Bottle of Claret (The)

BOTTLE OF CLARET, THE. Irish, Scottish; Jig (6/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. A tune by this name appears in Samuel Holden's Collection of Old-Established Irish Slow and Quick Tunes (1806-07), a member of the "Bottle of Punch" tune family. Claret, which refers generally to any light red wine, was a favorite drink of the 18th century, served cold, mulled or buttered. This period anecdote describes a convivial meeting in Ireland in which claret figured:

"It was an almost invariable habit at convivial meetings," observes an informant, "to lock the door lest any friend should depart. The window was then opened, and the key flung into the lawn, where it could not be again found without much difficulty. An Irish piper was stationed behind the door, where he jerked forth planxty after planxty as the toasts progressed. A certain baronet used to knock the shanks off each guest's glass, to necessitate draining it to the bottom before he could lay it down again. Gallons of buttered claret were drunk, and morning found the convivialists lying under the table in heaps of bodily and mental imbecility."

Printed sources: Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 3), c. 1880's; No. 279, p. 30.

X:1
T:Bottle of Claret, The
M:6/8
L:1/8
R:Jig
S:Kerr - Merry Melodies, vol. 3, No. 279
Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion
K:G
G2g dBG | AGA cBA | G2g dBG | AGA BGE | G2g dBG | AGA Bcd | 
cec BdB | AGA BGE :: gbg faf | ege def | gfg abc' | 
bd'b afd | gbg faf | ege def | gfe dcB | AGA BGE :||