Music
The music is provided by Helston Town Band, augmented by members of other local bands. They play from memory, as the music for the dance has never been written down. In 1890 Cornish antiquarian M. A. Courtney wrote that the tune was sometimes known as "John the Bone". the following rhyme often being attached to the tune by local children, "John the Bone was walking home, / When he met with Sally Dover, / He kissed her once, / He kissed her twice, / And kissed her three times over".
In 1911 Katie Moss, a London composer visiting Helston, observed the Furry Dance and joined in the dancing herself in the evening. On the train home she wrote words and music of a song about her experience, calling the song `The Floral Dance`, which has confused many people ever since. She quotes the Furry Fance tune in the piano accompaniment to the chorus - though altering the melody in two bars. This song was soon published by Chappell & Co., and first performed by baritone Thorpe Bates the same year.
The first recording of the song was made by Peter Dawson on the Zonophone label in 1912. It has since been recorded by many other artists. It was recorded by Inia te Wiata in one of the most beautiful bass baritone versions of this song. That recording was released posthumously in a collection called "Just call me Happy". In 1976 the famous Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band recorded an arrangement of the Moss song made by their Musical Director Derek Broadbent. By Christmas 1977 half a million copies of the record had been sold, and it was only kept from the top position in the Christmas charts by Paul McCartney's 'Mull of Kintyre'.
In January 1978 a vocal version by Terry Wogan accompanied by the Hanwell Band reached number 21 on the UK singles chart. Wogan did not include the last verse (the climax of the story) in this recording. The BBC recorded the Band playing for the dance on 8 May 1943 and this recording is included in The Voice of the People vol 16: You lazy lot of bone-shakers, issued by Topic Records in 1998.
Read more about this topic: Furry Dance
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