Annotation:How Do You Do? (1)
X:1 T:How do You do? [1] M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Set Dance N:Noted by Cecil Sharp from the singing of George Simpson (1850-1915), March, 1910, N:at Upton, Didcot, Berkshire (now in Oxfordshire). Simpson formerly N:resided in Sherborne, Gloucestershire. Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:D FED FGA|BcB ABc|dcd Bed|1 cBc d3:|2 cBc d2|| P:B1 A|cde ecA|ecA ABc|ded dcB|AFD G3| FGA D3|GAB E3|FGA Bed|cBc d3|| P:B2 A|cde ecA|ecA ABc|ded dcB|AFD G3| [M:C]FG A2 D2D2|GA B2E2E2|[M:6/8]FGA Bed|cBc d3||
HOW DO YOU DO? [1]. AKA - "How D'Ye Do?". AKA and see "Gee Ho Dobbin," "Oddington," "Old Frog Dance (The)," "Swaggering Boney." English, Morris Dance Tune (6/8 time, 'B' part irregular for 2 measures in Raven's version while Mallinson's 'C' part has two measures of 'slows' {4/4 time}). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCC (Raven): AABBB (x4), AACCC (x4), AA (Mallinson). "How Do You Do? [1]" is from the village of Sherborne, Gloucestershire, in England's Cotswolds, collected by Cecil Sharp in 1909 [Field Music Book, XII] from the singing of George Simpson (1850-1915). When Sharp caught up with Simpson he was living in Upton, where he had a morris team of boys and one of girls aged 10-11 years old with a local young woman as fiddler. Sharp collected a number of pieces from him, writing to a correspondent, "I had a great find in an old morris man whom I traced from Sherborne in Goucestershire. This man is the sole survivor of the last [Sherborne] side...He is full of knowledge and full of dancing and I have been steadily emptying him...I have learned more from his than anyone else so far. His dances are quite lovely and the tunes are very jolly. I have seen him four times already." The melody is a version of "Gee Ho Dobbin (1)" from the Thompson's 1757 country dance collection, and "Gee O'Dobbin" (i.e. "Gee Ho Dobbin) from the John Clare (1793-1864) music manuscripts (Helpstone, Northamptonshire). Other morris dance versions of the tune can be found under the titles "Old Frog Dance (The)" and "Swaggering Boney."
