Annotation:Dame of Honour (The)

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 DAME OF HONOUR, THE. AKA and see "Queen Bess' Dame of Honour." English, Country Dance Tune (6/4 time). B Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Kidson (1890) finds that the original song "Dame of Honour" was by Thomas D'Urfey and appeared (sung by Mrs. Willis) in the opera The Kingdom of the Birds, although it was also printed in vol. 1 of his Pills to Purge Melancholy (1719). The air quickly proved popular and was used for several subsequent ballad operas such as Polly (1729), Fashionable Lady (1730), The Lottery (1731), The Devil to Pay (1731), and Jovial Crew (1732). Playford published it in his Dancing Master (vol. II, 1728). Since now the world's turned upside down, And all things changed in Nature; As if a doubt were newly grown, We had the same Creator Of ancient modes and former ways, I'll teach you sirs, the manner In good Queen Bess' golden days, When I was dame of honour.  Source for notated version:  Printed sources: Kidson (Old English Country Dances), 1890; p. 6.  Recorded sources:

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