Ironlegs hornpipe

Very appropriate submission from a man with a “brass neck” 😉

Hehe, yes John.

I got this tune from my friend Paul Scourfield, who got it from the Radway Pub session at the Sidmouth Festival, according to the liner notes of his CD, “The Wayward Daughter”. I’m now going to thoroughly embarrass him by posting a link to his homepage so you can listen a sample of this tune http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.scourfield/solohome.html. The guy strumming the grooved up chords is Michael Davidson, who used to be my guitar teacher. If you read this Paul, I just got a shock when I went to your home page and discovered you’ve had a kid - congratulations!

This tune is basically a country dance tune, but I’m not quite sure exactly what genre it is. Maybe someone can help out with that. I’m guessing a barndance type thing. It sounds nice played straight and at a lively pace the way Paul plays it, but I think it’d also be nice slowed down a bit and swung.

Link to a related tune (check out the similar A-part) https://thesession.org/tunes/1083.

Here is some info on the tune, including an explanation of the possible meaning of the title: http://www.folk-network.com/products/notes/ironlegs.html.

This would be another fun one to do the dance “Petronella” to, with some minor changes so the phrasing in the B-part helped the dances a bit more… I’ll spend some time with this and see what I might come up with, playing it while dancing to it… (& coughing…)

Compiled and edited by Jamie Knowles
Dave Mallinson Publications, 1995
ISBN: 1-899512-16-0
page 39

Richard Robinson’s Tunebook ~
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/music/Info/RRTuneBk/tunebook.html

The Winder Collection (1789 - 1841) ~
The Iron League Hornpipe
“Iron Lege Hornpipe - John Winder Dancing Master way of playing”
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/music/Info/RRTuneBk/listings.html#winder

Iron Lege Hornpipe - John Winder Dancing Master way of playing

K: Dmaj
|: AG |
F2 A2 F2 AG | F2 EF D2 A2 | B2 c2 d2 ed | c2 Bc A2 AG |
F2 A2 E2 AG | F2 EF D2 A2 | Bc d2 gedc | d2 d2 d2 :|
|: e2 |
fgfg egeg | fgeg egeg | dede cece | dede cece |
BdBd AdAd | BdBd AdAd | Bc d2 gedc | d2 d2 d2 :|

Dave Mallinson Publications
Mally’s Traditional Music Store
http://www.mally.com/

Sadly the South Riding site was lost and Malcolm Douglas the webmaster tragically died before his time.

See Barry Callaghan’s book Hardcore English (EFDSS) for some info. Joe Grimaldi’s (the famous clown) grandfather was a dance master at Sadlers Wells nicknamed ‘Iron Legs’ he lived in the 1700s

On the afore-mentioned CD, this tune is followed by Yarmouth Breakdown https://thesession.org/tunes/10758.

I learnt this at a session somewhere. Here I put up a version with as little ornamentation as I could, so that it’s more up to the interpretation of the player.

oops I miswrote bars 13-14. They should be up one note.

The Iron Legs Hornpipe.
It Possibly celebrates the acrobat and dancer Guiseppe Grimaldi (1713-1788), who was known as Iron Legs. His son, the famous Joseph, was the father of modern clowns and pantomime.
It is pretty commonly played up here in Lancaster and the Lakes.

The complete Winders of Wyresdale tunebook can be bought from
www.andyhornby.net/Winders.html