Annotation:Spinning Wheel (6) (The)
X: 1 T: The Spinning Wheel [6] %R: air, strathspey, reel B: James Oswald "The Caledonian Pocket Companion" v.2 p.96 #1 Z: 2019 John Chambers <jc:trillian.mit.edu> N: In bar 20, the 2 16th notes were missing their flags and looked like quarter notes; fixed. M: C| L: 1/8 Q:"_Lively" F:http://www.john-chambers.us/~jc/music/book/JamesOswald/JamesOswald_CPC-abc2.abc K: G d2 |\ {c}B3c (d<B)(e<c) | dB g4 TB2{AB}y | c3e (d<B) (TA>G) | (F>G)(A>B) A2zB |\ (cB)(cd) (ef)(ga) | {ga}b2ag {f}e3g | d3g (d<B) TAG | e2(g>a) g2d2 |\ {c}_B3A G2g2 | {g}=f3_e d3_e | =f2(_b<g) (=f<d)(f<d) | {d}c3_B A2ac |\ {c}_B3A G2(_b<g) | (g^f)ad d2zd | c2_B2 A2G2 | d2_ed Hd3 d |\ {c}B3c (d<B)(e<c) | dB g4 TB2{AB}y | c3e (d<B) TAG | (F>G)(A>B) A3B | (cB)(cd) (ef)(ga) | {ga}b2Tag {f}e3g | d3g (d<B) (TAG) | e2(g>a) g2B2 |\ e3f (gf)(ba) | (ag)(gf) {f}e3^g | (ae)(=fe) bd(ed) | (dc)(cB) {B}A3a |\ {g}f3g a<f (Ted) | (^c>d)(e>f) e3f | (g<e)(f<d) (e<^c)(A<c) | (d/e/f) Ted d2zd |\ {c}B3c (d<B)(e<c) | dB g4 TB2 | c3e (d<B) TAG | F>GA>B A2zB |\ (cB)(cd) (ef)(ga) | {ga}b2Tag e3g | d3g (d<B) (TAG) | e2g>a g2 |]
SPINNING WHEEL [6], THE. Scottish, Air (cut or whole time). G Major (Oswald): D Major (O'Farrell). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. "The Spinning Wheel [6]", a old song air, was published around the year 1760 by cellist and composer wikipedia:James_Oswald in the second volume of his Caledonian Pocket Companion. Some fifty years later, piper O'Farrell published an instrumental version of the tune in his own Pocket Companion for the Union or Irish Pipes, vol. 3 (London, c. 1809), which differs from Oswald in melodic detail, while still recognizably the same tune. The tune can also be found in Preston & Son's New and Complete Tutor for the Violoncello (London, c. 1785, p. 29). Song versions are contained in David Sime's Edinburgh Musical Miscellany, vol. 2 (1793, pp. 289-291) and in Daniel Wright's American Musical Miscellany (Northampton, Mass., 1798, pp. 61-64). The tune was also entered into the music manuscript collections of flautist Ensign Thomas Molyneaux (1788, book 1, p. 37), stationed in Shelburne, Nova Scotia.
The song first emerged on broadsides printed in the 17th century, as, for example, in the single-sheet issue "The Bonny Scot: or, the Yielding Lass" of 1688, "to an Excellent New Tune" (not printed). The words begin:
As I sat at my spinning-wheel,
a bonny Lad there passed by,
ken’d him round, and I lik’d him well,
geud Faith he had a bonny Eye:
My Heart new panting, ‘gan to feel,
But still I trun’d my Spinning-Wheel.
Most gracefully he did appear,
As he my presence did draw near,
And round about my slender Waste,
He clasp’d his Arms and me embrac’d:
To kiss my Hand he down did kneel,
As I sate at my Spinning-Wheel.
The piece proved popular enough to have longevity into the early 19th century in varied form and with at least two different primary melodies (see also "Spinning Wheel (5) (The)"). The words to the song of seduction (she holds out nearly to the end), printed by Sime (1793), go:
To ease his heart, and own his flame,
Young Jockey to my cottage came:
But tho' I lik'd him passing well,
I carless turn'd my spinning wheel.
My milk-white hand he did extol,
And prais'd my fingers long and small,
Unusual joy my heart did feel,
But still I turn'd my spinning wheel.
Then round about my slender waist
He clasp'd his arms, and me embrac'd,
To kiss my hand he down did kneel,
But yet I turned my spinning wheel.
With gentle voice I bid him rise;
He bless'd my neck, my lips and eyes;
My fondness I could scarce conceal,
Yet still I turn'd my spinning wheel.
Till bolder grown, so close he prest,
His wanton thoughts I quickly guess'd,
Then pushed him from my rock and reel,
And angry turn'd my spinning wheel.
At last, when I began to chide,
He swore he meant me for his bride:
'Twas then my love I did reveal,
And flung away my spinning wheel.
Thomas D'Urfey penned a song for his Pills to Purge Melancholy (1719) entitled "A Scotch Song" with the first line "As I sat at my Spinning-Wheel" [Roud No: 4255] that is essentially the same song, albeit with different words (much the same as the 1688 ballad) and tune. This version also can be found in Allan Ramsay's Tea-Table Miscellany as "The loving lass, and spinning wheel."
