G'day Desert Dancer,

There has been extensive discussion, in earlier threads, of the source tune for Click Go The Shears. It's interesting tha Henry Clay Work's song "Ring The Bell Watchman", rolled off to celebrate the news of the end of the American Civil War ... just faded from public interest in peacetime .

However the song had managed to be published in a popular collection of song tunes ... which remained in print for the best part of a century [I've handled copies from the late 19th century ... and own (slightly smaller) editions from the 1950s!.

"Ring The Bell Watchman" turned out to be an excellent tune for the "Barn Dance" ( ... which got its name from another song (~) "Dancing in the Barn" ...). By the start of "folk song" collecting in Australia "Ring The Bell Watchman" was widely held to be the best tune for the Barn Dance ( ... in 'schottische time') and it quietly picked up the words of a song about 'blade-shearing' ... in the time before the ~ 1890s development of more efficient 'machine shears'.

Regard(les)s,

Bob