1.5 (above average)
Tune of the Day: Smash the Windows
This jig has been solidly absorbed into the core repertoire of several folk genres. British sources seem to predate all others, with the earliest appearance of the melody so far found in the Brown Family music manuscripts (hand of James Lishman, Lake District, Cumbria, c. 1800), and musician John Buttery's manuscript copybook, compiled around the turn of the 19th century. Buttery joined the 34th Regiment in Lincoln as a fifer and served the next 19 years with the regiment at various locations around the world. He later emigrated to Canada, bringing his music manuscript with him.
As “Roaring Jelly”, the tune was included by Nathaniel Gow in Part 3 of his Complete Repository c. 1806. The first printing under the title “Smash the Windows” appears to be in W.M. Cahusac's Annual Collection of Twenty Four Favorite Country Dances for the Year 1809, published in London. However, an American publication of around the same time, G. Graupner’s Collection of Country Dances and Cotillions No. 2 (Boston, c. 1810), also contains the tune. American flute player R.B. Washburn, who compiled his tune and dance collection from 1816–1820, included it in his manuscript copybook.