Having collected and played dance music for some 35 years, I have long appreciated the tunes of Felix Burns. They first came to my notice on the recordings of Shand, Hannah and Fitchet to name a few. I have since come across many others who have played and recorded them, ranging from Sweden’s ‘Jimmy Shand’, Carl Jularbo, playing ‘Skogsblommor’, or as we know it, Woodland Flowers to Harry Davidson’s Old Time Dance Orchestra playing that tune and the Queen Mary Waltz also in the 1940s.

Many of the present day Scottish Dance Bands play them, probably through hearing them played by Shand, Powrie, Will Starr etc. I have been lucky enough to pick up and be given various books and sheets of Felix Burns music some of which we have broadcast or recorded. One such tune was ‘Uncle Joshua’ which came to me from a button box player in Gloucestershire, Tony Lansdowne. Tony found the music in a junk shop in Penzance! So follow my advice and never walk past a junk shop, charity shop etc! There must still be a lot of music to be re-discovered.

These well known tunes have stood the test of time, due I suspect, to them being good, simple melodies and good for dancing to, which is what Felix Burns originally wrote them for of course. With the recent resurgence of old time dancing, particularly in Scotland you will find some or all of these tunes suitable for dances such as the Mississippi Dip, Gypsy Tap, Dinky One-Step, Edinburgh Mixture, White Heather Foxtrot, Palais Glide, Festival Glide, Harry Lime Foxtrot, and a lot of the sequence waltzes and two-steps.

We use ‘Old St Paul’s’ for the Waltz of the Bells and ‘Uncle Joshua’ and ‘Black Maria’ for the Mississippi Dip and similar dances. In England we still play ‘Maggie and Jock’ and ‘Woodland Flowers’ for the Canadian Barn Dance but, of  course, they are ideal for the sequence Foxtrots and Glides as mentioned above. This only applies to Scotland and the North of England, as a slower, smoother style of tune is required for old time dancing further south.

The N.A.A.F.C. has to be complimented on bringing these tunes back into print thereby making them available to the players of today. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

Ian Cruickshanks
Kirriemuir
July 2003

Acknowledgements

It cannot be often that a musician from completely outwith our close-knit musical community generates sufficient enthusiasm amongst us for the best of his work to be collected and re-published. Felix Burns, bandmaster, pianist and organist proves to be such a man. My thanks go to the small group who put this tribute together, namely Tom Cowing, Ian Cruickshanks and Ian Holmes, together with Keith Dickson who devoted considerable time to the arrangements, Janette Scott (of Lanark A&F Club) who designed the cover and organised the printing and Leo Burns, youngest son of Felix, who at 97 years of age and a resident of Coventry provided his memories of his father and gave the project his blessing. Most of the details in Tom Cowing’s history on the life and times of Felix Burns, together with copies of family photographs, were obtained from two of Felix’s grandchildren Myra De’lay and Jim Wilinson, both of Ulverston, in 1980. My thanks to them together with Myra’s husband Jerry.  

We have arranged these tunes as they were commonly played by the great Scottish Dance Bands of the past. All this has entailed are a few key changes and some other minor modifications to the original printed versions of almost a century ago. In making this music readily accessible our hope is that once again the present and future generations of players and listeners will appreciate the wonderful dance music that is Felix’s enduring legacy to us all.    
Charlie Todd
Thankerton
August  2003

The book contains thirty compositions and it was certainly a real eye opener for me to play them all through, as there are some great tunes.  Printing history notes on the man was an excellent idea and I found it a “right riveting read”, as he led quite a colourful life, not to mention lots of hardships as well.  The photos were also a nice touch, as is the article included from Leo Burns, youngest son of Felix.

TWO STEPS
01. Sporty Boys                          
02. The Household Brigade
03. The Dancing Dustman
04. Anything Doing?                    

05. The Kitchener                        
06. Kitchener’s Boys                   
07. The Bantams
08. The Long Valley

ONE STEPS
09. Black Maria
10. Dot and Carry One                        
11. Uncle Joshua                 
12. Shufflin’ Samuel                        
13. The Flappers    
14. My Little Coster Gal          

BARN DANCES  & POLKAS