchun” may, perhaps, throw some light on the meaning of the cryptic “Laudnum Bunches” of [The Morris Book] Part I. “A-Bunchun” may denote (see Wright’s Dialect Dictionary) butting or striking, dashing in dress or appearance; or it may simply mean bunched together, i.e., in a cluster as in a set-dance. On the other hand both “Laudnum Bunches” and “Lads a-Bunchun” may be corruptions of the original title which further research may some day unearth.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Bacon (The Morris Ring), 1974; p. 282. Mallinson (Mally's Cotswold Morris Book), 1988, vol. 2; No. 14, p. 9.

Recorded sources:

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