Melodeon.net Forums
Discussions => Tune of the Month => Topic started by: Clive Williams on August 24, 2011, 11:26:15 PM
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Here we are again folks!
Oh Joe the Boat is Going Over - last month's runner up, and a classic polka from East Anglia (in England); here is Gavin Atkin playing a nice clean version in D: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BoL07qRXGI
Rochdale Coconut Dance - another very popular session tune, and commonly played in a set with Three Around Three which we did a couple of months back. Here's your chance to learn 'the other tune'. It seems hard to find a video of this which isn't either a Bellowhead documentary (!) or played ridiculously fast (or both!), but here's a nice band version taken at a nice pace: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtUxDcp4XWE .
Portsmouth - we haven't had this one yet I think, can't imagine why not - it's a cracking tune. Here's Hector playing a nice version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs3CD9m9mzo . And because, if I don't mention it, someone else will, here's Mike Oldfield's poptastic version of it (warning: somewhat surreal video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycuT9iFPAvo
And finally, from tallship, Air for Maurice Ogg:
a lovely slow air written by Alistair Anderson, the midi playback makes it sound pretty wooden but in reality it flows beautifully. I've never heard it played on pipes and it certainly wasn't written with pipes in mind but I can hear drones going in my head and I'd love to hear what people come up with. So here is the strangely titled Air For Maurice Ogg.
X:1
T:Air For Maurice Ogg, The
C:From Steel Skies by Alistair Anderson
Q:1/4=110
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:D
de | f3 A A2 d=c | B d3 G2 AG | F3 A d3 A | d>e f<a e2 de | f2 A2 A2 d=c|
"6"B3 G E2 AG | F3 A d3 A | d>e f<e d2 cd || e3 A A2 ce | d3 B G>A B<d |
"11"=c>B A<G F>A G>E | F2 D2 D2 ^cd | e2 A2 A2 ce | f2 d2 A>d f<a | g>e cB A<a g>e | d6|]
No melodeon videos of this one (yet!), but here's a rather nice guitar version (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18j6ut1Af_A).
Happy voting!
Clive
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Rochdale Coconut Dance is one of those tunes where I'm never sure which is the 'A' part and which is the 'B' part on the video linked above, it sounds to me like they start with the 'B' part...
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Some ABCs
X:345
T:Rochdale Coconut Dance
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:G
G2 BB G2 B2|cBAG FGAc|G2 BB G2 B2|AGFE D2 d2|
G2 BB G2 B2|cBAG FGAc|BdBG AcAF|G4 G4:||
EFGF E2 B2|EFGF E2 B2|c2 Ac B2 GB|AGFE D4|
EFGF E2 B2|EFGF E2 B2|c2 Ac B2 GB|A2 F2 G4:||
As Almo points out above the A/B discrimination on this tune is variable, this is the way I play it but I have heard it the otherway round.
X:325
T:Portsmouth
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:G
D2|G2GA BAGF|E4 e4|d2 B2 cBAG|A6 D2|
G2GA BAGF|E4 e4|d2 B2 cBAB|G6 :||
d2|g3 a bagf|g2 d2 B2 d2|g2 B2 cBAG|A6 D2|
G2GA BAGF|E4 e4|d2 B2 cBAB|G6:||
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Air for Maurice Ogg
Here's a myspace version on pipes etc, with a drone and no harmonies. I presume that this is the Alistair Anderson original.
http://www.myspace.com/alistairandersonmusic/music/songs/the-air-for-maurice-ogg-jumping-jack-57411050 (http://www.myspace.com/alistairandersonmusic/music/songs/the-air-for-maurice-ogg-jumping-jack-57411050)
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Air for Maurice Ogg
Here's a myspace version on pipes etc, with a drone and no harmonies. I presume that this is the Alistair Anderson original.
http://www.myspace.com/alistairandersonmusic/music/songs/the-air-for-maurice-ogg-jumping-jack-57411050 (http://www.myspace.com/alistairandersonmusic/music/songs/the-air-for-maurice-ogg-jumping-jack-57411050)
Yes indeed it is Jack, thanks for posting the link! ;D I went to a workshop weekend earlier this year, two days of learning the Steel Skies Suite with Alistair and he played the whole thing on concertina, I'd quite forgotten that the original had pipes on it - although not subconsciously! It's followed by another great tune, Jumping Jack. I have the PDF and ABC files for this (and all of Steel Skies) so anyone who is interested is welcome to a copy, just PM your email address if you want ABC files because the forum software doesn't allow the ABC text files in PM's!
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I'm not that keen on Oh Joe the Boat is Going Over but the others are all great tunes. I had to vote for The Air For Maurice Ogg of course, I suggested it because hearing what some of the great players on here might make of it was very appealing - but it's accessible to novice players too. The slow tempo makes it playable by all, while the subtle phrasing and timing holds a challenge for the best of players.
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Rochdale Coconut Dance is one of those tunes where I'm never sure which is the 'A' part and which is the 'B' part on the video linked above, it sounds to me like they start with the 'B' part...
The story as I've heard it is this:
It should start with the G major part, but many years ago Dave Townsend included it in a a tune book with the E minor part first and as that book became something of a session bible at the time, just about everybody learned it that way.
irrelevant digression:
There's a similar difference between "real tune" and "session version" with the Bacup Nutters' Tip Toe Polka (Yes, that's the correct name (http://www.mudcat.org/detail.cfm?messages__Message_ID=2841862)), but in that case it's because some of the middle harmony parts played by the Stacksteads Band have been copied into the tune.
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Rochdale Coconut Dance is one of those tunes where I'm never sure which is the 'A' part and which is the 'B' part on the video linked above, it sounds to me like they start with the 'B' part...
The story as I've heard it is this:
It should start with the G major part, but many years ago Dave Townsend included it in a a tune book with the E minor part first and as that book became something of a session bible at the time, just about everybody learned it that way.
That's also my understanding; but I always play it Em part first because I think it sounds better that way round, the change to the major giving some lift to the second half. Maybe that's why DT published it that way?
Graham
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The same problem used to surface with a box playing friend of mine, playing 'Rattling Bog', and he always used to start with what I always consider to be the 'B' part..
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Jenny Lind polka also has variable A/B, or it might just be me who always starts on the G part ;D
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There is a story handed down in my family that the Rochdale Coconut Dancers learnt their tune from my maternal great grandmother who was a music hall entertainer called Flower Dawes, although I have no means of verifying this. Her daughter, Nellie, was also a music hall entertainer. From what my mother told me, Flower and Nellie both performed this song on the stage, but I have no idea who wrote it or whether the words were added to an existing tune. My mother (who is no longer with us) used to sing it when I was a child. The E minor part came first and the first line of the song was "A pretty little girl with ribbons in her hair" or something like that. Unfortunately, since my mother died, there is nobody left in my family who remembers the words.
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the first line of the song was "A pretty little girl with ribbons in her hair" or something like that. Unfortunately, since my mother died, there is nobody left in my family who remembers the words.
This is a really sad story, which happens so often in the recent 50 years: the period of 1950 - 2011 is the era of the FFM (Forgotten Fathers and Mothers). Sorry for the thread drift.
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Jenny Lind polka also has variable A/B, or it might just be me who always starts on the G part ;D
In my experience, yes it probably is! ;D
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I remember the Jenny Lind Polka played in a ballroom scene of a John Wayne western movie and they definitely started on the D row!
Anyone wanting a good laugh, try the Simon Ritchie version of "Oh Joe" - singing falsetto.
Rob.
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I came across this today, I didn't realise that 'Portsmouth' had been around for so long. Up the dusty end anybody?
EDIT This of course isn't Portsmouth at all - senior moment! This is I believe the Sailor's Hornpipe aka the Blue Peter theme. Doh!
X:55
T:Pitt's Hornpipe
M:2/4
L:1/16
C:Gosnold 1775
N:Longways for three couples
Q:1/4=80
K:G
gf | "G"g2G2 G2 dc | Bdg2 gbag |"A"a2A2 A2 ag | "D"fad'2 d'e'f'2 | "G"g'f'e'd' "Em"e'd'c'b |
"Am"c'bag "D7"gfed | "Em"eg"D"fa "G"gb"D7"ac' | "G"b2g2 g2 :: dc | "G"Bdgd Bdgd | "C"e2c2 c2 ed |
"A"^ceae ceae | "D"f2d2 d2 c'b | "Am"c'2e'2 e'd'c'b | c'bag "D7"gfed | "Em"eg"D"fa "G"gb"D7"ac'| "G"b2g2 g2 :|
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Ah. Looks like Portsmouth has fallen out of favour. Now question is. Should I change my vote ?
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This of course isn't Portsmouth at all - senior moment! This is I believe the Sailor's Hornpipe aka the Blue Peter theme. Doh!
It's certainly the well-known "Sailor's Hornpipe", well known to the Last Night of the Proms and rugby players, but it's not the Blue Peter theme - that's "Barnacle Bill", composed by Ashworth Hope.