In The Morris Book Part IV, Sharp gives the title of the tune he noted in Sherborne, Dorset, as Lads a-Bunchun, and says:

“The title of the Sherborne dance “Lads a-Bunchun” may, perhaps, throw some light on the meaning of the cryptic “Laudnum Bunches” of [The Morris Book] Part I. “A-Bunchun” may denote (see Wright’s Dialect Dictionary) butting or striking, dashing in dress or appearance; or it may simply mean bunched together, i.e., in a cluster as in a set-dance. On the other hand both “Laudnum Bunches” and “Lads a-Bunchun” may be corruptions of the original title which further research may some day unearth.”

(Sharp 1911, p. 12)

…all of which will undoubtedly be clear and of note to our readers! The dance is a corner dance. As for the tune: In Karpeles-Schofield 100 tunes, 37 (as corrected in the Society copy); Raven English Country Dance Tunes (1984), 77.

 [Fiddler’s Companion:]

“The tune is also called “Balance a Straw”, according to Bayard (1981), and both are simplified adaptations of The Tulip, which is a march composed by James Oswald, appearing in his Airs for the Spring, c. 1747. Bayard believes the title to be a corruption of “Laud’num Bunches”. This version is from the village of Adderbury, Oxfordshire, in England’s Cotswolds, where the following bit of verse is sung in the village’s morris tradition at the beginning of the dance:

Oh dear mother, what a fool I be,
Here are six young fellows come a-courting me.
Three are blind and the others can’t see,
Oh dear mother, what a fool I be. [ – Bacon]”