Dargason
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Mandolin Tablature
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Standard Notation
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English
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
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Lyrics:
Come Robin, Ralph, and little Harry
And merry Thomas to our green
Where we shall meet with Bridget and Sary
And the finest girls that e'er were seen
Then hey for Christmas once a year
When we have cakes, with ale and beer
For at Christmas every day
Young men and maids may dance away
Also known as "Sedany", "The Melody of Cynwyd", "Country Courtship", "The Irish Washerwoman".<br> The earliest printing of this "circular" or "endless" tune was in Thomas Ravencroft's<br> Pammelia (1609), which would date it probably to the 16th century. It appeared in that<br> work in altered form under the title "Oft have I ridden upon my Grey Nag".<br> Chappell (1859) finds several references to it in early sixteenth century literature,<br> including Ben Jonson's Tale of a Tub. It was later printed in the 1651 edition of<br> Playford's Dancing Master where it was already considered quite old and part of the<br> traditional repertoire and in the 1794 edition of Edward Jones's Musical and Poetical<br> Relicks of the Welsh Bards under the title "The Melody of Cynwyd". Some sources<br> maintain the tune was the precursor to the (in its time) well-known tune<br> "Country Courtship," which in turn evolved into the even more well-known<br> "Irish Washerwoman" of 19th and 20th century popularity. Little is known regarding the title,<br> however, 'darg' is a Middle English word which means 'a day's work' and both 'darger' and<br> 'dargsman' are forms which refer to day laborers; thus 'dargeson' may also mean a day laborer.<br> The Dargason melody was used by the English composer Gustav Holst in his "Second Suite in F"<br> (for Concert Band), where it appears in the climax to the final movement. <br> It was recorded on Country Capers by The New York Renaissance Band.<br>
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