Annotation:John Peterson's Mare
X:1 % T:John Peterson's Mare T:Haymarket Races S:John Stickle (1875-1957, Lerwick) M:2/4 L:1/8 N:A different tune than "John Patterson's Mare." B:Pat Shuldham Shaw - "A Shetland Fiddler and His Repertoire: John Stickle 1875-1957" B:Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, vol. 9, No. 3, Dec. 1962, p. 135. Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:Amix {efg}a2 {fgf}ge|fd A2|{fgf}g2 Bg|{fg}fe de| f/g/a g/f/g/e/|fd BG|(3BGB (3dcB|2 A2A2:|2A2(3d-de|| M:6/8 L:1/8 fd2 d2f|(e3 e2)g|fdf edc|{Bc}B3 G2B| AeA e>fg|a2e c2A|BGB dcB|1A3 d2e:|2 A3 A3||
JOHN PETERSON'S MARE. AKA and see "Haymarket Races." Shetland, Air (cut time). A Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'BB'. Collected in 1947 by Pat Shuldham-Shaw from Shetland cooper and fiddler John Stickle, whose great-grandfather, Friedemann (or Fredemann) von Stickel, was a German seaman and fiddler who was shipwrecked near the Shetlands (although local lore, perhaps tongue in cheek, had it that he had been thrown overboard due to his shipmate's exasperation at his constant playing, or perhaps because they just didn't like him). Friedemann settled in the islands and married two local girls in his lifetime. His son, also Friedemann, was born in the 1780's and was also a fiddler. Tbe tonal center of "John Peterson's Mare" is 'A', in the mixolydian mode, but it flirts with the key of 'D' in places.
There is a Northumbrian air and jig called "John Patterson's Mare" but it is a version of the song "Black and the Grey (The)" and is unrelated musically to Stickle's similarly-titled "John Peterson's Mare." Even Stickle's alternate title, "Haymarket Races" is similar to the Nothrumbrian "Newmarket Races." In 1983 singer/guitarist Martin Carthy adapted Stickle's "John Peterson's Mare" for a song called "Fable of the Wings" (Topic 12TS431).