Annotation:Last Shilling (The)
X:1 % T:Last Shilling, The M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Air S:John Rook music manuscript collection (Waverton, Cumbria, 1840, p. 236) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G Bc|d>ed dcB|BAB {d}c2 c/B/|BAG Fdc|cBz zBc| dgf eed|d^cB ABG|FAd dAf|ed z zfa| g2f za^d|egB ed^c|ed z zdd|def gGG| -F>EF E2e|edc BAG|GFz zdd|dFF GBB| Add B2g|gBB eAG|Fdd !fermata!d2 DD|GAB cBe| edz zgg|gez zc{B}A|GFz e2d|dcB AGF|AG z z||
LAST SHILLING, THE. English, Air (6/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. "The Last Shilling" is one of the sea songs "composed, written and sung" by Charles Dibdin (1745-1814). The first stanza goes:
As pensive one night in my garret I sate,
My last shilling produced on the table;
That adventurer, cried I, might a history relate,
If to think and to speak it were able.
Whether fancy or magic, 'twas played me the freak,
The face seemed with life to be filling;
And cried, instantly speaking, or seeming to speak,
Pay attento to me--thy last shilling.