Annotation:I'm Off to Charlestown
Tune properties and standard notation
I'M OFF TO CHARLESTOWN. American; Air and dance tune (2/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. The first several bars of melody are shared with the American old-time song "Old Plank Road." The tune is included in Kerr's along with a hodgepodge of tunes, including several from America. "I'm Off to Charlestown" was popularized by Christy's Minstrels, a blackface minstrel troup.
My massa and my missus have both gone away,
Gone to the sulpher springs, the summer months to stay;
And while they're off togedder, on a little kind of spree,
I'll go down to Charlestown, the pretty gals to see.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 3; No. 395, p. 43.
Recorded sources: