Johnny Cope (Traditional)

tootlingeoff

Johnny Cope was originally a song. It was written in celebration of the Jacobite victory at the battle of Prestonpans (near Dunbar) in 1745 and mocks the Government General, Sir John Cope alleging that he ran away so fast he brought the news of his own defeat to Newcastle (Not true but makes a good story Grin)

The tune was taken up by fiddlers in Southern Scotland and Northumberland and they wrote variations on the tune which were written down in manuscripts which circulated on both sides of the border and several of which survive. My version is taken from a mid 19th century manuscript which I found on a website comprising a collection of traditional Northumbrian music. I added two variations of my own to give the version I have recorded here.

The instrumentation is tenor recorder with a drone accompaniment on a shruti box.