Annotation:Chase Me Charlie

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 CHASE ME CHARLIE. Irish, Slide (12/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. See note for "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 s tring to hear it sing,       or:      She was sleepin', I was peepin', And down came Santa Claus.                        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, and the probably not Source for notated version: "Session musicians in Newmarket, County Cork" [Sullivan]. Printed source: Sullivan (Session Tunes), vol. 3; No. 17, p. 7. Recorded sources: Gael Linn CEF176, Jackie Daly - "Many's a Wild Night." Globestyle Irish CDORBD 085, The Kerry Fiddle Trio (Padraig O'Keefe, Denis Murphy, Julia Clifford) - "The Rushy Mountain" (1994. Reissue of Topic recordings). Tara 10029, Seamus Ennis - "The Best of Irish Piping." See also listing at Alan Ng's Irishtune.info.

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