Webfeet: Speed the Plough

The National Anthem of English Country Dance Music Folk Roots, October 1995

Every anthem should have its homepage so.....

• Cock and Bull on the Cock and Bull Story, C&B 103.
  A no-holds-barred recording. A definitive dance tune from a definitive dance band.
• Aardvark on the The Pleasures of the Town, FSCD54
  Another non-nonsense recording. Useful too as the CD has both the English and Irish Speed the Plough tunes recorded, they are not the same (See irishtune.info for details of recordings of the Irish tune).
• Tiger Moth's version, re-released on Mothballs is more of a radical deconstruction. Wonder whether anybody actually danced to it.
• The Old Swan Band on Still Swanning.. after all these years, Free Reed FRCD31.
  The first minutes seemingly recorded 'on location', with the sound of a Morris side in the background, and then moving into the studio.. Fair bounces along yet keeps the feel of a tune at a pub session.
• The English Country Dance Band on their Barn Dance CD give a straight-down-the-line recording.
• Shave the Monkey on The Unseelie Court, APE 3001/CD.
  A bit of a race through the tune, but then they deny they are a dance band so are less constrained.
• Five Minutes to Midnight have a .MP3 recordings (701K byte)
• The Albion Band (or friends and relations) have done a version on their Lark Rise compilation.
• Magpie Lane have also recorded a version.

Also worthy of note is Tickled Pink's arrangement, alas not on their CD. It starts with 5 to 10 minutes of drum solo and then gently, oh so gently, the tune appears. In the right dance environment this works excellently but the dancers do need to latch on to the beat properly.

Additional pointers, references, details about recordings, corrections (etc) welcome.

The version played by Thames Valley, which may be an amalgam of many is:

   X: 1
   T:Speed the Plough
   M:2/2
   L:1/8
   Q:140
   C:Trad, arr John Glaister
   S:Oral
   R:Polka?
   K:G
    D | G A B c | d e d B | d e d B | d e d B |
      | c2  c c | B2  B2  | A B c B | A F D2  |
      | G A B c | d e d B | d e d B | d e d B |
      | c2 B2   | A2  G2  | D2  F2  | G3    D |
      | G A B c | d e d B | d e d B | d e d B |
      | c2  c c | B2  B2  | A B c B | A F D2  |
      | G A B c | d e d B | d e d B | d e d B |
      | c2  B2  | A2  G2  | D2  F2  | G3    d |
      | g2  g g | g2  d2  | g2  f e | d B G B |
      | c d e c | B c d B | A B c B | A F D2  |
      | G B d f | g d B d | e d c e | d B G B |
      | c2  B2  | A2  G2  | D2  F2  | G3    d |
      | g2  g g | g2  d2  | g2  f e | d B G B |
      | c d e c | B c d B | A B c B | A F D2  |
      | G B d f | g d B d | e d c e | d B G B |
      | c2  B2  | A2  G2  | D2  F2  | G4      |

Thanks for the transcription, Jan. Also appears transcribed on the Knit your own Yoghurt site.

(Note you can convert ABC to Midi at Concertina.net's Tune-o-Tron)

• Speed the Plough - The classic English Folk/Ceilidh dance
  (check the Speed the Plough references on English Country Dance Database)
• Glaister's Gambol - Cotswold Morris, in the style of Bampton.