Annotation:John Peel

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 JOHN PEEL. AKA - "Do You Know John Peel?," "D'ye Ken John Peel?" English, Scottish; Country Dance, Morris Dance Tune and Air (4/4 or 2/4 time). F Major (Raven): G Major (Sweet, Wade): A Major (Kerr). Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Raven, Sweet, Wade): AABB (Kerr). One of the most famous English folk songs and airs. Walker (1924) says that this border tune is "English enough" despite close proximity to the Scottish lowlands, and was originally known as "Where will bonnie Annie lie?" or "Whar wad our Guidman lie," found in several Scottish manuscripts, including James Oswald's Caledonian Pocket Companion for the Flute, vol. II (c. 1750). This ancestral Scottish tune is itself predated by a Playford melody called "Red House" (see also the major-key Welsh dance version "Ty Coch Caerdydd/Red House of Cardiff"). Kidson (Groves) dates "John Peel" to shortly before the middle of the 19th century, and agrees that it was sung to a version of "Bonnie Annie" and believes it had a long traditional popularity before it ever was seen in print (c. 1870-1880). The John Peel of the title was a Cumberland farmer and well-known huntsman of the nearby hills who kept a pack of fox hounds. Words to the tune were written by John Woodcock Graves, a fellow Cumbrian, on the occasion of a meeting at Graves's house at Caldbeek one night when Peel came over on some hunting matter. The grandmother of Graves's children was singing a child to sleep with a version of the "Bonnie Annie/Whar wad Bonnie Annie lie" tune and Graves was inspired to write a song to it in honor of Peel. He finished it before Peel left and jokingly remarked "By Jove, Peel, you'll be sung when we are both run to earth." Peel died in 1854 at age 78 (Kidson). Descendents of his pack of fell hounds are claimed as hounds of the Blencathra Hunt in the Cumberland Feels, whose members are remarkable as they hunt still entirely on foot. The melody is employed as the vehicle for a polka step in the North-West (England) morris dance tradition. The song begins: Do ye ken John Peel with his coat so grey? Do ye ken John Peel at the break of day? Do ye ken John Peel when he's far, far away With his hounds and his horn in the morning. Chorus: Twas the sound of his horn brought me from my bed And the cry of his hounds has me oftimes led For Peel's view holloa would wake the dead Or a fox from his lair in the morning Anne Geddes Gilchrist traced the vicissitudes of the tune in an article in Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, 1941. She gives essentially the information found in Kidson's remarks, but also cited the Welsh dance version of c. 1896 (referenced above). Further, she remarked that after Peel's death the Graves son was locally known, albeit only the third part of ancestral airs being retained in tradition (being 'droned over monotnously'). Around the year 1868, writes Gilchrist, an organist, William Metcalfe of Carlisle, tracked down the original first strain and published it. His version achieved some popularity and, for many years, both strains were sung. However, by the latter 20th century the first strain had been forgotten again, and only the familiar chorus melody remains. The melody (as "D'yer Ken John Peel?) was the march past of The Border Regiment (named in 1881 from the amalgamation of the 55th Westmoreland with the 24th Cumberland). "The 1st battalion," writes David Murray (in Music of the Scottish Regiments, Edinburgh, 1994, p. 205), "coupled 'John Peel' with 'The French 34th', the regiment which had been routed by the British 34th at Arroyo dos Molinos in Spain in 1811. Its band, drums, drum major's staff and music had been captured complete and intact, and thenceforth the 34th had march past to the march of 'The French 34th'. The 2nd battalion of The Border Regiment coupled 'John Peel' with 'The Lass o' Gowrie.'"    Source for notated version:   Printed sources: Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 3; No. 387, p. 43. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 150. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; p. 15. Wade (Mally's North West Morris Book), 1988; p. 15 (appears as "D'ye Ken John Peel?").  Recorded sources:    See also listing at: Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources

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