Annotation:Maw Canny Hinny

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MAW CANNY HINNY. AKA – "Where hast thou been my canny hinny?" English, Air (3/4 time). England, Northumberland. E Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The lyrics (although not music) were printed in A Collection of Songs, Comic and Satirical, Chiefly in the Newcastle Dialect (1819, p. 13) and The Tyne Songster, A Choice Selection of Songs in the Newcastle Dialect (1840, p. 41).

Where hes te been, may canny hinny?
An' where hes to been, maw bonny hinny?
Aw was up an' doon, seekin' for maw hinny;
Aw was throo' the toon seekin' for maw bairn.
Aw went up the Butcher Bank an' doon Grindin' Chare'
Ca'd at the Dun Cow, but aw cuddent find thee there.
Where hes te been, &c. .... (Bruce & Stokoe)

"'Hinny' was "a favourite term of endearment. Probably a corruption of honey, or, it may be from Sax. hina, domesticus. "Hinney dear! what were ye sayin?" "Was te speaking, hinny?" "Hinney, bairns, be quiet" [Brockett, A Glossery of North County Words, 1825, p. 96]. The title "Where hast thou been, my canny hinny?" appears in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes ("The Northern Minstrel's Budget"), which he published c. 1800.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Bruce & Stokoe (Northumbrian Minstrelsy), 1882; pp. 132–133. The Tyne Songster, 1840; p. 41.

Recorded sources:

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