Annotation:If All the World Were Paper

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 IF ALL THE WORLD WERE PAPER. English, Country Dance Tune (6/8 or 6/4 time). D Major (Karpeles, Raven, Sharp): C Major (Kidson). Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Karpeles, Raven, Sharp): AB (Kidson). First published by John Playford as a round dance for eight persons in his English Dancing Master (1651) and in subsequent editions through the tenth (1698). The last volume was published by John's son, Henry. The tune goes to a well-known nursery rhyme which goes: If all the world were paper, And all the sea were ink? And all the trees were bread and cheese, What should we do for drink? If all the world were sand O, Oh then what should we lack O, if as they say there were no clay How should we take Tobacco? '' etc. “If All the World were Paper” first came to prominence during the reign of Charles I. However the rhetorical questioning scheme of the piece is an ancient construction, and can be found in nearly every culture in every part of the world. The Playford rhyme is said to be a parody of the elaborated language used in ancient Jewish and Medieval Adoration. A Chaldee ode sung in synagogues during the first day of Pentecost includes the lyrics: Could we with ink the ocean fill... and, And were the skies of parchment made… Similar imagery appears in many folk songs from throughout Europe, as well as the Koran.  Source for notated version:  Printed sources: Karpeles & Schofield (A Selection of 100 English Folk Dance Airs), 1951; p. 15. Kidson (Old English Country Dances), 1890; p. 1. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pp. 24 & 39. Sharp (Country Dance Tunes), 1909; p. 27.  Recorded sources:

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