Annotation:Ragged Sailor (1)
X: 1 T:Ragged Sailor [1] B:J.Johnson Choice Collection, Vol. 3, 1744 Z:vmp.Anne Wride 2014 www.village-music-project.org.uk M:9/8 L:1/8 K:G D | GAB g>fe dBG | ABd e2A A2B | G>AB g(a/g/f/e/) dBG |ABd B>AG G2 :| |: g | ece dBd ece | dBd c2B A2g|ece dBd e/f/ge | dBc B>AG G2 :| W:The 1st Man set to the 2d Wo. & turns her W:the 2d. Man does the same with the 1st Wo. W:then the 1st Cu. cross over & make the figure of 8 with the 2d. Cu. W:then they lead down the 3d Cu. and cast up again W:then they set cross Partners always turning the cross Partner, after setting W:then they lead out at both sides.
RAGGED SAILOR [1]. AKA - "Ruged [sic] Sailor." AKA and see "Merry Jolly Sailor (The)." Scottish, Country Dance Tune (9/8 or 6/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody appears in the Bodleian Manuscript (in the Bodleian Library, Oxford), inscribed "A Collection of the Newest Country Dances Performed in Scotland written at Edinburgh by D.A. Young, W.M. 1740," and, around the same year, in Walsh’s Caledonian Country Dances, vol. 3. Edinburgh fiddler and writing master David Young also included it in his MacFarlane Manuscript (c. 1741, No. 111, p. 156) along with a variation set. The tune appears as "Merry Jolly Sailor (The)" in William McGibbon's manuscript collection (No. 95, p. 60). William McGibbon Subsequently it appeared in John Johnson’s Choice Collection of 200 Favourite County Dances, vol. 3 (1744), Walsh’s Compleat Country Dancing Master, 4th Book, c. 1747), and the Caledonian Pocket Companion (c. 1745, Book 2nd). It also appears in a few music manuscript copybooks, such as the Browne Family book in England and the music manuscript copybook of Henry Livingston, Jr., in the United States. Livingston purchased the estate of Locust Grove, Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1771 at the age of 23. In 1775 he was a Major in the 3rd New York Regiment, which participated in Montgomery’s invasion of Canada in a failed attempt to wrest Montreal from British control. An important land-owner in the Hudson Valley, and a member of the powerful Livingston family, Henry was also a surveyor and real estate speculator, an illustrator and map-maker, and a Justice of the Peace for Dutchess County. He was also a poet and musician, and presumably a dancer, as he was elected a Manager for the New York Assembly’s dancing season of 1774-1775, along with his 3rd cousin, John Jay, later U.S. Chief Justice of Governor of New York.
In North America a ‘ragged sailor’ is a name for the cornflower plant.
