Merrily Kiss The Quaker
Michael Shames/Contractor
>There's a fiddle tune (often transcribed for guitar - in fact I can't
>recall ever hearing on fiddle) called 'Merrily Kiss The Quaker'. A
>few weeks ago I heard an explanation of the title, which I only vaguely
>recall, and only half believe. Can anyone out there give an explanation
>that can be supported? The story I heard had something to do with a
>custom among sailors that involved a part of the ship known as the Quaker.
some years back (about 17 ) ali bain (who does play this tune on fiddle,
very well of course) told me that it was a slang term for drinking
whiskey, related to "kissing the crature" or creature. he then gave
a demonstration.
the words to the tune seem to have come after:
"Merrily kiss the Quaker's wife and merrily kiss the Quaker"
hope this makes more sense then the idea about the ship.
to hear his (ali bain's) fiddle version check out the
Boys of the Lough's second record -- a whole lot of great music on
that one.
mike shames
Gary Martin
"Distribution: " works yet on this system.
There's a fiddle tune (often transcribed for guitar - in fact I can't
recall ever hearing on fiddle) called 'Merrily Kiss The Quaker'. A
few weeks ago I heard an explanation of the title, which I only vaguely
recall, and only half believe. Can anyone out there give an explanation
that can be supported? The story I heard had something to do with a
custom among sailors that involved a part of the ship known as the Quaker.
Unfortunately, I found no mention of this in the Dictionary of Sailors'
Slang. I also had the inspiration to look up 'kiss' and 'quaker' in
an enormous concordance for Moby Dick that I noticed while wandering
through the library, but this shed no light on the issue.
Thanks.
--
Gary A. Martin, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, UMass Dartmouth
Mar...@cis.umassd.edu
Rachel Bereson
>"Distribution: " works yet on this system.
>
>There's a fiddle tune (often transcribed for guitar - in fact I can't
>recall ever hearing on fiddle) called 'Merrily Kiss The Quaker'. A
>few weeks ago I heard an explanation of the title, which I only vaguely
>recall, and only half believe. Can anyone out there give an explanation
>that can be supported? The story I heard had something to do with a
>custom among sailors that involved a part of the ship known as the Quaker.
>Unfortunately, I found no mention of this in the Dictionary of Sailors'
>Slang. I also had the inspiration to look up 'kiss' and 'quaker' in
>an enormous concordance for Moby Dick that I noticed while wandering
>through the library, but this shed no light on the issue.
>
This puts a whole new angle on it , doesn't it.
Rachel
Gary Martin
Yes, but one e-mail respondent tells me that they are two different tunes.
Lindsay F. Marshall
> I know this as a fiddle tune called "Merrily Kissed the Quaker's Wife".
> This puts a whole new angle on it , doesn't it.
> Rachel
>Yes, but one e-mail respondent tells me that they are two different tunes.
Yes, but they are wrong. If you go back through the tune books, there
are many variants on the Merrily xxxxxx Quaker name and they are all
essentially the same tune. The xxxxx is sometimes Danced rather than
kissed and the wife part often gets omitted.
Your correpsondent may simply have met up with a tune that had
inherited the name by mistake - which happens quite often.
(Every since this thread started, I cant get the blasted tune out of
my head *SIGH*)
L.
--
MAIL : Lindsay....@newcastle.ac.uk
POST : Computing Laboratory, The University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK NE1 7RU
VOICE: +44-91-222-8267
FAX : +44-91-222-8572
Rosa Michaelson
in D I think. Source: Kerr's Merry melodies either Vols 1,2, 11 or 12.
'Merrily danced the Quaker' - 3 part Irish jig usually palyed in G.
Source: Probably O'Neills, either original publication or the Oak reissue.
Note that the first parts are almost BUT NOT QUITE the same. And that Kerr's
is regarded here in Scotland as an early publication before that of O'Neill.
And that there is a similar transcription to the kerr variant in N. Gow's 6
volume family publications.
I bet there is one in Playford too though...(an english joke no doubt).
Lindsay F. Marshall
>'Merrily danced the Quaker' - 2 part scottish tune usually played
>in D I think. Source: Kerr's Merry melodies either Vols 1,2, 11 or 12.
There is a version in The Caledonian Companion.
>'Merrily danced the Quaker' - 3 part Irish jig usually palyed in G.
>Source: Probably O'Neills, either original publication or the Oak reissue.
The version that is the most familiar is in Bulmer & Sharpley Vol. 1.
There doesn't seem to be a version on O'Neills (at least under that
title) nor in Ceol Rince na hEireann (V1 and 2 - I don;t have the
index for 3 on-line)
>Note that the first parts are almost BUT NOT QUITE the same. And that Kerr's
>is regarded here in Scotland as an early publication before that of O'Neill.
>And that there is a similar transcription to the kerr variant in N. Gow's 6
>volume family publications.
Kerr's is certainly earlier than O'Neill and most of the stuff in
Kerr's is ripped off from Gow and Kohler's anyway!! It is a classic
example of "reuse".
>I bet there is one in Playford too though...(an english joke no doubt).
I am pretty certain that there is a version on Playford, though as you
say he must have got that from a Scot (like all the other good tunes
he has)
One day, I'll get back to finishing of my tune database...
One day, Rosa Michaelson might get in touch....
L
David Thomas
>'Merrily danced the Quaker' - 2 part scottish tune usually played
>in D I think. Source: Kerr's Merry melodies either Vols 1,2, 11 or 12.
>
Going off at a bit of a tangent but ...
Does anyone know the history of the compilation of Kerr's tunebooks. I
believe they were first published 1910 + approx.
Has any research been done on how the books were compiled( ie from
existing manuscripts, collections or from musicians ) ?
I'm also after some information on Jimmy Shand's Bluebell polka ...
Has anyone heard an early version by James Brown circa 1912 ?
Where does the middle section of Shand's arrangement come from (it's
not part of James Morrison's 1930s version) ?
Who are the copyright Credits on Shand's version (F Stanley arr.
Lovat) ?
Which year were police called to deal with Shandmania at a Shand gig
in Cricklewood, London during the 1950s. I'm looking for the Melody
Maker report.
A bit obscure but I'm sure someone knows.
All info gratefully received. It's all for a good cause not unrelated
to Richard Thompson's Don't sit on my Jimmy Shands.
Shand of course recorded Merrily kissed the Quaker
David Thomas
Brunel University Library
Gary Martin
lots of interesting stuff about sources for Merrily Kiss/Danced The
Quaker ('s Wife), adding to similarly interesting info provided by
r...@st-andrews.ac.uk (Rosa Michaelson).
Now that this thread seems to have gotten going, let me repeat the
original question:
Does anyone know what the name means?
Suggestions so far are:
Corruption of 'kissing the creature', ie. drinking whiskey; and
Nothing - just a humorous, meaningless title
Can anyone corroborate either of these or add others (with supporting
evidence :-))? (The source of the first explanation was from an
introduction by Aly Bain, so someone else hearing the same introduction
doesn't count :-().
I'm not asking about the connection between the tune and the title, but
merely whether the title was a colloquialism, and if so, with what
meaning.
Michael Shames/Contractor
>In article <1992Mar13.0...@newcastle.ac.uk> Lindsay....@newcastle.ac.uk (Lindsay F. Marshall) wrote
>lots of interesting stuff about sources for Merrily Kiss/Danced The
> Corruption of 'kissing the creature', ie. drinking whiskey; and
>evidence :-))? (The source of the first explanation was from an
>introduction by Aly Bain, so someone else hearing the same introduction
>doesn't count :-().
we was getting shit-faced on a 6pack of scotch and he referred
to it as kissing the quaker and said that was where the tune name
came from.
and yes, if you are ali bain, you can get a 6 pack from your
local single-malt distillery.
mike shames
Lindsay F. Marshall
> Corruption of 'kissing the creature', ie. drinking whiskey; and
>Can anyone corroborate either of these or add others (with supporting
>evidence :-))? (The source of the first explanation was from an
>introduction by Aly Bain, so someone else hearing the same introduction
>doesn't count :-().
I must be honest and say that I tend to discount stories about tune
origins told by performers before they play them - usually this
indicates that so many people have asked for som eexplanation that
they made one up! Particularly old tunes - they might know something
sensible about modern tunes, especially ones they wrote themselves.
I cant say that I had ever heard the "Kissing the cratur" story, but
it sounds totally implausible to me - the tune goes so far back with
"quaker" in the title I don't see how a corruption like that would be
known about. One possibility is that there is some Bowdlerisation
going on, and the title was originally rather more explicit. When you
look at the titles of tunes in some fiddlers' manuscripts they do tend to
be somewhat more raunchy than you find in more public sources. This
is only a suggestion of course - I have always thought the name just
to be what it says. Of course, to the pure, all things are pure. I
will dig around in some of the books and see if I can come up with
anything more.
L.
Gary Martin
Lindsay Marshall's replies to my post, despite the best efforts of our
newsreader to prevent that.
Sorry, Mike, that I misinterpreted your first response, assuming that
Ali (isn't it Aly on his recordings? or is my memory going?) Bain's
comments were made in a concert setting rather than a drinking session.
I don't know whether that makes it more or less believable, though.
The OED lists "intoxicating drink" as a meaning for 'creature', though
it says that this is usually associated with an Irish spelling/pronunciation:
craythur, cratur, or something like that - it's at home now. I got
pretty much the same info yesterday from David Ingalls, a Harvard
professor who has spent considerable time learning songs in Scottish pubs.
But I've found no reference to the change from 'creature' to 'Quaker' yet,
and as Lindsay points out, the change - if that's what it was - came
a long time ago. By the way, do you have any interesting thoughts about
where to dig for this?
Heidi Muller, who plays this on Appalachian dulcimer, also wants to know
who Merrilee is, and why she's kissing the Quaker :-)