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Annotation:Wappat the Widow my Lady
X:1 T:Wappat the Widow my Lady M:6/4 L:1/8 B:Henry Playford - A Collection of Original Scotch-Tunes, (Full of the B:Highland Humours) for the violin (London, 1700, No. 23, p. 10) N:"Most of them being in the Compass of the Flute." Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G G2|B3A B2 (GAB2)G2 |(A2D2) B2 A4G2|B3A B2G2 BA BG|B3A B2g3a g2| f3e (d2 Bc) d2e2|(d2B2g2) A4 G2|B3A B2G2 BA BG|B6 d4|| ef|g3d B2 g2f2e2|a3e2c2 a2 bagf|g3a bb2a2b2g2|f3e d2B2d2g2| f3e d2e2d2e2|g3dB2A2 agfe|g3f g2d2g2G2|B6 d4|| B2 (GA)B2G2 (B,C)D2B,2|G,2g2 (ag) f4B2|(GA)B2G2 (B,C)d2B,2|G,2B2d2g3a g2| f3e d2e2 cdec|d2 BcdB A2 agfe|g3f g2d2g2G2|B6 d4|| ef|g3a b2a2b2g2|(a2c2b2) a4g2|g3a b2a2 bagf|f3e d2B2d2g2| f3e d2e2d2e2|g3dB2 (A2a2) f2|gfed ec dcBA BG|B6 d4|| ef|gfed e2d2 BcdB|(c2A2) a2 f4A2|dcBA G2d2 BcdB|G2B2 d2g3a g2| f3e d2e2|cdec|d2 BcdB A2 agfe|gfed ec dcBA BG|B6 d4||
WAPPAT THE WINDOW MY LADY. AKA – "Wap at the Widow," “Wap at the Window,” “Wap at the Widow My Laddie, "Widow (The)," "Widow's Laddie (The)." Scottish, Air and Jig (6/8 tune). G Major (Manson, McGibbon, Oswald, Playford, Wright, Young): D Major (McGlashan, Walsh). Standard tuning (fiddle). ABC (Wright); ABCDE (Playford): AABB (McGlashan): AABBCCDD (McGibbon): AABBCCDDEEFFGG (Young). The tune appears in London publisher Henry Playford’s 1700 collection of Scottish dance tunes. McGlashan erroneously designates the tune as a Scottish Measure. The word wap in the original title (“Wap at the Widow”) was a euphemism for intercourse dating to Elizabethan times, and in slang usage through the mid-18th century. The title was perhaps deliberately 'cleansed' by converting ‘Widow’ to ‘Window’, or perhaps it was just a natural mishearing, for the older meaning of wap was to hit or strike a blow.
See "annotation:Widow (The)" for more on this tune, especially as an air in Orpheus Caledonius, vol. 2 (1733).
