The Primrose Polka barndance

Alright, you’ve got “The Bluebell Polka” on here, and now “The Primrose Polka”. This is as it was given to me by a box player in Tipperary. Yes, I know it is of Scottish and English fame, played by Jimmy Shand, and I know it is also in another key, ‘D’, such as here at Richard Robinson’s fine site:

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/music/Info/RRTuneBk/gettune/000007f4.html

But this is the way it was given to me, back in the 70s…on a beer coaster…

This was recorded by Jimmy Shand on two records, a 7":
“A Swirl of the Kilt No.2”
Parlophone GEP8828

and I saw it on a 10" in a well known musicians collection in Donegal, part of a series:
“Scottish Country Dances in Strict Tempo No.2”
Parlophone PM1015

These seem to suggest as a composer - ‘Robert Brown’. Can anyone confirm this or give us some further information, Kenny?, Conan?, Mark?…

No, I do not always screw up, but I was making dinner again, you think I would learn not to mix ABCs with cooking - the corrections have been made to the ABCs, but here it is in full confessional mode:

Part A - 3rd Bar - ‘b’ should have been ‘B’:
|Bc de ed ^cd|

Part B - the 2nd ending’s 3rd bar should be:
|ag eg ac’ ba|

Hmmm - a third bar thing…as before too, hick!

From that same old source and those beer stained notes there was also given this simple variation on the final four bars:

|e2 de c’2 a2|d2 ^cd b2 g2|d2 ^cd g2 f2|g4 g2||

Other recorded versions come from Bob Cann, an English Box-Play who recorded an Album for topic. Brass Monkey have it on their first album and I have an ancient tape where the Yetties play it. Great to see this sort of tunes in The Session. I usually play it in C.

The Richard Robinson link given above is to a version in the key of ‘C’. I’ve given it as it was written out for me as said previously, really, though I’m not sure if it was a beer coaster or something else from the pub where it was being used to irritate certain Comhaltas royalty. The box player was Irish and full of character and humour.

Yes Jimmy, but it was cider this time. However. while I’ve seen it and played it as you suggest:

|:Bc ^cd ed cd|b2 g2 b2 g2|Bc ^cd ed cd|A6 G2|
AG AB cB cd|f2 c2 f2 e2|dg e2 dB A2|B6:|

I’ve given it in this original submission as it was given to me. I’ve also played it in the key of C too, but again, I’ve given it as I got it in Eire, rather than as I know it from the likes of Jimmy Shand and the marvelous Bob Cann. And the Yetties? - Hey ‘Ranks’, what key do they play it in? I’ll write out a version in ‘C’ here later, if nobody beats me to it, as I think, aside from the link given, that would be a courtesy I should extend. However, I was offering it up because I had gotten it in Eire in this key and basically as I’d written it, not the exactly the same as some may know it. Buy hey, you should have choices and that is the least I can do, give you versions and variations… And another courtesy could be extended - not to be submitting tunes when I’m wrapped up in too many other things, like preparing dinner, baking - or somewhere further along in the process of imbiding mind altering and potent potations…

K:D
|:A2|FG ^GA BA GA|f2 d2 f2 d2|FG ^GA BA GA|E6 D2|
EF GA BA ^GA|e2 c2 e2 c2|1 Ad cB AG E=F|F6 :|
2 AB cB AG EF|D6||
|:A2|F4-FF G/^G/A|f3 f f2 ec|dA F/G/A dc {ef}ed|c2 B^A B4|
|1 E4-EE F/G/^G/A/|c6 B^G|A>d cB AG E=F|F>G AG F2:|
2 ge Be g2 ag|fd Ad f2 Ad|B/c/d ef ge cA|{de}d2 f2 d2||
|:A2|fe dc d2 A2|fe dc dA FA|B^A Bc d>e dB|1 A4 F2 A2|
GF GA A2-AG|FE FG A2 F2|^G4-GE FG|A2 B2 c2:|
2 A6 A2|B^A Bd g2 d2|A^G Ad f2 d2|A^G Ac f2 e2|d6||

Correction to my other slip - the Richard Robinson one linked to above is in ‘D’. I’ve asked if Ranks would put his version here in the comments, in ‘C’… We’ll C…

http://www.veteran.co.uk/
- buy 3 get a 4th free -

Bob Cann - one of our favourite melodeon players of any tradition, in this case English.

“Proper Job!”
Veteran: VT138CD

Track 20. The Primrose Polka (2.50)

‘Melodeon playing from Dartmoor recorded 1952-1988’
“Twenty eight tracks of lively jigs, polkas, hornpipes, waltzes and barndances.”

"Bob Cann was a true son of his native Dartmoor, where he had been brought up in a family of music, learning tunes from several of his uncles.

He became known as one of England’s best melodeon players and in the early days of the English Country Music revival he became the source of repertoire for many budding players.

This CD shows just how good he was, with the first recordings he made for the BBC in 1952 through to recording of him playing with his grandson Mark Bazeley who is now carrying on the family tradition."


“Merrymaking”
Veteran: VT144CD

‘Mouthorgan, concertina & accordion music from Chagford, Devon’
Jack Rice (mouthorgan) / Les Rice (Concertina & Mouthorgan) / Jason Rice (piano accordion)

Track 29: The Primrose Polka - Jason Rice (piano accordion) - Mark Bazeley (melodeon)

The Yetties - “Messing About on the River”
- their most recent CD
track 10: The Primrose Polka


“The Complete ‘Brass Monkey’”
Topic: TSCD467

English Ceilidh band with ‘brass’ -
Martin Carthy: guitar, mandolin, vocals
John Kirkpatrick: Anglo-concertina, melodeon, button accordion, vocals
Howard Evans: trumpet, flugelhorn, vocals
Martin Brinsford: c-melody saxophone, mouth-organ, percussion
Roger Williams: trombone, vocals
Richard Cheetham: trombone

Track 7: Tip-Top Hornpipe / The Primrose Polka

Brass Monkey play it in C, I cannot find the Yetties Tape, I will find out about Bob Cann as soon as I have dug out the vinyl album and dusted off my record player.

As some English players and ceilidh bands swing it, with gusto…

Here’s another swing on the tune (using the bars spacings as Will Harmon suggests). I quite like it like this take on it, of course, and I like how that ‘swing’ is reflected in parts like ‘|D6 D2|’:

T: The Primrose Polka/Schottische
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Dmaj
A2 |
F>G^G>A B>AG>A | f2 d2 f2 d2 | F>G^G>A B>AG>A | E6 D2 |
E>FG>A B>A^G>A | f2 (3efe c2 (3BCB | A>Bc>B A>GE>=F | F6 A2|
F>G^G>A B>AG>A | f2 d2 f2 d>A | d>DF>d e>dc>d | B4-B>^AB>d|
B>^AB>d g2 d2|A>^GA>d f2 d2 | A>^GA>c (3ded c2 | d6 D2 ||

F4-F>G^G>A | f6 (3efe | d>AF>A d>Ae>d | c2 (3BcB G4 |
E4 E>FG>A | c6 B2 | A>Bc>B A>GE>=F | F6 A2 |
F4-F>G^G>A | f6 e2 | d>A (3FGA d>A (3fed | c2 B2 B4 |
g>fe>f g2 B2 |f>ed>e f2 A2 | e>d (3Bcd e>gf>e | d2 f2 d3 A ||

f>ed>c d2 A2 | (3gfe d>c d2 A2 | B>^AB>c d>ed>B | A4 F3 A |
G>FG>A A2-A>G | F>^EF>G A2 F2 | ^G4-G>EF>G | (3ABA (3GAG (3FGF (3EFE |
f>ed>c d2 A2 | f>ed>c d2 A2 | B>^AB>c d3 B | A6 A2 |
B>^A (3Bcd g2 d2 | A>^G (3ABd f2 d2 | A>^GA>g (3fgf (3efe | d6 ||


3rd part weird - some change key with the third part, up a 4th, for example from ‘D’ to the key of ‘G’:
K: Gmaj
b2 g>f g2 d2 | b2 g>f g2 d2 | ~ etc…

“Patchwork”
Mike & Michelle Jackson
Larrikin LP: LRF 052 (’80s)
Track 8: Primrose Polka

ceolachan asked, “These seem to suggest as a composer - ‘Robert Brown’. Can anyone confirm this…?”

Yes, Bobby Brown composed “The Primrose Polka”. He was a button accordionist in Adam Rennie’s Quartet.

I love playing this polka. I play it in D as per the Scottish Bands with a few different notes from the midi version at the end of the third part. I heard the Kinfenora play this polka but they only play the first two parts.

The Kilfenora CB have a fourth part to the tune. Don’t know if it is original to them or if it has been recorded this way before. Anybody know?

Great version of this tune on the new Kilfenora CB CD, Century. I heard Gary Shannon and Tim Collins play the tune a couple of years ago and learned it as best I could. Now I have to relearn parts of it and add the fourth part. Don’t get sidetracked by the dots on this site. The KCB setting is much more interesting. And it’s *always* better to learn a tune by ear, even if you do have to use The Amazing Slowdowner or other such program.

No contest, always better to learn it by ear, but there are many fine examples to draw on, and it doesn’t ‘need’ a fourth part to have life in it. That said, I’ll give the fourth part a go and try on some of The Kilfenora Ceili Band’s ways with it… Folks are always adding extra parts to things, for finding them…

http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/index.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/PRAI_PRIM.htm

PRIMROSE POLKA. English, Polka. G Major (Carlin): D Major (Callaghan). Standard tuning. AA‘BB’CC’. Composed by button accordion player Robert ‘Bobby’ Brown, a member of Adam Rennie’s Quartet. Although the word ‘polka’ is in the title, it has more the feel of a schottische or barn dance. The melody has been recorded by Scottish accordion player Jimmy Shand and English melodeon player Bob Cann (Dartmoor).

Callaghan (Hardcore English), 2007; pg. 68. Carlin (Master Collection), 1984; No. 5, pg. 17.

Parlophone GEP8828, Jimmy Shand – “A Swirl of the Kilt No. 2.”
Parlophone CE 14038, Adam Rennie and His Scottish Country Dance Band (78 RPM).

Topic TSCD467, “The Complete Brass Monkey.”

Veteran VT 138CD, Bob Cann – “Proper Job!”

Veteran VT 144CD, Jack Rice, Les Rice & Mark Bazeley – “Merrymaking.”

Adam Rennie and co.’s recording is available at the Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/details/PrimrosePolka Courtesy of the raretunes.org chap. Ugh, time for bed and I’m not about to listen to this thing, I’ll be up all night humming!

Nice one Kevin, I keep forgetting to add links like RareTunes Dot Org, lovely stuff.

I have to say, having listened to the Kilfenora Ceili Band take, if compressed MP3, it won’t make it to my preferred list of listens for this tune. IMO the arrangement drags and does nothing for Bobby Brown’s tune… The Adam Rennie band’s take has more kick to it, more life and lift…

X: 4
T: Primrose Polka, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: polka / schottische / barndance
K: Dmaj
|: A2 |\
F>G^G>A B>AG>A | f2 d2 f2 d2 | F>G^G>A B>AG>A | E6 D2 |
E>FG>A B>A^G>A | e2 c2 e2 c2 |[1 A>dc>B A>GE>=F | F6 :|
[2 A>Bc>B A>GE>F | D6 ||
|: A2 |\
F4- F>F (3G^GA | f3 f f2 e>c | d>A (3FGA d>ce>d | c2 B>^A B4 |
[1 E4- E>E F/G/^G/A/ | c6 B>^G | A>dc>B A>GE>=F | F>GA>G F2 :|
[2 g>eB>e g2 a>g | f>dA>d f2 Ad | (3Bcd e>f g>ec>A | d2 f2 d2 ||
|: A2 |\
f>ed>c d2 A2 | f>ed>c d>AF>A | B>^AB>c d>ed>B |
[1 A4 F2 A2 | G>FG>A A2- A>G | F>EF>G A2 F2 | ^G4- G>EF>G | A2 B2 c2 :|
[2 A6 A2 | B>^AB>d g2 d2 | A>^GA>d f2 d2 | A>^GA>c f2 e2 | d6 |]

X: 5
T: Primrose Polka, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: polka / schottische / barndance
K: Dmaj
BA>G |\
F>G^G>A B>AG>A | f2 d2 f2 d>A | F>G^G>A B>AG>A | E6 D2 |
E>FG>A B>A^G>A | f2 (3efe c2 (3BCB | A>Bc>B A>GE>=F | F4- FBA>G |
F>G^G>A B>AG>A | f2 d2 f>dc>e | d>D (3FGA e>dc>d | B4- B>^AB>d |
B>^A (3Bcd (3gag B>d |A>^GA>d f2 d2 | A>^GA>c (3ded c2 | d6 ||
D2 |\
F4- F>G^G>A | f6 e2 | d>A (3FGA d>A (3fed | c2 B2 G4 |
E4- E>FG>A | c6 B2 | A>Bc>B A>GE>=F | F2 B2 A2 G2 |
F4- F>G^G>A | f6 e2 | d>AF>D d>A (3fed | c2 (3BcB G4 |
g>fe>f g2 B2 |f>ed>e f2 A2 | e>d (3Bcd e>g (3gfe | d2 A2 D3 ||
A |\
f>ed>c d>A (3FGA | f>ed>c (3ded A2 | B>^AB>c d>ed>B | A6 F2 |
G>FG>^G A2-A>=G | F>^EF>G A2 F2 | ^G4- G>EF>G | (3ABA G2 (3FGF E>A |
f>ed>c d2 A2 | f>ed>c d>AF>d | B>^AB>c d>e (3edB | A6 d2 |
B>^AB>d g2 d>B | A>^GA>d f2 d>A | A>^GA>c (3fgf e2 | d4- d |]

3rd part - some change up a 4th into the key of G with the third part, from D Major to G Major…

K: Gmaj
b2 g>f g2 d2 | b>a (3agf g2 d2 | e>^de>f (3gag (3gfe | d6 B2 |
c>Bc>^c d2 =c2 | B>^AB>c d2 B2 | ^c6 d2 | d2 c2 (3BcB A2 |
b>ag>f g>d (3Bcd | b>a (3agf g2 d>g | e>^de>f g2 (3gfe | d4- d>gf>g |
e>^de>g c‘>g (3efg | d>^cd>g (3bc’b g>e | d>^cd>f g2 f2 | g6 |]

Sorry, I missed adding that in those takes given above…

X:6
T: Primrose Polka
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: polka
K: Dmaj
|: A2 |\
FG^GA BAGA | f2 d2 f2 d2 | FG^GA BAGA | E6 D2 |
EFGA BA^GA | e2 c2 c2 B2 |[1 A^GAB AGEG | F6 :|[2 ABcB AGFE | D6 ||
|: F6 (3G^GA | f6 e2 | dAFA dced | c2 B^A B4 |
[1 E4 FG^GA | c6 B2 | A^GAB AGEG | G2F2F2A2 :|[2 gdBd g2 ag | fdAd f2 Ad | ecAc egfe | d2 f2 d4 ||
|:fedc d2 A2 | fedc d2A2 | B^ABc dcB^G |[1 A6 F2 | GFGA B2A2 | FEFG A2 F2 | ^G2 ^G4z EFG | A2 c2 A4 :|
[2 A6 A2 | B^ABd g2 d2 | A^GAd f2 d2 | A^GAc f2 e2 | d6 |]

I took one of ceolachan’s settings and ripped out all those dots/flags - I’m from the Gilder school of notation, I think. ;) Much cleaner. “Syncopation is applied at the discretion of the performer,” as one of those stodgy old music tutors might put it. NB you can do that in a word processor simply by doing a find+replace on all the ‘>’s. Maybe that will be news to some.

Also changed the melody here and there a titch, not following anyone’s lead exactly - I do have a dub of the old Brown/Rennie record and tried to mimic it when I was learning this years ago, though. Much prefer to play it in D, on any instrument. Maybe on the flute it’s tolerable in G but not the pipes or fiddle, for me.

X:9 as exact as I can get it to Adam Rennie and Bobby Brown.

Thanks Kevin, appreciated… I’ll have to pull out that recording and give it a good listen again. I should have added a transcription of that take long ago, and a few others.