Black Cock o' Whickham (1) (The)

Black Cock o' Whickham (1) (The) Click on the tune title to see or modify Black Cock o' Whickham (1) (The)'s annotations. If the link is red you can create them using the form provided.Browse Properties <br/>Special:Browse/:Black Cock o' Whickham (1) (The) Query the Archive
Theme code Index	55 31 55 33
Also known as
Composer/Core Source
Region	England
Genre/Style	Northumbrian/Borders
Meter/Rhythm	Reel (single/double)
Key/Tonic of	G
Accidental	1 sharp
Mode	Ionian (Major)
Time signature	2/4
History	England/North East"England/North East" is not in the list (IRELAND(Munster), IRELAND(Connaught), IRELAND(Leinster), IRELAND(Ulster), SCOTLAND(Argyll and Bute), SCOTLAND(Perth and Kinross), SCOTLAND(Dumfries and Galloway), SCOTLAND(South Ayrshire), SCOTLAND(North East), SCOTLAND(Highland), ...) of allowed values for the "Has historical geographical allegiances" property.
Structure	AABB
Editor/Compiler	Biography:J. Collingwood Bruce & John Stokoe
Book/Manuscript title	Book:Northumbrian Minstrelsy
Tune and/or Page number	p. 164
Year of publication/Date of MS	1882
Artist	Biography:Boys of the Lough
Title of recording	Open Road
Record label/Catalogue nr.
Year recorded	1983
Media
Score ()

<abc float="left"> X:1 T:Black Cock o' Whickham, The M:2/4 L:1/8 R:Reel S:Bruce & Stokoe - Northumbrian Minstrelsy (1882) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G Bc|d2 dc|BGGB|d2 dc|B2 Bg|dedc|BGGB|cAFA|c2:| |:dg|bgdg|Bgdg|bgfa|g2 ga|bgdg|BgdB|cAFA|c2 dg| bgdg|Bgdg|bgfa|gfga|bgaf|gedB|cAFA|c2:||

</abc>

BLACK COCK O' WHICKHAM, THE. English, Reel. England, Northumberland. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Bayard (1981) believes that this tune is a version of "St. Patrick was a Gentleman [2]," or his Pennsylvania-collected version "St. Patrick was Your Patron Saint" (though these tunes are in the minor mode). A couplet called The Black Cock of Whickham (a village in Northumberland) is well-known, and goes:

The Black Cock of Whickham, he never ran away,
But once on the Sunday, and twice every day.

According to John Stokoe (quoted in The Monthly Chronicle of North Country Lore and Legend, vol. 5, p. 5, 1891), the Antiquarian Society of Newcastle began in 1857 to collect ballads and songs from the region, especially those for which they had only titles, or part-lyrics. No song called "The Black Cock of Whickham" was ever discovered. A contributor to the article from Whickham believes the couplet (which he believed was already in local tradition for some 150 years) referred to the cock-fighting around the village, where several cock-pits had been built. There were various local strains of birds bred for the ring, including a famous variety of black cock.

Printed source: Bruce & Stokoe (Northumbrian Minstrelsy), 1882; p. 164.

__NORICHEDITOR__