The World's Turned Upside Down

Hello and welcome back!

This week, I've got The World's Turned Upside Down, number 145 in the ITMA's Pigot Collection. As far as I can tell, this is a rare tune. There are a few other tunes that share the name, but this one is completely unrelated. Further, I think it's a really lovely tune!

I made a small effort to put the lyrics of the English ballad of the same name to this melody and was quickly dissuaded.

This tune and The Dairy Girl were both from a section of the collection that was derived from public submissions to a newspaper - I've found this region of the text to have several gems.

If anyone has heard this tune before by another name, I would be glad to add it, but folktunefinder does not seem to have it either, and I have generally had good luck with using it. On that subject, though, I would love to know how it works - I have some ideas of how to improve it, but this may be arrogance.

This is a faithful reproduction of the tune as it is written. It is notated simply, and I don't think that any of the embellishments I add when I play it are unusual enough to notate.

(PDF download)

I'm not writing out the full Coover tabs for this one unless anyone requests it, but I will say that there are a couple of moments in the tune that require a little special attention on the concertina:

• The initial triplet is much easier (and flows more pleasantly into chords) if the G is played in the top row, on the draw.
• It's easier to wrap your fingers around the little chromatic movements in the A part if the note before it - the A - is also pushed into the top row. This is still the most difficult detail of the tune for me, even though it's simple to do.
• I try to fit a good few notes of the B part into the bottom row of the left hand - this makes the C# easier to grab - but not the E at the end of the first line of the B, as that wouldn't allow me to double the octave.

The one note that I've most considered changing in this tune is the C natural in the B part. I don't think it would lessen any effect given by the tune to raise it to a C#.

I think the tempo on this tune could flex quite a bit, but not too fast - the C natural and C sharp need to be separated by time.

On the subject of accompaniment, I've struggled to make it work, but I'm including a version with some chords. Please excuse the liberties taken with the melody - I struggled through quite a few takes and regrettably started getting creative.

The main idea here was that I would follow the motion, lining up the G and D majors, where the D would be doing a sort of Lydian thing, and the G# in the melody would be shored up by the eventual arrival of the third of the E7. It's likely not the best option for chords, but it was the best that I could find today.

I hope you enjoy the tune!

Axel