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Some Say The De'il's (Devil’s) Deid (Dead) Keel Row
English, Irish, Scottish, American (Pennsylvania- Northeast US); Air, Reel, Highland or (Highland) Schottische, Highland Fling. England, Northumberland. Ireland, Donegal.
ARTIST: From Mudcat
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
DATE: 1774; RECORDING INFO: Armstrong, Jack; and his Northumbrian Barnstormers. English Folk Dances, EMI CLP 3754, LP (1974), cut# 8a; Bulwer, Walter. English Country Music, Topic 12T 296, LP (1965/1976), cut#B.03c (Cat's Got the Measles); Country Dance Band. English Folk Dances, EMI CLP 3754, LP (1974), cut# 14; Dolan, Packie; and his Melody Boys. Wheel's of the World. Vol. 2, Yazoo 7009, LP (1996), 18a; Kelly, Gene. Irish Traditional Instrumental Music, v.1. East Coast of America, Rounder 6005, LP (1987), cut# 8b; Smith, Ralph Lee. Dulcimer; More Old-Time and Traditional Music, Skyline DD-106, LP (1975), cut# 7; Vermont Performing Arts League Musicians. Vermont Sampler. A Collection of Traditional Songs & Dance Tunes, Vermont Performing Arts VPAL 103, LP (1991), cut#A.05a; Williamsburg Fife and Drum Corps. Fife & Drums of Williamsburg, Col. Williamsburg WS 101, LP (1975), cut#A.05a
OTHER NAMES: “Cat's Got the Measles,” “Hartigan's Fancy,” “Well May the World Go,” "The Boatie Rows," “Some Say The De'il's (Devil’s) Deid (Dead)” "Drops of Brandy," "Lake St. Jean Gallope," "Michael's Reel," "Smiling Polly," "Twin Sisters."
SOURCES: Hirman Horner (fifer from Westmoreland and Fayette Counties, Pa., 1960) and Frank King (fifer from Westmoreland County, Pa., 1960) [Bayard]; "old highland fling, learned from my mother" [Mulvihill]. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 321A-B, pgs. 280-1. Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Time), Vol. 2, 1859; pg. 185. Cole (1001 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 23. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 67 (appears as "Twin Sisters"). Gow (Vocal Melodies of Scotland), 2nd ed., 1822; pg. 20. Hall & Stafford (Charlton Memorial Tune Book), 1974; pgs. 24-25. Jarman (Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes) 1951; No. or pg. 33. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book), Vol. 1, 1951; No. 42, pg. 21. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; No. 3, pg. 19 and Vol. 3, No. 94, pg. 12. Kidson (Old English Country Dances), 1890; pg. 19. Mulvihill (1st Collection), 1986; No. 13, pg. 121. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 174. Roche Collection, 1983, Vol. 1; No. 198, pg. 75. Saar, 1932; No. 19. Smith (Scottish Minstrel), 1820-24; Vol. 5, pg. 74. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 11. Stokoe & Bruce (Nortumbrian Minstrelsy), 1882; pgs. 138-139. Surenne, 1852; pg. 144. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; pg. 58. Trim (Thomas Hardy), 1990; No. 60 (Schottishe). Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, Vol. 1), 1999; pg. 12. White's Excelsior Collection, 1907; pg. 27. White's Unique Collection, 1896; No. 53. Traditional Music in America, Folklore Associates, Bk (1940/1965), p 67a (Twin Sisters (Tune)) Austen, Seth. Dulcimer Player News, Dulcimer Player News DPN, Ser (1973-), 6/4, p22; MacNeil, Madeline. Dulcimer Player News, Dulcimer Player News DPN, Ser (1973-), 6/4, p21; NOTES: G Major (Cole, Hall & Stafford, Kennedy, Kidson, Raven, Stokoe, Sweet, Trim, Tubridy): A Major (Athole, Kerr, Mulvihill, Roche). Standard. AB (Raven, Roche, Tubridy): AABB (Cole, Kerr, Kidson, Mulvihill, Sweet, Trim): AABB' (Athole): ABC (Stokoe).
Aside from being a popular fiddle and fife tune (see: Bayard) from the Pennsylvania (northeast US), the connection to bluegrass music/old-time music is from the “Cat’s got the measles” ditty that is sometimes sung as the refrain. The old-time/jazz song “Cat’s Got the Measles and the Dog’s Got the Whoopin’ Cough” possibly borrowed the material from the lyrics/structure of “Keel Row” though they are different songs.
From Ceolas: A Fiddler’s Companion- Stokoe and Bruce (1882) devote a note to the tune claiming Northumbrian authorship for "The Keel Row," an extremely popular tune in its time (in both Scotland and Northumberland) and "the best known and most popular of all Northumbrian lyrics." He refutes assertions that the tune is Scotch (to whom it is often credited), citing the following: 1) the 'keel' is a vessel which is only known on the rivers Tyne and Wear {Kidson points out however that 'keel' is an old Saxon word and has been used in Scotland as well as Newcastle}; 2) In the collection of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle is a MS Book of Tunes, dated 1774, in which the tune appeared exactly as it did in Stoke's time; 3) Joseph Ritson, once a celebrated antiquary, included it in his collection of old songs, 'The Northumberland Garland,' published 1793 (a garland is a of eight to sixteen tunes).
Stokoe and Bruce point out that these dates are anterior to the appearance of the song in any Scottish collection, having found that Cromek inserted it in his Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song, 1810, where it is labled a "popular bridal tune in Scotland" and set to a Jacobite song called "As I came down the Cannongate." (Stokoe also says that Allan Cunningham, in his 'Songs of Scotland,' 1825, asserts that Cromek's version is imperfect, "and gives another, which is simply a protracted paraphrase of the original song, with the word 'keel' entirely omitted {except in the title}, the word 'shallop' being substituted"--Kidson sees this same song as a copy of the older Jacobite lyric). Though taking no sides in the debate, Kidson (1890) does find the melody under the "Keel Row" title in an early Scottish edition which predates the Northumbrian printings, in N. Stewart's c. 1770 A Collection of favourite Scots' Tunes, with Variations for the Violoncello or Harpsichord, by the late Charles McLean, and other eminent masters (Edinburgh).
As I cam thro' Sandgate, thro' Sandgate, thro' Sandgate;
As I cam thro' Sandgate I heard a lassie sing:
Weel may the keel row, the keel row, the keel row;
Weel may the keel row that my laddie's (truelove's) in.
Weel may the keel row, &c. (Stokoe)
Emmerson (1971) believes the tune to have been composed on and for the Northumbrian smallpipes, and Shield's famous variations on "Keel Row," composed for the instrument, are given by Hall & Stafford.
Bayard (1981) dates the tune from the 18th century, while Chappell (1859) finds the earliest form of it in Thompson's 200 Country Dances of 1765 where it appears as "Smiling Polly," though Kidson (1890) believes the earliest form of the tune to be "Yorkshire Lad," found in Johnson's Country Dances of 1748. Bayard concludes the identifying musical characteristic centers around one (first) strain which typically occurs in most variants, but the second strain not infrequently differs. Kidson earlier appears to have come to the same conclusion for he gives four settings of the tune from the mid-18th century, all different in the 'B' part (i.e. "Yorkshire Lad," "Smiling Polly," "Dumb Glutton" "Well May the Keel Row"--he also notes other tunes could well have been included in this comparison such as "Shamboy Breeches" and "Charlie is at Edinburgh"). This perhaps goes to explaining Cunningham's insistence that an "imperfect" version had been collected by Cromek--it was probably no less worthy, only a different strain. Bayard collected a version from Pennsylvania fifers, to whom it was well known in the mid-twentieth century.
Chris Bartram (Devon, England) maintains that while the words to "The Keel Row" are from the North-East of England the tune is actually widespread throughout the whole island of Great Britain, and he suggests the 'modern' prevalence of the 'Keel Row' words is largely due to mid-20th century commercial recordings and early media broadcasts. Outside of Northumberland alternate dities were sung, such as (from southern England, courtesy of Mr. Bartram):
The cat caught the measles, the measles, the measles, The cat caught the measles, the measles caught the cat.
Notes on a version of “Keel Row” entitled, “Some Say The De'il's (Devil’s) Deid (Dead):” Nicht at Eenie (1932), 4; Montgomerie SNR (1946), 81 (no. 94); Chambers PRS (1847), 312, (1870) 383, has the past tense in stanza 2: "he's risen again . . . and danced"; a version quoted by Scott "when the exciting news burst upon Europe that Bonaparte had miraculously escaped from Elba", cited from Tait's Magazine. Indicated tune, The Birks of Abergeldy. A variant of the second part is "Some say he rose again...and joined the English Army", while in Ireland one may hear "Killarney" [e.g. Kane (1983), 110], and the "British Army". [John MacPherson, Garland of Folk Songs, 27, with music – the first strain of The Keel Row.] Cf. also note to "O sic a hurry-burry!"
In addition to Morris and English country dancing the tune is often associated with the broomstick dance in southern England, a dance which is still occasionally performed in pubs at Yuletide. The Scots usually play the tune as a schottische, while in Ireland it is found as a barn dance.
Here are the lyrics to “Some Say/Keel Row” from Mudcat:
Some say the *de’il's deid,
The de’il's deid, the de’il's deid,
Some say the deil's deid,
And buried in Kirkcaldy.
Some say he'll rise again,
Rise again, rise again,
Some say he'll rise again,
And dance the Hieland Laddie.
*devil's dead
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