Annotation:Bobby Shaftoe (2)
X:1 T:Bobby Shaftoe [2] L:1/8 M:2/2 N:1st figure of the Sleights, West Yorkshire, sword dance, collected N:by Cecil Sharp, on Plough Monday, 1912. B:Cecil Sharp - Sword Dances of Northern England Book II (1912, p. 3) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G G2 BB A2B2|G2BB A2B2|G2e2d2B2|G2B2 A4| G2BB A2B2|G2BB A2B2|G2e2d2c2|(3BcB A2 G4|| g3f g2e2|d2B2G4|g3f g2B2|A6d2| g3f g2B2|D4 d3c|B2G2A2F2|G4G4|| G2 BB .A2.B2|G2 BB .A2.B2|G2e2d2B2|G2B A4| G2 BB .A2.B2|G2BB .A2.B2|.G2 e2d2c2|(3BcB A2 G4|| g3f g2e2|.d2.B2 G4|g3f g2B2|A6 d2| g3f g2B2|d4 d3-c|B2G2 A2F2|G4 G4||
BOBBY SHAFTOE [2]. English, Sword Dance (2/2 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. It is the first figure in the sword dance from the area of Sleights, west Yorkshire, England, collected on Plough Monday, 1912, by Cecil Sharp. It has also been one of the tunes used in the Abbots Bromley (Staffordshire) horn dance. "In an article published in 1933, Violet Alford noted the dancers used 'Bobby Shaftoe' when she first encountered the horn dance. The arrangement given here is used for the Sleights sword dance. Alford also noted that the musician plays three tunes, 'Bobby Shaftoe,' 'Her Golden Hair' of music hall memory, and a not un-pleasing nondescript tune in 2/4 time (p. 206). I believe that the 'not un-pleasing ... tune in 2/4 time is Edie Sammons' tune (see "Edie Sammons' Tune"), which, until Sharp published Mr. Robinson's tune in 1911, was considered to be the official music of the dance" [Bullen].
