Earlier today on sharedweight.net, Dan Pearl credited me with devising
lyrics to Petronella. I wish I deserved it.
I've heard several callers sing dance directions to the tune, Sarah Gregory
Smith among others. But I think that most of us who are familiar with a sung
version learned it from Dudley Laufman, either live or recorded.
Dudley says that in the case of Petronella, he embellished the habit of
chanting the calls that we both remember from Ralph Page. And he adds that
several callers used to chant the calls to many dances along with the tune:
Duncan Hay, Joe Blundon, Dick Best...Today Ralph Sweet does it, too.
Years ago I did make up verses giving dance directions to some of the
classic contras, singing each either to the classic tune or to a
counter-melody that I devised if the fiddle tune was not very singable. But
I believe that the version of Petronella that Dan quoted is Dudley's
creation.
Tony Saletan
