Annotation:Getting Upstairs (1)

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 GETTING UPSTAIRS [1]. English, Morris Dance Tune (2/2 time). G Major (Carlin, Mallinson): A Major (Bacon). Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'B (Sharp & Macilwaine), ABB, x4 (Mallinson): AABB (Carlin): AABA (Bacon-Hinton): AA'BA (Bacon-Headington). From the villages of Headington, Oxfordshire, and Hinton, Northamptonshire, in England's Cotswolds (the Hinton tune was actually from Leominster, imported to Hinton where the dance was finally collected). Winston Wilkinson (Southern Folklore Quarterly, VI, 1, 1942, "Virginia Dance Tunes") suggests that the title derived from the Morris Processional Dance in which performers danced "down the street, into the village houses, up the stairs and down again." However, it seems clear that the title and tune were borrowed from American minstrel usage, particularly when the song lyrics are reviewed (as sung by the Headington Morris side): Some likes coffee, some likes tea,  Some likes a pretty girl, just like me; Such a getting upstairs and a playing on the fiddle, Such a getting upstairs I never did see. Cecil Sharp collected similar lyrics in oral tradition in the Appalachians. The set below is from Mrs. Laurel Jones at Brurnsville, N.C., Sept. 17, 1918 (found in English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, 1932, No. 272): Some loves coffee, some loves tea, Some loves money, but they don't love me. Singing in the lonesome cowboyee, Singing in the lonesome sea.  Source for notated version:  Printed sources: Bacon (The Morris Ring), 1974; p. 186. Carlin (Master Collection), 1984; No. 45, p. 36. English Folk Song and Dance Society, Sept. 1950. Mallinson (Mally's Cotswold Morris Book), 1988, vol. 2; No. 49, p. 24. Sharp & Macilwaine (Morris Dance Tunes), 1909; iii, 2.  Recorded sources: EMI/Harvest 7243 8 29861 2 6, Ashley Hutchings et al - "Son of Morris On" (1976/1994). Topic TSCD 600, William Kimber - "Hidden English. A Celebration of English Traditional Music" (reissue, originally recorded in 1946).

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