Key signature: Dmajor
Submitted on August 8th 2008 by Mix O'Lydian.
This tune has been added to 12 tunebooks.
Also known as Nu Ska Vi Skörda Linet Idag, Wind The Bobbin Up, Wind Up The Bobbin.
X: 1
T: Wind The Bobbins Up
M: 3/4
L: 1/8
R: waltz
K: Dmaj
|:a2 af df|a2 af df|g2 ge ce|d2 fd A2|
a2 af df|a2 af df|g2 ge ce|d2 d2 z2:|
|:A2 B2 c2|d2 e2 f2|g2 gf e2|f2 fe d2|
A2 B2 c2|d2 e2 f2|g2 ge ce|d2 d2 z2:|
Wind the Bobbins Up
This is a tune that I've known almost all my life, although I have no idea of its origin. The title suggests that it might be from Lancashire, NW England (many Irish and Welsh folks worked in the cotton mills there).
I've submitted it as a "waltz", but its played more like a mazurka. It sets well will "Shoe the Donkey".
# Posted on August 8th 2008 by Mix O'Lydian
Perhaps in D mix, Mix?
For some reason, it (or, a relative?) rings more of a bell with C naturals... and definitely swung.
# Posted on August 9th 2008 by muspc
"Perhaps" as in...
suggesting an alternative, not implying a mistake in Mix's original transcription!
# Posted on August 9th 2008 by muspc
Perhaps, in D mix, Mix?
Sounds like a "wind-up" to me!
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by Mix O'Lydian
Country Dance!? ~ and remembered in D Major
I have some vague recollection of this also being a 'country dance', possibly in Playford or Wilson. I'll have to go see if I can find it... I think also, not swung, but the mazurka swing also works O.K. with the A-part of the melody...
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by ceolachan
I'm sure I've known this with a specific dance attached to it, but I've checked here, where I thought I might find it, without any luck ~
Colonial Music
http://www.colonialmusic.org/
Online dance databases
http://www.colonialmusic.org/Resource/Resources.htm
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by ceolachan
I also think I may have known it without repeats... It has a Germanic feel about it, or like a Dutch folk tanz... Put your clogs on and grab your braces... You know, the sort with clapping in it and a step, heel, hop, repeat it twice more, then turn, repeat it with opposite footwork and direction, then for the B-part start clapping...
Sorry, that's what is coming to memory...
Maybe it's the flat beer. I let my pint go flat last night and my wife insisted I finish it for breakfast, and it being 7 or 8% on the Euro scales... Happy slappy...
They did do things similar to this in dear Ireland, including country dances with clapping patterns in them, other than the likes of official ceili dances "The Three Tunes" & "The Kype"... There were also couple dances with clapping, such as polkas.
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by ceolachan
&, still unrepeated, finishing the last 4 bars of the B-part waltzing round with your partner... Or, it may have been clap pattern, turn, and then repeat...
B-part ~
Clap your thighs, clap your hands together, clap Rs with your partner
Clap your thighs, clap your hands together, clap Ls with your partner
Clap your thighs, clap your hands together, clap both hands with your partner
Clap your thighs, clap your hands together, clap both hands crossed with your partner
Waltz...
Yoddelayheehoo!!!
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by ceolachan
The turns were the wind up... I know I've known this tune with some dance... The above step-and-turn of the A-part, a classic variant, where you took both hands with your partner and turned together...
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by ceolachan
Q: 1/4 = approximately 100 bpm
It wasn't played fast, from say 95 to 105 beats per minute...
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by ceolachan
But, it might have had that other element, speeding up till the dancers lost it, and there may have been a mixer version too...
AAAAA!!!
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by ceolachan
Mazurka / Varsovienne
Yes, like with "Shoe the Donkey", it could also work for a mazurka or varsovienne, with repeats...
X: 2
T: Wind The Bobbin Up
M: 3/4
L: 1/8
R: mazurka
K: Dmaj
|: (3efg |\
a2 a>f d>f | a2 a>f d>f | g2 g>e c>e | (3ded f>d A2 |
a2 a>f (3def | a>b a>f d2 | g>a g>e c>A | d2 d2 :|
|: (3dcB |\
A2 B2 c2 | d2 (3efe f2 | g2 g>e c>e | f2 f>d A>d |
(3ABA B>G c>A | d>A e>A f>A | (3gag e>c A>c | d2 D2 :|
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by ceolachan
X: 3
T: Wind The Bobbin Up
M: 3/4
L: 1/8
R: varsovienne
K: Dmaj
|: a>b a2 d2 | a>^g a2 d2 | g>a g2 c2 | d2 f>d A2 |
a>b a2 d2 | a>^g a2 d2 | g>a g>e c2 | A2 d4 :|
|: A>D B2 c2 | d>A e2 f2 | g2 g>e c2 | f2 d4 |
(3ABA B2 c2 | (3ded e3 f | (3gag e2 c2 | d2 D4 :|
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by ceolachan
Apologies Mix, breakfast this morning may have something to do with it, and on an empty stomach... You say you've known it almost all your life? What do you remember about it, in your past, like where you might have picked it up ~ a lullaby or children's song? ~ school? ~ a relative?
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by ceolachan
Wind the Bobbins Up - Research
Thanks for your extensive research, Ceol!
You are surely right about there being a dance associated with it - my "better half" remembers dancing it at school. She has just told me that teacher had the music on a 78 r.p.m. gramophone record. The gramophone was an old wind-up type, so the dance got slower and slower as the mechanism ran down! Intitial speed was about crotchet=140 though.
Repeats? Not quite sure. It may well have played as 16-bar. And as you say, it does have a "Germanic" feel to it.
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by Mix O'Lydian
Wind the Bobbins Up - Research
Forgot to mention. Apparently, there were lyrics as well, which the dancers sung whilst they danced it.
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by Mix O'Lydian
Wind the Bobbins Up - Research
Also forgot to mention- checked through Playford and didn't find it there. It sounds later than that period, anyway I feel.
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by Mix O'Lydian
Yes, that resource listed previously, Playford as complete as it is available there, nothing, and the Wilson books too, nothing. I keep thinking of some old acquaintances with this tune, including a certain lovely German couple who did a lot of research on the dance traditions of Germanic Europe, much of which were dessimated under the influence of of the Third Reich and Hitler's nationalist tyranny, one Germany, one music, one dance, one costume... I wish I had all my dance resources at hand. There were a slew of children's dances called "play party", and it is possible it falls in with that group, which include dances you sing to as you dance them, one I remember was called "Buffalo Gals".
I don't know if it happens to you, but I get frustrated when there's something I know by my memory is being either completely uncooperative or just teasing me with fragments... Maybe that is the norm for dyslexics?
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by ceolachan
My suspicions are 1800s at the earliest...
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by ceolachan
Do you know the lyrics?
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by ceolachan
I suspect this melody has travelled and is likely to exist in several guises...
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by ceolachan
Wind the Bobbins
We have the same tune in Sweden, almost note by note, with the lyrics about the different steps in reaping and weaving the linen. It´s still sung and danced to around the maypole in Midsummer. And, yes, a lot of "swedish" tunes are simply brought over from Germany...
# Posted on August 11th 2008 by Ingo-Pingo
Swedish name for tune?
Thanks for the info, Ingo!
What is the tune called in Sweden, please?
And do you play it 16-bars (no repeats) or 32-bars (with repeats)?
# Posted on August 12th 2008 by Mix O'Lydian
Wind the Bobbins Up - Lyrics
Ceol - my "better half" can recall a fragment of some of the lyrics:
Wind the bobbins up
Wind the bobbins up
Pull, pull, clap clap clap
(repeated)
However the version that she can remember is in 4/4 time, and the tune is slightly different:
Come to think of it, the 3/4 version that I can remember also had lyrics. The "B" part went something like this:
? ? ?, ? ? ?, fingers reel, bobbins twirl,
? ? ?, ? ? ?, merrily, we go a-dancing.
# Posted on August 12th 2008 by Mix O'Lydian
Swedish (possibly original) Version
Ingo-Pingo (from Sweden) has kindly provided me with the Swedish name of this tune, which I've added to the db as an Alt name.
(see link below for the score and lyrics of the Swedish version)
http://www.acc.umu.se/~akadkor/FMpdf/Nu_ska_vi_skoerda_linet_idag.pdf
# Posted on August 13th 2008 by Mix O'Lydian
Swedish Version - Addedum
Forgot to mention. Swedish version is in F-Major. The word "dunk" crops up quite a lot in the lyrics! Maybe you have your tea and biscuits at the same time as doing the dance?
# Posted on August 13th 2008 by Mix O'Lydian
"Nu ska vi skörda linet idag" ~ from the pdf
X: 4
T: Nu ska vi skörda linet idag
M: 3/4
L: 1/8
Q: 1/4 = 120 bpm
R: song dance
K: F
P: A1-4
c2 cA FA | c2 cA F2 | G2 BG EG | F2 AF C2 |
P: AA
c2 cA FA | c2 cA F2 | G2 BG EG | F2 F2 z2 ||
P: B
C2 D2 E2 | F2 G2 A2 | B2 BA G2 | A2 AG F2 |
P: BB
C2 D2 E2 | F2 G2 A2 | B2 BG EG | F2 F2 z2 |]
A1: Nu ska vi skör - da | li - net i - dag, | häck - la det väl och | spin - na det bra.
A2: Nu ska vi häck - la | li - net i - dag, | häck - la det väl och | spin - na det bra.
A3: Nu ska vi spin - na | li - net i - dag, | häck - la det väl och | spin - na det bra.
A4: Nu ska vi vä - va | li - net i - dag, | häck - la det väl och | spin - na det bra.
AA: Sen skall vi väf-va | trö-ja och kjol, | svän-ga oss glatt i | dan-sen.
B: Dunk, dunk, dunk, | dunk, dunk, dunk, | väv-sto-len slår, | skyt-te-len går.
BB: Dunk, dunk, dunk, | dunk, dunk, dunk, | svän-ga oss glatt i | dan-sen.
Yeah, that's familiar...
no repeats...
# Posted on August 13th 2008 by ceolachan
Icing on the Cake ...
You're a true professional, Ceol, posting up the F-Major Swedish version - and including the lyrics as well!. But if you could also supply a translation - well, that really would be the icing on the cake! ; - )
# Posted on August 16th 2008 by Mix O'Lydian