I've always loved this tune and it's oddly attractive B part. Here's an extract from the liner notes for this tune from the Old Swan Band's recent album "Swan For The Money" - says it all much better than I could:
"The Sloe was collected at Stow-on-the-Wold workhouse in 1907 by Cecil Sharp from John Mason who came from nearby Icomb. Mason was a fiddler who played for Sherborne Morris, and probably others, but who also had a number of country dance tunes such as these in his repertoire. The Sloe also occurs in the Aston-on-Carrant Ms as The Slave, and appears to have originally come from an opera by Sir Henry Rowley Bishop in 1816. A play called The Slave was also presented at nearby Cheltenham for an extensive run in the 1820's. This contained a Morris dance, and it is possible that this was a means by which a selection of Bishop's popular tunes reached the Cotswolds."
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