Four and Twenty Lawyers

DESCRIPTION: Chorus: "Four and twenty lawyers All in a line (x2)." The leader calls dance instructions such as "turn that lady," "turn her loose," "up and down"; the response to each line is "lawyer's suit."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1942 (Parrish-SlaveSongsOfTheGeorgiaSeaIslands)
KEYWORDS: dancing nonballad lawyer
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Parrish-SlaveSongsOfTheGeorgiaSeaIslands, pp. 104-105, "Four and Twenty Lawyers" (1 text)
NOTES [96 words]: The current description is based on the Parrish-SlaveSongsOfTheGeorgiaSeaIslands text. The chorus is derived from "Four and Twenty Fiddlers"; here's a verse: "Four and twenty Lawyers all in a row, And there was Omne quod exit in um damno sed Plus Damno Decorum, and there was this and that, 'Cause 'twas my Lady's Birth-day, Therefore we kept Holiday, And all went to be merry" (Thomas D'Urfey, Songs Compleat, Pleasant and Divertive; Set to Musick (London: J. Tonson, 1719 ("Digitized by Internet Archive")), Vol. 3, pp. 61-62, "(Four and twenty Fidlers all in a Row)"). - BS
Last updated in version 4.1
File: Parrp105

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