Richard, Your discovery is a good one, but the rhythm of the title ''The Rotting of the Cotton Threads'' is so clearly a Strathspey, as Francis noted, that I looked elsewhere in the archive. On a moth eaten, yellowing, and (Speyside) whisky-stained sheet of paper I found:
X:2 T: The Rotting of the Cotton Threads C:Trad? M:4/4 Q:1/4=60 L:1/8 K:A dor g.||:f/| e<A A>c b<D E>B| e>f g>e B>e B/Ge/|e<A A>c b<D E>B| c>d e/d/c/d/ e<A A. :| c/|e>f e>a a<c d>e| f>g a>f d<A f>d| e>f e>a a<c d>f| e>f g/f/e/d/ e<A A.|| c/|e>f e>a a<c d>e| f>g a>f b<e f>d|(3 efg (3 agf (3 gfe (3fed| e>f g/f/e/d/ e<A A.|| ||:f/|e<c e>A G<B E>B|e>B g>B e/d/c/B/ c>f|e<c e>A G<B E>B|e>B g/f/e/d/ e<A A.:|| G/|E>F E>A C<E A,>C|E>G A>c d<A f>d| E>F E>A C<E A,>c|e>f g/f/e/d/ e<A A.|| G/|E>F E>A C<E A,>C|E>G A>c d<A f<a| (3bag (3agf (3gfe (3fed| e>f g/f/e/d/ e<A A.|| Perhaps this is the one Francis was thinking of?? The title rhythm certainly fits the first bar, so perhaps someone can also discover the missing lyric.... John -----Original Message----- From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of Richard York Sent: 16 January 2011 22:54 To: NSP group Subject: [NSP] Re: Rotting of The Cotton Threads In fact I'm sure it would have made more sense with the sections in reverse order. But there you are, that's how I found it. R. On 16/01/2011 22:45, Richard York wrote: > Arduous research in dusty attics and archives has revealed, Francis, > that I regret it's not a strathspey, more a sort of rhythmic unravelling. > I couldn't find anything called "The Rotting of the Cotton Threads" as > such, but this obviously fairly corrupt version called "The Rotting of > the Threads", which is pretty close, I'm sure you'll agree, turned up > among the yellowing manuscripts. > It will be seen that the rhythms perhaps reflect the progressive > degeneration of the instrument... though I feel that the copyist has > perhaps put them in reverse order, so that rather than losing a beat > each time, the idee fixe actually gains one. > Strange, and rather sad, really. > It was hard to read the writing, but I think I transcribed it > correctly. If anyone has a better written out version I'll be > delighted to see it. > I copy it below in abc's > > X:1 > T: The Rotting of the Threads > C:Trad? > M:3/4 > Q:120 > L:1/8 > K:G > |:.gA.g.c e/2d/2c/2A/2|.gA.gB d/2B/2A/2G/2|.EAB.c e/2c/2B/2A/2|.DAB.c > d/2B/2A/2G/2:| > M:7/8 > |: .gA.gB.c e/2d/2c/2B/2|.gA.gA.B d/2B/2A/2G/2|\ > M:3/4 > .EAB.c e/2c/2B/2A/2 | .DAB.c d/2B/2A/2G/2:||:/ > M:4/4 > .gA.gA B.ce/2d/2c/2A/2|.gA.gA B.cd/2B/2A/G/2| > M:3/4 > .EAB.c e/2c/2B/2A/2 |. DAB.c d/2B/2A/2G/2:||:/ > M:9/8 > .gAg .ABc .ee/2c/2B/2A/2|.gAg .ABc .dd/2B/2A/2G/2| > M:3/4 > .EAB.c e/2c/2B/2A/2| .DABc .d/2B/2A/2G/2:| > > Best wishes, > Richard. > > > On 15/01/2011 00:07, Francis Wood wrote: >> A Strathspey, surely? >> >> Francis >> On 14 Jan 2011, at 23:57, gibbonssoi...@aol.com wrote: >> >>> Is 'The rotting of the cotton threads' the title of a tune I haven't >>> learned yet? >> >> >> To get on or off this list see list information at >> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >> > > >