Annotation:Witch of the Wave
X:1 T:Witch of the Wave M:2/4 L:1/8 R:Reel S:Ryan’s Mammoth Collection (1883) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G D | G/A/B/c/ d/e/d/B/ | c/d/e/f/ g/a/g/e/ | d/e/d/B/ c/B/A/G/ | F/G/A/G/ F/D/E/F/ | G/A/B/c/ d/e/d/B/ | c/d/e/f/ g/f/g/a/ | b/a/g/f/ g/f/e/d/ | ^c/d/e/f/ g :: (f/g/) | a/f/d/f/ g/f/e/d/ | ^c/A/B/c/ d/e/f/g/ | a/f/d/f/ g/f/e/d/ | ^c/A/B/c/ d(f/g/) | a/f/d/f/ g/f/e/d/ | ^c/A/B/c/ d/e/f/g/ | a/f/d/f/ g/f/e/d/ | ^c/A/B/c/ d :|
WITCH OF THE WAVE(S). AKA - "Witch of the Wake." American, Scottish; Reel (2/4 time). G Major ('A' part) & D Major ('B' part). Standard tuning (fiddle). ABB (Kerr): AABB (Cole, Phillips, Sweet). The Witch of the Waves was the name of a renowned American clipper ship, built in 1851 for the China trade. An extreme clipper ship of 1,498 tons, she was built by George Raynes, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, at a cost of $80,000, and sported a figurehead of a female figure in flowing white garments. In 1855 she was sold to owners in Amsterdam and was renamed Electra, and in 1871 was still listed with Amsterdam owners.
The tune is in the repertoire of Missouri fiddler Kelly Jones (b. 1947) who, having the ability to read music, learned this and similar tunes from Cole's 1000 Fiddle Tunes, as previous generations of sight-reading mid-western fiddlers learned tunes from both Cole's 1000 and its predecessor, Ryan's Mammoth Collection.
