The Rock And The Wee Pickle Tow
Scottish Country Dance Instruction
THE ROCK AND THE WEE PICKLE TOW (J8x32) 2C (4C set) RSCDS Book 31- 8 1s cross RH, cast 1 place, ½ turn LH and lead (LH) up to top, staying in middle facing down
9-16 1s+2s circle 4H round and back
17-24 1s lead down the middle and back
25-32 1s+2s dance Poussette. 2 1
(MINICRIB. Dance crib compiled by Charles Upton, Deeside Caledonian Society, and his successors)
Keith Rose's Crib Diagram
Dance Instruction Videos
The Rock And The Wee Pickle Tow - Scottish Country Dancing Instruction VideoDance Information
This dance shares its title with the Rock And Wee Pickle Tow - Song, written by the Scottish poet Alexander Ross (1699–1784) and included as song 439 in Volume V of The Scots Musical Museum, published in 1796.The song describes a poor married couple whose possessions amount to little more than their spinning equipment.
The melody is believed be very old, having been first published by John Playford in his "Musick's Hand-Maid" as A Scottish March (1663), then later in his "Musick's Recreation" (1669) as "Montrose's March". It appears as A Rock and a wi Pickle Tow in Mitchell's "Highland Fair" (1731) and as Rock and a wi Pickle Tow in publisher James Oswald's "Curious Collection of Scots Tunes" The melody was also used in other tunes (e.g. Pretender's March, and Carawith Jig).
The song describes a woman drop spinning, her frustrating problems with it and the inevitable loss of her temper.
In the context of this title, "Rock" is a distaff used in spinning, "Pickle" means a small quantity, and "Tow" is a mass of fibre, such as flax or hemp, prepared for spinning by scutching.
The first verse of Ross' song is:
And she wad gae try the spinnin' o't;
She louted her doun, and her rock took a-low,
And that was a bad beginnin' o't.
She sat and she grat, and she flat and she flang,
And she threw and she blew, and she Wriggled and wrang,
And she chokit and boakit, and cried like to mang,
Alas, for the dreary beginnin' o't!
The Rock And The Wee Pickle Tow Song - Information Video
Image from See page for author, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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