Annotation:Shave the Donkey

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SHAVE THE DONKEY. English, Morris Dance Tune (4/4 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBB (x3), AA. Collected from the village of Bampton, Oxfordshire, in England's Cotswolds. The melody was recorded in both 1959 and again in 1962 from the playing of multi-instrumentalist Walter Bulwer (1888-c.1972), of Shipdham, Norfolk, England. Bulwer played the fiddle, accompanied on the latter occasion by his wife Daisy, who sang:

Sharp the razor,
Shave the donkey;
Don’t cut his tail off,
Pretty little dear.

Additional notes

Source for notated version: -

Printed sources : - Bacon (The Morris Ring), 1974; p. 50. Mallinson (The Cotswold Morris Book), 1988; No. 39, p. 25.

Recorded sources: -Topic TSCD607, Walter & Daisy Bulwer – “English Country Music” (2000. Originally recorded 1962). Veteran VT111, Francis Shergold - "Greeny Up" (1988. Recorded from Bampton morris musicians).

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