LAUDNUM BUNCHES. AKA - "Laudanum Bunches." English, Morris Dance Tune (6/8 time). G Major (Mallinson, Williamson): D Major (Bacon): C Major (Robbins). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Williamson): AABBB, AABBB, AACCC, AACCC (Bacon, Mallinson): AABBAACC (Robbins). Laudanum [1], or Tincture of Opium, is a medicinal narcotic once readily available (although it is not dispensed in 'bunches'), containing 10% powdered opium in an alcohol/herbal mixture. A corruption of the title may be seen in the morris dance tune "Lads a Bunchum." Morris versions were collected from the village of Headington, in England's Cotswolds. William Kimber
Source for notated version: William Kimber [2] (1872–1961). Kimber was a morris dancer and musician from Oxfordshire who died in 1961 at age 90, having established himself as a seminal figure in the revival of morris traditions. Cecil Sharp collected many of the "thousands of tunes" Kimber knew. [Williamson].
Additional notes
Printed sources : - Bacon (The Morris Ring), 1974; pp. 179, 182. Mallinson (Mally's Cotswold Morris Book), 1988; No. 25, p. 18. Robbins Music Corp. (The Robbins collection of 200 jigs, reels and country dances), New York, 1933; No. 93, p. 30. Williamson (English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish Fiddle Tunes), 1976; p. 18.
Recorded sources : - Fellside Records, John Spiers & Jon Boden – "Through & Through."
Topic 12T249, "The Art of William Kimber."
Bryony Griffith and Will Hampson – "Lady Diamond" (2011).
