Annotation:Hedge Lane
X: 1 T:Hedge Lane. (p)1679.PLFD1.226 M:4/4 L:1/8 Q:1/2=65 B:Playford, Dancing Master,6th Ed.,1679 O:England;London H:1679. Z:Chris Partington <www.cpartington.plus> K:G G>FG>A F>EF>D|E>DE>A,D2G,2|C>B,C>D E>FG>B,|C>A,D>DG,2G,2| b>ab>c' a>ga>d|g>fg>af2f2|g>fg>e ^d>^cB>f|g>ee>^de2e2| E>FG>A B>cd>e|c>BA>d B>AG2|B>AB>c d>ef>g|a>be>g f>ed2| C>B,C>D E>GA>B|c>BA>G F>E D(g/f/)|e>ee(a/g/) f>ff>e|f>gg>fg2g2:|
HEDGE LANE. AKA and see "Welsh Dance (A)." English, Country Dance Tune (cut time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. The melody and dance instructions ("Londways for as many as will") were first printed by John Playford in his Dancing Master, 6th edition of 1679. It was retained in the long-running series of editions through the 18th and last edition of 1728 (published at that time by John Young, heir to the Playford publishing concerns). John's son Henry Playford printed the country dance tune in his Apollo's Banquet (1690, and later editions). "Hedge Lane" was also printed by rival London music publisher John Young in his Compleat Country Dancing Master, editions of 1718, 1731 and 1754. The tune was printed at the end of the 18th century by John Watlen and James Aird as "Welsh Dance (A)."
"Hedge Lame" is the indicated tune for a song in Thomas D'Urfey's Wit and Mirth; or, Pills to Purge Melancholy (1719-20) called "The Court Lunaticks, or Reflections on the late Changes". The song was also incorporated into the ballad operas The Welsh Opera (1731), Genuine Grub (1731) and Grub St. Opera (1731).
Hedge Lane was a street in London in the time of Charles I, later called Whitcomb Street. It was, as the name implies, a lane running into the fields of Soho, boardered by hedges.
