“Sailor’s Hornpipe,” also known as the “College Hornpipe,” dates to the late eighteenth century. By the 1800s it was the tune most people meant by the sailor’s hornpipe, tied to the dance that sailors practiced aboard ship.
A brisk, bouncing tune in common time, it was carried into American tradition, where it became a widely known fiddle piece. Its nautical fame is such that it served as the theme of the Popeye cartoons.
The tune endures in old-time and bluegrass fiddling.
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