Din Tarrant’s polka

So where did you get it, kjlowe? Did you learn it from a record, from a friend, from a book?

This polka has its roots in a tune known in Scotland by various names, including "Wha Wadna Fecht for Charlie?" and "Wha Saw the Forty Second?". I have it somehwre on an English Morris dance tunes record under the name "The March Past".

This is a tune recorded by Kieran O’Hare, after Old Dudeen and Mc Govern’s reels.

This tune sounds somewhat Scottish to me, but it’s most likely a version of Dillon Brown: https://thesession.org/tunes/6863

The Scottish connection is there, slainte - buried deep inside is a very common march tune variously called "Wha Wouldna Fecht for Charlie", "Wha Saw the Forty Second". (I belive you may have learnt that tune in my class, although a slightly different version.)

X: 1
T: Wha Wadna Fecht for Charlie
N: Transposed from D for comparison
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Gmaj
G2 G>A B>AB<d | G2 G>A Bd A2 | G2 G>A B>AB<d | (3efg d>c BG G2 :|
Bd de/f/ gded | Bd de/f/ gB A2 | Bd de/f/ gded I (3efg d>c BG G2 :|

Nigel, I’m not very sure if I have learnt the march. I still remember most of the tunes you taught me, but it doesn’t sound familiar. Its title looks familiar, though.

The nameless reel pivert transcribed indeed seems to be related to Wha Wadna Fecht for Charlie. Even if not, it would work better as a march, or even a polka!

https://thesession.org/tunes/3120

I don’t know where kjlowe got it from, but it appears on Music at Matt Molloy’s https://thesession.org/recordings/52 , track 20, accompanying the Westport Set Dancers.

I heard the Morris version of it a couple of nights ago and commented that it was a Scottish tune, but the other players wouldn’t have it and insisted that the Scots must have picked it up on holiday in the Cotswolds.

Nigel - You made comments on a related reel a few years ago:
https://thesession.org/tunes/11062

Thanks, CreadurMawnOrganig. I have a thing about people posting tunes and not saying anything about where they got them.