Black Cock o' Whickham (1) (The)

X:1 T:Black Cock o' Whickham, The M:2/4 L:1/8 R:Reel S:Bruce & Stokoe - Northumbrian Minstrelsy (1882) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G Bc|d2 dc|BGGB|d2 dc|B2 Bg|dedc|BGGB|cAFA|c2:| bgdg|Bgdg|bgfa|gfga|bgaf|gedB|cAFA|c2:||
 * dg|bgdg|Bgdg|bgfa|g2 ga|bgdg|BgdB|cAFA|c2 dg|

 BLACK COCK O' WHICKHAM, THE. English, Reel. England, Northumberland. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Bayard (1981) believes that this tune is a version of "St. Patrick was a Gentleman [2]," or his Pennsylvania-collected version "St. Patrick was Your Patron Saint" (though these tunes are in the minor mode). A couplet called The Black Cock of Whickham (a village in Northumberland) is well-known, and goes: The Black Cock of Whickham, he never ran away, But once on the Sunday, and twice every day. According to John Stokoe (quoted in The Monthly Chronicle of North Country Lore and Legend, vol. 5, p. 5, 1891), the Antiquarian Society of Newcastle began in 1857 to collect ballads and songs from the region, especially those for which they had only titles, or part-lyrics. No song called "The Black Cock of Whickham" was ever discovered. A contributor to the article from Whickham believes the couplet (which he believed was already in local tradition for some 150 years) referred to the cock-fighting around the village, where several cock-pits had been built. There were various local strains of birds bred for the ring, including a famous variety of black cock. Printed source: Bruce & Stokoe (Northumbrian Minstrelsy), 1882; p. 164. __NORICHEDITOR__