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"Nobody's Jig", also known as
"My Lady Winwood's Maggot",
is an English country dance tune in cut time and D Dorian. The parts are played AABB.
Merryweather (1989) states the tune dates from the 17th century when the term 'jig' meant any spirited dance tune, rather than the 6/8 time dance (as in Irish jig) form familiar to us in modern times. Barnes (1986) for some reason dates the tune to 1721, however, it appears in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book (c. 1650?) and was later published by John Playford in his Dancing Master from the supplement to the 6th edition of 1679 and subsequently through the 18th and final edition of 1728. From the 7th edition on, the tune was changed somewhat and it was transposed to G major. The tune and country dance directions were also published by the Walshes in The Compleat Country Dancing Master (1718, and later editions of 1731 and 1754). The tune seems related, at least structurally, to "No Man's Jig", a morris-dance version of "Buttered Peas". It was printed in Barlow's Complete Country Dances from Playford's Dancing Master (1985), Barnes' English Country Dance Tunes (1986), Elias Howe's Musician’s Omnibus Nos. 6 & 7 (1880-1882), Karpeles & Schofield's A Selection of 100 English Folk Dance Airs (1951) (appears as "My Lady Winwood's Maggot"), Merryweather's Tunes for English Bagpipes (1989), Raven's English Country Dance Tunes (1984) and Walsh's Complete Country Dancing-Master, Volume the Fourth (1740). |