Annotation:Jack's Alive (3)
Tune properties and standard notation
JACK'S ALIVE [3]. AKA and see "Dusty Bob's," "Rob Roy (2)." AKA - "Jack Alive." English (originally), Scottish, American; Jig. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Kennedy, Raven): AAB (Gow). A triple time version of the tune in version #1. One version was played by the English sailors in their artillery battery before San Sebastian in 1809, whenever a French shell landed in their works (Winstock, 1970; p. 141). The melody appears in several English and Scottish publications and manuscripts, including early in Rutherford's Choice Collection of Sixty of the Most Celebrated Country Dances (London, 1750, pg. 17), Rutherford's Compleat Collection of 200 country Dances, vol. 2 (London, 1760, p. 60), the James Gillespie Manuscript of Perth (1768) and in William Vickers' Northumbrian music manuscript of 1770 (as "Jack Alive"). Following these publications the melody appears in a good many collections and musicians manuscripts in Britain, Ireland and North America, including, in Britain, London musician Thomas Hammersley's c. 1790 music manuscript book. The country dance "Jack's Alive" was particularly popular in late 18th and early 19th century America, printed in a number of period collections, such as John Trumbull's Gentleman and Lady's Companion (Norwich, Conn., 1798). In Ireland it appears in Himes' 48 Original Irish Dances (second part, c. 1795). The first strain is a variant of "The Kesh Jig" (or vice-versa). Philippe Varlet discovered the tune on a 78 RPM recorded in 1938 by Irish accordion player Terry Lane as part of a medley called simply "Quadrilles." The same tune appears in the Fleishmann index of traditional Irish music as "The Miser," from Kane O'Hara's comic opera Midas, London, 1764. American versions appear in the music manuscript collections of New Hampshire musician Clement Weeks' (1783) and fluter Daniel Huntington (New York, 1817), and published versions are contained in Loring Andrews' Collection of Contra Dances (Stockbridge, MA, 1794), and a Collection of Contradances printed in Walpole, New Hampshire in 1799, among others (sources can be located at the links below, particularly EASMES). The title appears in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes ("The Northern Minstrel's Budget"), which he published c. 1800. Ryan's/Cole's published the same tune as "Dusty Bob's."
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 387. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 3, 1806; p. 17. Kennedy (Jigs & Quicksteps, Trips & Humours), 1997; No. 75, p. 19. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 127. Wilson (Companion to the Ballroom), 1816; p. 234.
Recorded sources:
See also listings at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources []
Keller/Camus/Cifaldi's Early American Secular Music/European Sources []