Annotation:Chase Me Charlie
X:1 T:Chase me Charlie D:Jackie Daly, "Many's a Wild Night", track 13(c) M:12/8 L:1/8 R:slide K:A e ||: "A" cdc cBc Ace "E" gfe | "A" cdc cBA "Bm" Bce "D" ~f2 e | "A" cdc cBc Ace "E" gfe |1 "A"cdc "E" BcB "A" AEE "E" E2 e :|2 "F#m" cdc "E" BcB "A" A3 A2 e || ||: "A" fea "D" ~f2 e "A" fea "D" ~f e | "A" cdc cBA "Bm" Bce "D" ~f2 e | "A" fea "D" ~f2 e "A" fea "D" ~f2 e |1 "A" cdc "E" BcB "A" A3 A2 e :||2 "F#m" cdc "E" BcB "A" A3 A3 ||
CHASE ME CHARLIE. AKA and see "Cock of the North (3)," "Lean mé a Chathail." Irish, Slide (12/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. See note for "annotation:Cock of the North (3)," of which "Chase me, Charlie" is a version. The title comes from a bawdy ditty sung to the tune in the Ireland, Britain and Scotland, called "Auntie Mary (had a canary)" in many places, or "Chase Me Charlie." The words go:
Auntie Mary had a canary,
Up the leg of her drawers;
She pulled a string to hear it sing, And down came Santa Claus. or: She was sleepin', I was peepin',
Up the leg of her drawers.
CHO:
Chase me, Charlie, find my barley
Up the leg of me drawers;
Don't believe me, come and feel me,
Up the leg of my drawers.
Uncle Jock, he had a sock,
Up the pleat of his kilt;
When he was a-sleepin, we were a-peepin,
To see how well he was built.
Cousin Minnie wore a bikini,
Underneath her shirt;
A handsome guy he tried to spy,
And she kicked him where it hurt.
The latter is obviously a more recently composed verse, with its reference to a bikini, but there must be dozens of such doggerel verses in the tradition. Not incidentally, "Chase me, Charlie" is the title of a Charlie Chaplin comedy film from 1918.
