I read somewhere (can't find where) that there are a number of variants on the melody for "Lord Marlborough", and that only one of them is in a major key - but that this is the one recorded by both Fairport and Nic Jones.

This piqued my curiosity, and I was interested to find that the version at Folkinfo is in... um. Question 1: what mode is this?

X:1
T:The Duke of Marlborough
B: Purslow, F, (1972), The Constant Lovers, EDFS, London
S:William Chubb, Beaminster, Dorset, June 1906
Z:Hammond Dt. 515
F:http://www.folkinfo.org/songs
M:5/4
L:1/8
K:F
c2 |d=B A2 (G2F2) E2 |F2 GA B4 G2 |(A=B) c2 G2 F2 D2 | C4 z2 z2
G2 |c2 d2 ee d2 e2 |c2 (d=B) G4 G2 |c2 d2 (e2d2) (ed) | c4 z2 z2
G2 |c2 d2 (e2d2) e2 |c2 (d=B) G4 G2 |c2 d2 e2 d2 (de) | c4 z2 z2
G2 |(c=B) A2 G2 F2 E2 |F2 (GA) B4 G2 |(A=B) c2 G2 F2 D2 | C4 |]


It looks like C mixolydian, except that the flattened Bs keep going natural.


For comparison, here's Nic Jones's version (pummelled into Noteworthy & then converted to ABC).

X:2
T:The Duke of Marlborough
C:
I:abc2nwc
M:5/4
L:1/8
K:F
GA|B2AG F2D2|B,D F2G4A2|B2AG F2D2C2|
B,4z4GA|B2AG F2D2|B,D F2G4A2|B2AG F2D2C2|
B,4z4F2|B2Bc d2c2B2|GA B2F4F2|B2Bc d2c2B2|
GA B4GA|B2AG F2D2|B,D F2G4A2|B2AG F2D2C2|B,4z4|]


I'm not sure if this is C mixolydian or just plain F major; either way, it ends up sounding a lot more cheerful. I was hoping that it would be possible to tweak this tune - to keep the general shape of it & get some of the sombre quality of the Purslow tune - but I'm not at all sure how.