The Devil Among the Tailors
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
"The Devil Among the Tailors", also known as "The De'il Among the Tailors" or, more recently,<br> "The Devil's Dream" is a Scottish, English, Irish, Canadian and American reel. It is also known in<br> Canada, Prince Edward Island, England and, Northumberland. Most versions are played in A Major,<br> A mixolydian (Ross) or D Major (Huntington). The parts are usually played AB, ABB', AABB or ABCB.<br> It has been popular tune throughout the present and former English commonweatlh countries and<br> colonies.<br> The title appears in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes, which he<br> published c. 1800. <br> Bayard collected a version resembling the "Devil's Dream" forms of the tune from a source raised<br> on Prince Edward Island, Canada (Bayard, 1981).<br> One of the oddest recreations of the tune is on the barrel organ from the polar expedition of<br> Admiral Peary of 1819. In place of a ship's fiddler (common in those days), Peary introduced a<br> mechanical barrel organ on board ship to provide entertainment and a vehicle to which the men<br> could exercise by dancing. "Devil Among the Tailors" was one of eight tunes on barrel no. 5.<br> Perhaps the earliest non-mechanical sound recording is from 1906 by violinist Charles D'Alamaine,<br> born in 1871 in England, who died in 1943. D'Alamaine immigrated to the United States in 1888<br> and by 1890 had established himself as "instructor on violin" in Evanston, Illinois. <br> It was printed A Companion to the Reticule (1833), Bain's 50 Fiddle Solos (1989),<br> Carlin's English Concertina (1977), Cole's 1000 Fiddle Tunes (1940), Emmerson's Rantin' Pipe and<br> Tremblin' String (1971), Giblin's Collection of Traditional Irish Dance Music (1928),<br> Gow's The Beauties of Niel Gow (1819), Hardie's Caledonian Companion (1992), Honeyman's<br> Strathspey, Reel and Hornpipe Tutor (1898), Hunter's The Fiddle Music of Scotland (1988),<br> Huntington's William Litten's Fiddle Tunes, 1800–1802 (1977), Johnson's Scottish Fiddle<br> Music in the 18th Century (1984), Kennedy's Fiddler's Tune-Book, vol. 1 (1951), Kerr's<br> Merry Melodies, vol. 1 (1880), Laybourn's Köhler's Violin Repository, vol. 1 (1881),<br> J. Kenyon Lees' Balmoral Reel Book (1910), Lowe's Collection of Reels, Strathspeys and Jigs,<br> book 3 (1844–1845), MacDonald's The Skye Collection (1887), Manson's Hamilton's Universal<br> Tune Book, vol. 1 (1853), Moffat's Dance Music of the North (1908), Raven's English Country<br> Dance Tunes (1984), William Ross's Collection [of] Pipe Music (1869), Ryan's Mammoth Collection<br> (1883), Skinner's The Scottish Violinist, Skinner's Harp and Claymore (1904),<br> Stewart-Robertson's The Athole Collection (1884), Sumner's Lincolnshire Collections, vol. 1:<br> The Joshua Gibbons Manuscript (1997)(appears as "Divel Amongst the Taylors"), Surenne's<br> Dance Music of Scotland (1852) and Westrop's 120 Country Dances for the Violin (1923). <br> It was recorded by Kirkpatrick and Hutchings on The Compleat Dancing Master (1973),<br> Peary's Barrel Organ (vol. 11 in the Golden Age of Mechanical Music).<br> <br>
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