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"Green Grow the Rushes O [2]", also known as "Green Grow the Rashes", "Green Grows
da Rashes", "East Neuk of Fife", "Foot's Vagaries", "The Grant's Rant", "Highland
Sword Dance", "Irish Whiskey", "John Black's Daughter", "Lucky Black's Daughter",
"Over the Hills and Far Away", "Paddy Caught a Rat", "Paddy Got a Rat", "Paddy
Killed the Rat", "Paddy Killed a Rat", "Paddy Run the Rat", "Paddy Run a Rat",
"We're a' Dry wi' Drinking o't" is a Scottish (originally), Irish, English and
American air in E Dorian mode. The parts are played AABB.
Bayard's thirteen Pennsylvania collected versions of the tune are divided into two groups, corresponding with two main British Isles variants. This version, from Bayard version H, is known, in various locations, by most of the names listed above. Bayard's versions H and I, which are nearly identical, are set in E Dorian although the C# sounds out of place, as though the fiddlers were more used to playing in D or B minor and placed the second finger high out of habit. The other four versions are set in E minor. Most versions are similar to the Scottish tune "The East Neuk of Fife" including Bayard's version A listed in the Irish section as "Green Grow the Rushes O [1]". It was printed in Bayard's Dance to the Fiddle (1981), Cole's 1000 Fiddle Tunes (1940), Ford's Traditional Music of America (1940), Gow's Complete Repository, Part 1 (1799), Howe's 1000 Jigs and Reels (c. 1867), J. Johnson's Scots Musical Museum, vol. 1 (1787), Kerr's Merry Melodies, vol. 1 (c. 1880), Kerr's Merry Melodies, vol. 2 (c. 1880's), McGibbon's Collection of Scots Tunes, vol. 2 (c. 1746), O'Farrell's Pocket Companion, vol. 2 (c. 1806)(appears as "Green Grows the Rashes"), O'Neill's Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody (1922), Oswald's Caledonian Pocket Companion, vol. 1 (1760), Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883), Sharp's Sword Dances of Northern England: Songs and Dance Airs, Book 2 (1912) (as "Bobby Shaftoe"), Stewart-Robertson's The Athole Collection (1884), Walsh's Caledonian Country Dances, vol. 2 (1737), White's Unique Collection (1896), Wilson's A Companion to the Ballroom (1816) and many others. |