Balance the Straw (1)

X: 1 T:Balance the Straw [1] M:4/4 L:1/8 A:Bledington P:AAB(CB)2 K:G P:A P:B gf|e2d2 d2G2|B2B2 B2gf|e2d2 d2G2|GGFE D2DG| B2B2 BdcB|c2A2 A2Bc|d2B2 c2Ac|B2G2 G2|| P:C c2B2 c4|A4 A2Bc|d2B2 c2Ac|B2G2 G2:|
 * DG|B2B2 BdcB|c2A2 A2Bc|d2B2 c2Ac|B2G2 G2:|
 * z2|D2G2 B4|B4 B2d2|\



BALANCE THE/A STRAW [1]. AKA and see "From the Man I Love," "The Tulip," "Lads a Bunchum [1]," "The Captain and His Whiskers." English (originally), American; Country and Morris Dance Tune (4/4 time). G Major. Standard tuning. AABB (Bacon, Ascot-Under-Wychwood): AABCC (Raven, Bledington version): AAB, CCB, CCB (Mallinson, Bledington version). The melody and title are derived from the chorus of the first and last stanzas of a popular song by James Oswald (died c. 1769), sung in the opera The Reprisal and first performed in London in 1757. The opening line contains the alternate title by which it was known--From the Man I Love--and both titles appear in period references from England and the United States. As a morris dance tune it was collected in the Ascot-under-Wychwood, Bledington, and Brackley England, areas during the latter 19th century (when most morris tunes were sought out and recorded). Ernest MacMillan identifies a tune having this title in an instrumental setting of 1759, though the melody is unrelated to the one here referenced, being clearly a version of "Wearing of the Green." Printed sources: Bacon (The Morris Ring), 1974; pgs. 21, 93, & 104. Mallinson (Mally's Cotswold Morris Book), vol. 2 (Bledington version), 1988; No. 21, pg. 12. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 80. __NORICHEDITOR__