Annotation:Come Dance and Sing

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X:1 T:Come Dance and Sing L:1/8 M:C| K:D |:A2|d2 cd e2 de|f2d2 de dc|B2e2 ef ed|c2A2A2(3ABc| d2 cd e2 de|f2d2 de dc|B2e2 dc Bc|d4d2:| |:AG|F2A2 AB AG|F2A2A3G|F2A2d2f2|ed cB A2AG| F2A2 AB AG|F2A2A2 Bc|d2d2 fefg|a2A2A2:||

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COME (LET US) DANCE AND SING. AKA and see "Belle Catharine (1) (La)," "Inkle and Yarico (1)," "Rising Sun (4), "Sixteenth of October." English, Scottish, New England; Reel and Country Dance Tune. England, Dorset. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Kerr): AABB (Brody, Kennedy, Miller & Perron, Raven): AABA (Trim). The title "Come Let Us Dance and Sing" is the name of a song set to the popular country dance air "La Belle Catharine." Bayard (1981) dates the tune from the 18th century, and says it has been a much-favored tune of fifers, and, indeed, it was a very popular tune under the "La Belle Catharine" title, appearing in numerous latter 18th century publications. However, it appears in surprisingly few sources with the title "Come Dance and Sing" from the 18th century, although it was so-titled in the c. 1785 music copybook of Sally Pickman and Rebecca Taylor Pickman, keyboard players from Salem Massachusetts, and in Inkle and Yarico (London, 1787).

Jim Taylor (1996) notes that it was played by fifers in the early 19th century and in the American Civil War. Carlin (1977) speculates (without discernable evidence) that the tune may be related to a Shaker hymn bearing the same name. In fact, as "La Belle Catharine" it was published in Preston's New Istruction for the German Flute (London, 1780), predating the Shakers, and was a favorite country dance in England and the Post-Revolutionary United States. In modern times the melody has been a staple of northern (United States) contra-dance repertoire. Charles Waterton, in his book Wanderings in South America, etc. (1879), visited the Caribbean island of Barbados around 1820 and heard a variant of the song there, which went:

Come let us dance and sing,
While Barbadoes [sic] bells to ring;
Quashi scrapes the fiddle-string,
And Venus plays the lute.

See note for "annotation:Inkle and Yarico (1)" for more.