Annotation:What a Beau Your Granny was (2)
X:1 T:O What My Bomey Graney Was [2], A Quick Step T: What a Beaux My Granny was M:6/8 L:1/8 R:March S:The Buttery Manuscript (c. 1784-1820, No. 375) N:John Buttery (1784-1854) joined the 34th Regiment in Lincoln, N:Lincolnshire, England, in 1797 and served as a fifer until discharged in N:1814. His large ms. contains marches, duty calls, dance tunes and airs. N:EASMES identifies this as the Fife MS. and suggests a date of 1780, see N:https://www.cdss.org/elibrary/Easmes/Index.htm Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:D gfd e2c|d2B A2G|FAd F2G|E3 E3| gfd e2c|d2B A2G|FDE c3|dD2 D3:| |:GFA D2F|G2B E2G|FAd f2e|E3 E3| GFA d2f|g2e d2c|d2B A2G|FD2 D3:|]
O WHAT MM BOMEY GRANEY WAS. AKA - "What a Beau My/Your Granny Was [2]." English, Quick Step (6/8 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody is contained in the music copybook [1] of John Buttery (1784-1854), a fifer with British army's 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot (so designated in the army reorganization of 1782), who served from 1797-1814. Later in life Buttery emigrated to Canada, where he died. Buttery's manuscript collection has also been identified as belonging to John Fife [1], with a suggested date of 1780. Fife was a family name, like Buttery, identified with the manuscript.
The title is a corruption of "What a beau my granny was", although Buttery's tune cannot be considered cognate. There are similarties, particularly in the second strain, but the melody lines do not correspond well, and Buttery's setting in 6/8 is different than the duple time versions of the original tune (for which see "What a Beau Your Granny was (1)"). Buttery identifies his entry as a "quick step" indicating it was used as a march tune.
- ↑ Early American Secular Music and Its European Sources, https://www.cdss.org/elibrary/Easmes/Index.htm