Annotation:Long Odds
X:1 T:Long Odds M:4/4 L:1/8 K:G DGGA B2BG|c2cA BGFE|DGGA BABd|ecAF G2G2:|! |:egfe e2dB|cedc c2B2|ABcA Bcd2|ecAG GFED|! egfe e2dB|cedc c2B2|ABcA Bcd2|ecAF G2G2:|]
LONG ODDS. AKA - "Miss Laton's Hornpipe." English, Country Dance Tune (2/4 time). A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB'. The melody was first published (with dance instructions) in Thomas Preston and Son's Twenty-Four Country Dances for the Year 1791 (London), "As they are performed at Court, Bath, and all Public Assemblys." There was a song called "Long Odds," from Charles Dibdin's (1745-1814) The Long Odds : A Serenata, in Two Acts (1783), commencing: "And did you hear what sad disaster," however, the words do not scan well the tune printed by the Preston's. Graham Christian points out the phrase "Long Odds" was already in common use in horse-racing in the late 18th century, denoting a slim chance of gambling success.
