Annotation:Card and Spin
X:1 T:Card and Spin M:9/8 L:1/8 R:Air and Jig S:William Vickers' music manuscript book, p. 101 Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:D D2d D2E F3|E2c B2A GEC|D2d D2E F3|D2d c2B AFD:| |:d2g faf e3|cde e2c ege|d2g ee2 d3|ABc dAG FED:||
CARD AND SPIN. AKA and see "Camstronnan's Rant," "Camstrodden's Rant," "Dargle (The)," "Jack in the West," "Mr. McPhadden's Favorite." English, Air and Slip Jig (9/8 time). England, Northumberland. D Major (Vickers): D Minor (Bell). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Carding is the process of preparing the wool for spinning by drawing the raw fibers into line with each other. The melody appears under the "Card and Spin" title in the 1770 music manuscript book of Northumbrian musician William Vickers, about who unfortunately little is known. Other versions of the tune are modal or minor-key. Vickers' own version may correctly have been in the mixolydian or dorian mode, rather than in the two sharps he set the tune in, as in Northumbrian musician John Bell's c. 1812 manuscript setting [1].
Fr. John Quinn finds 19th century Boston music publisher Elias Howe's "Dargle (The)" to be a cognate version of the older tune.
