Key signature: Fmajor
Submitted on November 4th 2006 by gravelwalks.
This tune has been added to 7 tunebooks.
Also known as Watkins Ale.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Watkin's Ale
M: 3/2
L: 1/8
R: three-two
K: Fmaj
f4 e2 f4c2 | d4c2 d4A2 | B4A2 B4F2 | A4G2 F6 :|
|: F2A2F2A3Bc2 | G2B2G2B3cd2 | B2d2B2d3ef2 | g4 f2e2c4 :|
|: c2f4 e6 | A2d4 c6 | F2B4 A3G F2 | F2 E4 F6 :|
Watkin's Ale
Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Times), vol. 1, 1859; pg. 265.
I submitted this without suggestions for ornamentation as a three-two, but it can easily be played as a slip-jig, even a reel. I have on a tape as an English fifing tune, coupled with Before I was Married.
Fiddler's companion says:
English, Country Dance Tune (6/4 time). F Major. Standard. AABBCC. The air appears in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book and Dorothy Welde's Lute Book. Chappell finds a very few references to the tune in literature dating to 1592, and mentions two old ballads, one called “A Ditty delightful of Mother Watkin’s Ale” and another entitled “As Watkin walked by the way.” Neither ballad was “suitable for publication” he says, meaning that they were too bawdy or risqué for his Victorian-era publication. Reginald Nettle, in his book Sing a Song of England (1954), says, “The Watkins celebrated in this tune was ‘Mother Watkins’, which will serve as a reminder that the brewing of ale was once a domestic duty.” Nettle finds Thomas Weelkes set to the tune the following words in his Ayeres of Phantasticke Spirites (1608), referring to Will Kemp, the famous Shakespearean actor, dancer and performer:
***
He did labour after the tabor,
For to dance then into France
# Posted on November 4th 2006 by gravelwalks
"Watkin's Ale" ~ everything lifted, including the ABCs
To give full credit, the ABCs contributed here were also lifted from the same source as the above note, Andrew Kuntz's excellent resource, "The Fiddler's Companion" ~
http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/WAT_WAZ.htm
You can assign the same key signature as there, that is 6/4 ~
X:1
T:Watkin’s Ale
M:6/4
L:1/8
S:Chappell – Popular Music of the Olden Times (1859)
Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion
Without changing notes, I prefer L: 1/4, which I think is less busy in the ABCs and consequently easier to read, as well as showing up the rhythmic structure a bit better than L: 1/8:
M: 6/4
L: 1/4
R: three-two
S:Chappell – Popular Music of the Olden Times (1859)
Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion
K: F Major
|: f2 e f2 c | d2 c d2 A | B2 A B2 F | A2 G F3 :|
|: FAF A>Bc | GBG B>cd | BdB d>ef | g2 f ec2 :|
|: cf2 e3 | Ad2 c3 | FB2 A>GF | F E2 F3 :|
# Posted on November 4th 2006 by ceolachan
K: F Major
|: f2 e f2 c | d2 c d2 A | B2 A B2 F | A2 G F3 :|
|: FAF A>Bc | GBG B>cd | BdB d>ef | g2 f e c2 :|
|: c f2 e3 | A d2 c3 | F B2 A>GF | F E2 F3 :|
# Posted on November 4th 2006 by ceolachan
Lifted?
What was lifted? I thought I clearly credited the source of the tune and its background? I declined to add any embellishments as I play them in the tune from that transcription, I guess this confused you?
# Posted on November 5th 2006 by gravelwalks