Annotation:Lads a Bunchum (1)
X:1 T:Lads a Bunchum [1] L:1/8 M:2/2 S:Adderbury K:F A3B ABcd|B2G2G2AB|c2c2 cBAG|1 F2F2F4:|2 F2F2F2|| |:fe|d2c2c2 FG|A2A2A2 fe|d2c2 B2A2|1 G2F2F2:|2 G2F2F4||
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 a Straw," according to Bayard (1981), and both are simplified adaptations of "Tulip (The)," 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 Annotation:Lads a Bunchun (2)).
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)
See also the cognate second strain of "Birmingham March" or "Chimes."
