Annotation:Cheat (The)
X:1 T:Cheat or Swing M:2/4 L:1/8 S:Ford - Traditional Music in America (1940) K:D F>G AA | BB A2 | d>e fg/e/ | dc d2 | F>G AA | BB A2 | d>e fg/e/ | dc d2 || gfef | gf e>f | gfed | cB A>G | F>G AA | BB A2 | d>e fg/e/ | dc d2 || g/a/f/g/ ef | g/a/f/g/ e>f | g/a/f/g/ ed | c/d/B/c/ A>G | F>G AA | BB A2 | d/c/d/e/ fg/e/ | dc d2 || gfef | gf e>f | gfed | c>B AG | F/E/F/G/ Ad | B/A/B/d/ A2 | d>e fg/e/ | dc d2 :||
CHEAT, THE. AKA and see "Cheat or Swing," "Coquette (3)," "In My Cottage Near the Wood, and Josh and I." American, Country Dance Tune (4/4 time). USA; New York, New England, West Virginia. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABA (Riley): AABB (Silberberg): AABCBC (Linscott): ABCD (Ford). The tune was commonly played for played for the dance "Ninepin Quadrille" or "The Cheat" in New England. Bayard (1981) traced this tune and pronounced it 'international', having found variants with diverse names from the European continent as well as the British Isles and America. He believes the original antecedent for the tune to be from France, and that there were two main versions: an earlier one (1700's) and a later one (early 1800's to modern times), but both very popular in their time. "The Cheat" belongs to the later group, and was well known as a song and dance air in France as "Dedans mon Petit Reduit" and "Bonne Aventure O Gue (La)" (see Bayard, 1981; pp. 250-251 for sources), and in Britain and America under the titles listed in the beginning (see Bayard for references). Silberberg notes that "the title refers to a river in West Virginia." Musicologist Samuel P. Bayard collected a version of the tune called "Hi Bell" in Southwestern Pennsylvania which is where the Cheat River ends, so the connection of the tune to to the river is geographically plausible. The origin of name for the Cheat river itself is historically unclear with some locals theorizing that the river's strong current "cheated" people of their lives.
