Annotation:Cuttymun and Treeladle
X:1 T:Cuttymun and Treeladle M:C L:1/8 N:”Tis is the tune mentioned in the old Poem N:entitled Christ’s Kirk on the Green. Canto 2nd line 96.” S:John Rook music manuscript collection (Waverton, Cumbria, 1840, p. 192) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:A {c}e2 ea e2cA|{c}e2 e=g d2 BG|{c}e2 ea ceae|=gbeg d2 BG|| e2 cA eAcA|e2cA d=GBG|e2 cA eAcA|=gbeg d2 BG| e2 cA eAcA|e2 cA d=GBG|e2 cA ceae|=gbeg d2 BG|]
CUTTYMUN/CUTTYMAN AND TRE(E)LADLE. AKA and see "Bedding of the Bride (1)." Scottish, Reel. A Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Surenne): AAB (Athole, Gow, Kerr, McLachlan): AABB (Honeyman). Gow gives in Part Second of the Complete Repository of Original Scots Tunes (c. 1802, 1810-1820) that "This is the tune mentioned in the old Poem entitled Christ's Kirk on the Green, Canto 2nd, line 96." The antiquarian William Stenhouse, writing in Illustrations of the lyric poetry and music of Scotland (p. 491) adds that the mention of the tune was by poet Allan Ramsay, in the canto he added to the 'ancient poem' of "Christ's Kirk on the Green." That passage goes:
Syne stools and forms were drawn aside,
And up raise Willy Dadle,
A short-hought man, but fou o' pride,
He said the fidler plaid ill:
"Let 's hae the pipes," quoth he, "beside;"
Quoth a', "That is nae said ill."
He fits the floor syne wi' the bride,
To Cuttymun and Treeladle...
John Mactaggart's Scottish Gallovidian Encyclopedia (1824), gives:
MUNN--An old person with a very little face; see 'Cuttymun', and, since writing that article, 'Cuttymuns and three Laddles', have come into my head; so this phrase may seem to say, that 'Cuttymun' is a short-shaked spoon.
Capt. Simon Fraser printed a Highland version in his 1816 collection as "Bedding of the Bride (1)" and remarked: "[The tune is]] celebrated as 'Cuttymun and Treeladle' in the low country, for exciting the agility of the dancers." He supposed that the term 'cuttyman and treeladle' was known to his readers, as he did not explain further, but he is referencing the tune's being played for vigorous dancing at weddings, and seems to suggest the music briskly stirred (as in a 'short-shaked spoon') the dancers efforts.
Antiquarian William Stenhouse noted the resemblance of the reel "Tail Toddle" to "Cuttymun and Treeladle." Multi-instrumentalist John Rook (Waverton, Cumbria) entered the tune into his large 1840 music manuscript collection [1].