LADS A BUNCHUM [1]. AKA and see "Balance A Straw," "Balance the Straw (1)," "Captain and His Whiskers (The)." English, Morris Dance Tune (2/2 {Karpeles & Raven} or 4/4 time {Mallinson}). F Major (Bacon, Karpeles and Raven): G Major (Mallinson). Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (Bacon): AABB, x6 (Mallinson). The tune is also called "Balance the Straw (1)
," which is a march composed by James Oswald appearing in his Airs for the Spring, c. 1747. Bayard believes the title to be a corruption of "Laud'num Bunches" (Laudanum was a form of the drug opium), repeating Cecil Sharp's (1911) suggestion (see Lads a Bunchun).
This version is from the morris dance tradition of the village of Adderbury [1], north Oxfordshire, in England's Cotswolds, where the following bit of verse is sung in the village's morris tradition at the beginning of the stick dance:
Oh dear mother, what a fool I be; Here are six young fellows come a-courting me. Three are blind and the others can't see, Oh dear mother, what a fool I be! ... (Bacon)
Printed sources : - Bacon (The Morris Ring), 1974; p. 7. Karpeles & Schofield (100 English Folk Dance Airs), 1951; p. 37. Mallinson (Mally's Cotswold Morris Book vol. 1), 1988; No. 10, p. 11. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 77.
Recorded sources : - Carthage CGLP 4406, Hutchings et al - "Morris On" (1972/1983).
