Annotation:Contented Farmer (The)
X:1 T:Contented Farmer, The M:6/8 L:1/8 B:Thompson's Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 3 (London, 1773) Z:Transcribed and edited by Fynn Titford-Mock, 2007 Z:abc's:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G G>AG B2G|d2G B2G|D>ED F2D|A2D F2D| G>AG B2G|d2G B2g|fed A2^c|d3 D3:| |:d>ed b2d|dcB c3|cdc a2c|cBA B3| G>AG B2G|d2B g2b|a2g Tfef|g3 G3:||
CONTENTED FARMER, THE. AKA and see "Happy Farmer (2)," "One evening having lost my way." English, Jig. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody was first published in Charles and Samuel Thompson's Compleat Collection, vol. 3 (London, 1773). It was included by Northumbrian musician William Vickers in his manuscript collection [1], begun in 1770. Matt Seattle says this tune is "recognizably 'Happy Farmer (2)' (c.f. Northumbrian Pipers' Tune Book, 1970), but with noticeable differences," but that Vickers' is the same tune as Thompson's. There is an earlier, different tune, also called the "Contented Farmer" or "Contented Country Farmer" that appears in ballad operas and on song sheets and in some dance collections. This earlier "Contented Farmer" can be found as a song in The Muses Delight (1756, p. 171), "set by Mr. [Henry] Carey."
