Annotation:Gathering Peascods
X:2 P: Gathering Peascods [G] O: Playford 1651 B: Playford "Dancing Master" 1st Ed. 1651 B: J.Barlow p.22 #27 B: Barnes (in A) B: Playford (in G) B: Keller p.38 (in A) B: Karpeles p.12 (in A) B: Raven p.22 (in A) Z: John Chambers <jc@trillian.mit.edu> M: C| L: 1/4 K: G z | "G"d2 dd | B>c dd | "C"ed cB | "D7"A3 B | AG GF | "G"G3 :| |: G | "D"FD FG | A2 BA | "G"G/A/B AG | "D"F3 F | "A7"ED ~E>D | "D"D3 :| |: d | "G"BG GA/B/ | "C"c2 zd | "G"BG GA/B/ | "C"c2 zd | "G"BG GA/B/ | "C"c>de d/c/ | "G"Bc/B/ "D7"~A>G | "G"G3 :|
GATHERING PEASCODS. English, Country Dance Tune (2/2 or 4/4 time). A Major (Barnes, Karpeles, Raven, Sharp): G Major (Chappell, Johnson). Standard tuning (fiddle). ABC (Chappell): AABBCC (Barnes, Johnson, Karpeles, Raven, Sharp). Peascods = pea-pods. John Brand, in his Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain (1849), records the custom of 'peascod wooing', along with the tradition of divining love affairs from pea-pods. This air was first published in London by John Playford in the first edition of his English Dancing Master of 1651 (p. 90), and was retained in the long-running Dancing Master series of editions through the 8th edition of 1690 (then published by son Henry Playford). The tune and dance were dropped from the Dancing Master in subsequent editions. Antiquarian William Chappell (1859) observes that the first four bars are identical with those of "All in a Garden Green," and that, while the title suggests a ballad was once attached to the tune, no words have ever been found. Both "Gathering Peascods" and "All in a Garden Green" are derivatives (along with many other tunes) of the ancient ground "Hunts Up" or "King's Hunts Up (The)," a melody associated with Henry VIII.
