Black Cock o' Whickham (1) (The)

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Theme code Index	5531 5533
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)
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>

X:2
T:Black Cock of Wickam, The
M:C|
L:1/8
R:Reel
B:Köhlers’ Violin Repository, Book 2 (1881-1885, p.146)
Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion
K:F
f|cF d/c/B AFAf|cF d/c/B A2f2|cF d/c/B AFFA|BGGA B2:||
fg|afcf Afcf|afcB A2 fg|afcf AfcA|BGGA B2 fg|
afcf Afcf|afcB A2 fg|afge fdcA|BGGA B2||

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. See also the similar "Highlands of Banffshire (The)."

Printed sources: Bruce & Stokoe (Northumbrian Minstrelsy), 1882; p. 164. Köhlers’ Violin Repository, Book 2, 1881-1885, p. 146.

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