Annotation:Goose and Gridiron (The)

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 GOOSE AND THE GRIDIRON, THE. English, Country Dance Tune (6/8 time). A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. This jig was originally published in Charles and Samuel Thompson's Compleat Collection, vol. 3 (London, 1773). As with many of the tunes from the Thompson's 1773 collection, it was entered into the 1788 music copybook of fiddlers John and William Pitt Turner (Norwich, Conn.). Fredrick Hackwood, in his book Inns, Ales, and Drinking Customs, originally published in 1909, has this to say about the curious title (p. 291): The 'Goose and Gridiron' was a queer (inn) sign at the corner of  St. Paul's Churchyard, which had supplanted the original one of  ''the 'Mitre'. Previously to the destruction of this house in the Great'' Fire (of London), the Society of Musicians had long been accustomed ''to hold their concerts in it. When the premises was rebuilt, after 1666,'' recognition of them as the headquarters of the society was made by  displaying its badge, a lyre surmounted by a swan-a combination of  emblems which the jokers were not slow to parody as the 'Goose and  ''Gridiron'. As Ben Jonson justly exclaims-'' "It even puts Apollo To all his strength of art to follow The flights, and to divine What's meant by every sign."  Source for notated version:  Printed sources: Barnes (English Country Dance Tunes), 1986. Thompson (Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 3), 1773; No. 101.  Recorded sources:

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