Annotation:Walter Bulwer's Polka (2)
X:1 T:Walter Bulwer's Polka [2] M:2/4 L:1/8 R:Polka N:Played AABBAABBAACAABB Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G DG GF/G/ | AE E2 | F/G/A F/G/A | BG G2 | D/E/G GF/G/ |AE E2 | F/G/A DE/F/ |1 GG GF/E/ :|2 GG G2 || K:D |: AA B2 | AA F2 | GG E/F/G | AA F/G/A/B/ | AA B>B |AA F2 | GG E/G/F/E/ | DD D2 :| K:C E3F | G3A | G3E | GF F2 | D3E | F3G | F3D | FE E2 |E3F | G3E | G2 c2 | cA A2 | AA c>A | GG B>G | GE FB, | CC C2 ||
WALTER BULWER'S POLKA [2]. English; Polka, Morris Dance Tune (cut or whole time). G Major ('A' part) & D Major ('B' part): F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. This polka first surfaced in a solo fiddle recording made by Bill Leader in 1959 of the playing of Walter Bulwer, first released in 1965. It is the most played of the several polkas associated with his name. Bulwer (1888-1968) was a multi-instrumentalist from the village of Shipdham, Norfolk, who had a life-long career playing for dances, pub events and weddings, along with his wife Daisy (b. 1892) and friends. Reg Hall notes that Daisy Bulwer’s mother’s relatives were musical and that she remembered this tune being played by her uncle. He was aged around 80 at the time, while she was young. The tune has been employed for a polka step in the North West (England) morris dance tradition. Bulwer played the tune on the fiddle in three parts in the keys of ‘F’, ‘C’ and ‘B Flat’major on the recording, AABBAABBAACAABB. In sessions the tune (often paired in a set with “Walter Bulwer’s Polka (1)”) is sometimes played nowadays in D major, A major and G major (to accommodate melodeon players). Two part versions, rather than Bulwer’s original three-part version, seem to be the rule, and, indeed, some believe Bulwer’s ‘C’ part (which belongs to a tune called “On the Green”) may have been a mistake or a playful or stray wandering in his particular rendition at the time of the recording. To confuse matters more, Bulwer’s second part shares the first three notes with the second part of a tune called “Quaker (1) (The),” with the result that the latter is sometimes substituted for Bulwer’s part; thus creating a hybrid tune.
