Annotation:Walk of the Twopenny Postman (The)
X: 1 T:Twopenny Postman. WHG.020 T:Garryowen,aka. WHG.020 R:march S:W.H.Giles MS,Bampton,Oxfordshire,1839p21 O:England H:donated by Mrs W.R.Kettlewell to VWML,Apr 1927. A:Bampton, Oxfordshire N:Repeat sign only at end of last bar in MS. Z:PJHeadford - VMP 2009 M:6/8 L:1/8 Q:3/8=120 K:G g|e>dc B>AG|ded d2g|e>dc B>AG|ABA A2g/f/| e>dc B>AG|BcB B2d|def g2B|ABA A2|| B/c/|d2B d2B|d2B d2g|e2c e2c|e2c e2f| g2a b2a|g2e d2B|d>ed g2B|A>BA A2|]
WALK OF THE TWOPENNY POSTMAN, THE. AKA and see "Garryowen, "Mr. Walker the Twopenny Postman," "Twopenny Postman." English, Morris Dance Tune (6/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The tune is the famous Irish jig "Garryowen/Garry Owen," used as a vehicle for morris dancing collected from the Cotswold village of Fieldtown (Leafield), Oxfordshire. The tune is contained in the 1839 music manuscript collection of W.H. Giles, of Bampton, Oxfordshire. The source for the title is a comic song about a philanderer called "Mr. Walker, the Twopenny Postman," published in the Cruickshanks' Universal Songster, or Museum of Mirth, vol. 2 (1826) and similar songsters, set to the air "Garry Owen." It begins:
Very near the west-end, though I must not tell where,
A shoemaker married a maiden so fair;
Who, a month after wedlock, 'tis true I declare,
Fell in love with a twopenny postman!
Her person was thin, genteel, and tall,
Her carrotty hair did in ringlets fall;
And while her spousy worked hard at his stall,
She watched this twopenny postman.
He was just four feet six in height,
But a well made figure to the sight,
He walked like a beefeater, tall and upright,
Mr. Walker, the twopenny postman.
At the time the song was written there were two branches of the post office handling mail in London. The General post dealt with letters to and from all parts of the country, as a kind of clearing house, while letters originating from, or to be delivered, within the London area were dealt with through the office of the London Twopenny Post.
