Annotation:Tom Jones
X:2 T:Tom Jones M:6/8 L:1/8 B:Baldwin - The London Magazine, or, Gentleman's Monthly Intelligencer, B:Vol. 19, January, 1750, p. 41. Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:D a3 g3|fdf ecA|d2f ece|d2f ece|dcd ede|fef ^gfg|a2d cdc|(A3 A3):| |:D2F E2G|F2A EFG|F2d AB=c|(B3 B2)F|GFG AGA|BAB ^cBc|d2G FGE|D3- D3:||
The tune was first printed by London publishers R. Baldwin in The London Magazine; or, The Gentleman’s Monthly Intelligencer (1750), S. Urban in Gentleman’s Magazine and Historical Chronical (1750), David Rutherford in his Choice Collection of Sixty of the Most Celebrated Country Dances (1750), and John Johnson in his Choice Collection of 200 Country Dances, vol. 5 (1750). This was followed by printings in Walsh’s Compleat Country Dancing Master, vol. 5 (London, 1754), Charles and Samuel Thompson in their Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances, vol. 2 (London, 1765), and James Aird in Selections of Scotch, English, Irish, and Foreign Airs, vol. 5 (Glasgow, 1797).
“Tom Jones” also appears in the music manuscript collections of Northumbrian musician William Vickers (1770) and Cheapside, London, musician Walter Rainstorp (begun in 1747). It was also entered in the 1850 music manuscript collection of shoemaker and fiddler William Winter (1774-1861, West Bagborough, Somerset, southwest England). In America, it appears in the music copybooks of Luther Kingsley (Mansfield, Conn., 1795), flute player John Bartlett (Mass., 1790), and keyboard player John Ives (New Haven, Conn., c. 1800).
A century later a fairly close version of the tune was printed by Irish violinist R.M. Levey in his Second Collection of the Dance Music of Ireland (1873) under the title "Tommy Johnson," which was picked up by Francis O'Neill for his Music of Ireland (1903).