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Neevie Neevie Nick Nack
Neevie Neevie Nick Nack |
This is a favourite Scottish dance tune and has quite a few different spellings, from "Neevie Neevie Nick Nack" to "Davie Davie Knick Knack" and practically everything in between. I had always assumed it was of relatively recent vintage, similar to Caddam Woods by Adam Rennie. However, last year I came across a tune in a manuscript from the 1830s called Major Duff's Favourite Quickstep, and it's no doubt the original from which Neevie Neevie Nick Nack sprang. "neevie neevie nick nack", incidentally, was a method by which "het" (or "it") was chosen in children's games, a bit like one-potato, two-potato, etc. "Neeve" is a Scots word for a fist.
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