Annotation:Rodney

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X: 1 % T:Rodney, Headington 1 M:2/2 L:1/8 A:Headington P:A(A2B2)4C K:A Q:364 P:A A2Bc d2cB|ABcd e2cB|efed c2A2|BABc A2e2|| P:B e2af g2e2|e2af g2e2|e2ag fedc|dfed c2B2|| P:C A2Bc d2cB|ABcd e2cB|efed c2A2|BABc A4 ||

RODNEY. English, Morris Dance Tune (4/4 time). A Major (Bacon): G Major (Bacon, Mallinson): C Major (Carlin). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (x4), AA. A morris stick dance and tune collected from the village of Headington, Oxfordshire, in England's Cotswolds. Collector Cecil Sharp, in his The Morris Book (1907), noted:

The solo Morris existed all along, and still exists. When we saw our friend [concertinist William]] Kimber (mentioned elsewhere) dance his Morris jig to the tune of "Rodney," had our other old friend Tabourot been present in the spirit—maybe he was—he need have altered nothing in the description we have quoted but to substitute for the boy with his face blackened a sturdy English yeoman, and to note some differences in the get-up of the dancer. The solo dance has been performed also at Bampton, between tobacco-pipes laid crosswise on the ground—to the tune of the "Bacca Pipes" jig, or "Green Sleeves"—suggesting the Scottish sword-dance, and in many other fashions.

Sharp also mentioned that the 'fool', a morris dance character, "often goes by the name of 'Squire,' sometimes of 'Rodney.'"

Additional notes

Source for notated version: -

Printed sources : - Bacon (The Morris Ring), 1974; pp. 176 & 179 (two versions). Carlin (Master Collection), 1984; No. 44, p. 35. Mallinson (Mally’s Cotswold Morris Book, vol. 2), 1988; No. 27, p. 14.

Recorded sources: - Talking Elephant TECD127, Albion Morris - "Still Dancing After All These Years" (2008). Topic 12T249, "The Art of William Kimber."