Ceolas: The Fiddler's Companion

Result of search for "After the Battle":

AFTER THE BATTLE OF AUGHRIM. AKA and see "Battle of Aughrim." Irish, Reel. Ireland. A Dorian (Am). Standard. AABB. Brody picked up this title from the Chieftains recording. Source for notated version: the Chieftains [Brody]. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 21. Kicking Mule 209, Andy Cahan - "Melodic Clawhammer Banjo." Claddagh 14, Chieftains - "Cheiftains 4." Bay 203, Jody Stecher- "Snake Baked a Hoecake."

AUCHINDOUN CASTLE. Scottish, Reel. B Minor. Standard. AAB. Composed by Alexander Walker. Auchindoun Castle, a three story tower house which in modern times is a ruin in poor condition, has had a tragic history. It was built in the 15th century for the unfortunate Earl of Mar, soon murdered by his brother, James III. Upon Mar's death, the structure passed to Robert Cochrane, another unfortunate who was hanged in 1482. The Ogilvie clan held it for some years, but control passed to the Gordons in 1535, who in turn held it for 50 years until the Macintoshes ravaged the castle in 1591 in revenge for the murder of the Bonnie Earl o' Moray. Although the castle was restored after the depredations of the Mackintishes, Gordon was killed a few years later in 1594 in the Battle of Glenlivet. By the 18th century the castle had fallen into disrepair and was abandoned, and stones from it were being appropriated for local building projects. The tune has some modern currency with Cape Breton fiddlers according to Paul Stewart Cranford (1991). Walker (A Collection of Strathspeys, Reels, Marches, &c.), 1866; No. 57, pg. 21.

BATTLE OF CLONTARF, THE. Irish, March (2/4 time). G Mixolydian. Standard. AB. "Calling the clans to battle." "From a piper named Fogarty of Carrick-on-Suir. I find an identical setting of this in one of Mr. Pigot's books, which was copied from a MS. lent him by Mr. Denny Lane of Cork. Petrie has a version of this fine old march in his Ancient Music of Ireland (p. 31), with the name 'The Return From Fingal' (i.e. after the battle, Fingal being the district in which Clontarf is situated); but he does not state the source from which he procured it. The setting given here is somewhat simpler than Petrie's, and I think better and more characteristic. It has a fine martial swing, tinged with melancholy" (Joyce). Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Song), 1909; No. 501, pg. 274.

BATTLE OF HARLAW, THE. AKA - "The Desperate Battle." Scottish, Fiddle Pibroch (4/4 time). D Major. Standard. AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLMMNNOOPPQQRRSST (theme and variations). The Battle of Harlaw took place on July 24th, 1411, and pitted the Lowlands lairds against the followers of Donald of the Isles in the latter's claim as successor to the Earldom of Ross. The battle established the territorial limits of the Lords of the Isles and Highlanders still regard it as a victory, though the Lowland ballad also claims victory due to the death of Red Hector, one of the leading Highlanders. Johnson (1983) dates the fiddle version of the tune which he prints to 1720 on stylistic grounds, however, the original melody was probably written as a harp piece "immediately after the battle it commemorates, which took place in Aberdeenshire in 1411" (Johnson, pg. 123). From the harp it may have been transferred to the pipes, he speculates, as the entire piece is in the range of the bagpipes and is in modern pipe repertory (with small alterations) as "The Desperate Battle." The title as a song appears in The Complaynt of Scotland (1548), and as a bagpipe piece in a c. 1650 poem by Drummond of Hawthornden. Lyrics for the tune appear in Allan Ramsay's Ever Green (1724).
***
Bagpipe music appears in a manuscript of 1624-25, though the first published appearance of the tune is in Daniel Dow's Ancient Scots Music (c. 1775). It later appeared in Johnson's Scots Musical Museum, though that publisher altered the second strain from that printed by Dow. Gratten Flood thought the piece did not bear the marks of a 15th century work but thought it bore all the characteristics of a 17th century tune. Johnson states it should be played on as many open strings as possible to maximize the resonance. Collinson (1975) is of the opinion that "the tune will hardly survive the test of píobaireachd requirements," but concedes when played at the proper adagio tempo there is a faint suggestion, in the melodic progressions and repetitions, of the sound of the píobaireachd. This tune, or one by the same name, metamorphasized into several other dance and song airs--see Bayard's extensive note for "Over the River to Charlie." One version of the ballad, as sung by the late Lucy Stewart of Fetterangus, appears recorded by Scotland's Battlefield Band on their album "At the Front" (Topic 12TS381, 1978). Source for notated version: Ancient Scots Music by Dow [Johnson]. Johnson (Scottish Fiddle Music in the 18th Century), 1984; No. 57, pgs. 135-137. Purser (Scotland's Music), 1992; Ex. 8, pg. 76.

BLAIR ATHOLL [2]. Scottish, Reel. A Minor/Dorian. Standard. AB (Kerr): AABB (Lerwick, Songer). Blair Castle is the seat of the Duke of Athole, and lies just northwest of the village of Blair Athole, in the parish of Blair Athole, district of Athole, Perthshire. Still a functional residence, some of its buildings are open to the public. The castle dates to the 13th century when its oldest part, Comyn's Tower, was constructed. It was occupied by the Marquess of Montrose in 1644, and again garrisoned by Claverhouse in 1689 (Claverhouse was killed in the battle of Killiecrankie, and his body brought to Blair Castle where his cuirass can be seen today). Bonnie Prince Charlie and his troops rested at the Castle on their journey south during the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, and the castle was damaged the next year in a bombardment. It was restored as a manor house at the end of the century, minus all fortress-like vestiges, but these were restored in the Victorian era.
***
In the autumn of 1787 the poet Robert Burns, at that time on a tour in the Highlands, came to Blair Athole with a letter of introduction to the Duke. His Grace was not a home when Burns arrived, but he was cordially welcomed by the Duchess of Athole and stayed a few days at the castle, with the Duke returning before the poet left. He found staying at the same time the Duchess sister, Mrs. Graham along with their youngest sibling, Miss Cathcart, then in her seventeenth year. Burns declared later that the two days he spent there were among the happiest days of his life. He wrote from Inverness soon after to Mr. Walker (later a Professor of Humanity) of Glasgow, who was then residing at Blair Athole, and enclosed his composition "Humble Petition of Bruar Water." In the letter he says:
***
The "little-angel band"-I declare I prayed for them very sincerely
today at the Fall of Fyers. I shall never forget the fine family-piece
I saw at Blair: the amiable, the truly noble Duchess, with her smiling
little seraph in her lap, at the head of the table; the lovely "olive-plants,"
as the Hebrew bard finely says, round the happy mother; the beautiful
Mrs. Graham; the lovely sweet Miss Cathcart, &c. I wish I had the
power of Guido to do them justice.'
***
As fate would have it, the three sisters, known for their beauty all passed away when relatively young. The Duchess survived Burns's visit only three years, and Mrs. Graham five. Miss Cathcart, who was singularly amiable as well as beautiful, was cut off at twenty-four.
***
Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 3; No. 146, pg. 17. Lerwick (The Kilted Fiddler), 1985; pg. 25. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; pg. 32. Green Linnet SIF 1047, John Cunningham - "Fair Warning" (1983).

BOYNE WATER, THE [1] (Briseadh na Bóinne). AKA and see "As Vanquished Erin," "The Battle of the Boyne Water," "Bayne Water" (W.Va.), "Barbara Allan" (Pa.), "The Bottom of the Punch Bowl," "Boyne Water Quickstep," "Cameronian Rant," "The Cavalcade of the Boyne," "Come Kiss Wi' Me, Come Clap Wi' Me," "Findlay," "King William's March," "Lass If I Come Near You," "Leading/Driving the Calves," "Leading the Calves in the Pasture," "Native Swords," "One Pleasant Morning Beside the Glen," "Playing Amang the Rashes," "Praises of Limerick," "The Rashes," "Rosc Catha na Mumhan," "Sheila Ni Gowna," "Song of the Volunteers," "Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation," "To Look for My Calves I Sent My Child," "The Wee German Lairdie" "Wha the Deil Hae We Gotten For a King," "When the King Came O'er the Water." Irish, Air or March (4/4 time). A Dorian (Breathnach, O'Neill, Perlman, Roche): E Minor (Joyce). Standard. AB (most versions): AA'BB (Breathnach). The name Boyne itself is derived from the name of the goddess Boinn, literally 'cow-white', "a name well suited to a pastoral people whose wealth was chiefly in cattle" (Matthews, 1972). The name of the tune, however, commemorates the Battle of the Boyne (named for the Boyne River in County Meath, eastern Ireland, though the battle itself was fought three miles west of Drogheda), fought July 1st, 1690, in which the English monarch King William III defeated the Irish forces under King James II. "It has always been, and still is, very popular among the Orangemen of Ulster (for it dashed the hopes of the Irish for religious freedom and the Stuarts for Kingship). The ballad follows the historical accounts of the battle correctly enough. The air is well known in the south (of Ireland) also, where it is commonly called Sebladh na n-gamhan, 'Leading the Calves,' A good setting is given by Bunting in his second collection: the Munster and Connaught versions are given by Petrie in his Ancient Music of Ireland, vol. II, p. 12. I print it here as I learned it in my youth from the singing of the people of Limerick, not indeed to 'The Boyne Water' of Ulster, but to other words (given below). My setting differs only slightly from that of Bunting; and it is nearly the same as I heard it played some years ago by a band on a 12th of July in Warrenpoint" (Joyce).
***
Samuel Bayard (1981) believes "Boyne Water" was composed in the seventeenth century, and thinks it has always been more of a vocal air rather than an instrumental tune. As witnessed by the myriad of titles in the beginning of this entry, it has been a popular air in the British Isles and, as Bayard states, "altogether, the forms suggest that it has undergone a long traditional development." He believes the second half may have been the original tune, with the first half being fashioned out of elements from earlier strains. Bronson discerns the origins of the whole tune family in a Scottish melody found in the Skene Manuscript of c. 1615. Flood (1913) dates the tune from c. 1645, long before the famous battle, though how he arrived at this date is obscure. Cowdery (1990) believes it may be from a reference to a melody published by Petrie (1855), called "To Seed for the Lambs I Have Sent My Child," in which the latter writer declared, "in its superior purity of expression, and in its passionate depth of feeling, affords intrinsic evidence of an original intention, and consequent priority of antiquity, which will not be found in that which I consider to be the derived from of it called 'The Boyne Water.'" O'Neill (1913) concludes the same Gaelic airs printed by Petrie are early antecedents of "Boyne Water," Nos. 1529 ("A Long mo Gamain" {To look for my calves I sent my child"}) and 1530 ("An Tuainirc na nGainna". Breathnach (1985), in CRE II (No. 124), gives a polka setting and remarks it was used for the last figure of the Clare polka set, and says that "Rosc Catha na Mumhan" (The Munster War-Cry) is sung to this air.
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However old it actually is in oral tradition, Bayard (1991) finds the earliest printed appearances of the tune in William Graham's Lute Book of 1694 (as "Playing Amang the Rashes") and in D'Urfey's Pills to Purge Melancholy (where it appears as an untitled air). The melody remained in popular usage throughout the British Isles for well over two hundred years. Robert Burns set three songs to it in Johnson's Scots Musical Museum, and it was the vehicle for the Scots songs "The Wee, Wee German Lairdie" and "Andro and His Cutty Gun" (the latter from Alan Ramsay's 1740 edition of the Tea-Table Miscellany). In Ireland, Sir Thomas Moore used the melody for his c. 1825 song "As Vanquished Erin." The air was widespread in American usage, often heard as the tune the popular song "Barbara Allan" was sung to, which fact has been noted by several writers (Bayard, Cowdery, Cazden). It is, for example, identified by Cowdery (1990) as one of four tunes which carry the tale of "(Bonny) Barbara Allen" (the second strain of both Joyce's version and Bunting's "To seek for the Lambs..." is the portion of the Irish tune which corresponds to the America "Barbara Allen"). As "The Battle of the Boyne" it was included in a Philadelphia chapbook of 1805, and, under the title "The Buoying Water," as an instrumental piece in the 1790 Whittier Perkins Book (Cazden, et al, 1982). According to Bronner (1987), it was used for an 1815 hit American blackface minstrel song by Micah Hawkins called "The Siege of Plattsburgh" or "Backside Albany." Cazden prints it with the Catskill Mountain (N.Y.)-collected song "A Shantyman's Life," which he states can be found in most collections of lumber camp songs. O'Neill (1913) lists "Boyne Water" as one of the "splendid martial airs" of Irish music.
***
The political connotations of "The Boyne Water" long remained attached to the melody, even after it was imported to North America. Bayard (1981) relates that the mere playing of the tune in the presence of Catholic Irish in western Pennsylvania "could bring on a mass attack," and repeats the Fayette County story of an old Irishman digging potatoes in the garden while his wife followed along beside him picking the up in a sack. She absent-mindedly began singing the air, upon which he turned around and, incensed, brained her with one blow of his spade. In fact, Pennsylvania fifers declined to play the tune for Bayard at gatherings, fearing to destroy the harmony of the group with "political pieces." Sources for notated versions: George Strosnider (Greene County), Hiram Horner (Westmoreland County), Mrs. Sarah Armstrong (Westmoreland County) {All Southwestern Pa.} [Bayard]; flute and whistle player Micko Russell, 1969 (Doolin, Co. Clare, Ireland) [Breathnach]; Sterling Baker (b. mid-1940's, Morell, North-East Kings County, Prince Edward Island; now resident of Montague) [Perlman]. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 317A-D, pgs. 271-273. Breathnach (CRE II), 1976; No. 124, pg. 66. Gow (Beauties), 1819. Joyce (Old Irish Folk Music and Songs), 1909; No. 151 and No. 377, pgs. 183-184. O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; No. 204 & No. 260, pg. 45. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; pg. 208. Roche Collection, 1982; pg. 8, Vol. I, No. 4.
T:Boyne Water [1]
L:1/8
M:C
S:Joyce - Old Irish Folk Music
K:E Minor
ED|B,2 B2 B>cdB|AGFE D2 E>F|G2 FE BAGF|(E3D) B,2 E>D|B,2 B2 B>cdB|
AGFE D2 EF|G2 FE B>AGF|E4 E2||E>F|A2B2d2 e>f|e>d cB A3A|B2e2 e>def|
(e3d B2) Bc|dcde d2 cB|A>GFE D2 EF|G2 FE B>A GF|E4E2||

BRAES OF KILLIEKRANKIE. Scottish. "First printed in 'Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence', 1692, adapted for religious use. It is still well known in Scotland, both as a song and a fiddle tune. ... Seems to have been written soon after the battle (it commemorates) {the Battle of Killiekrankie, 27 July, 1689} [Williamson]." Flying Fish FF358, Robin Williamson - "Legacy of the Scottish Harpers, Vol. 1."

BRIAN BORU'S MARCH. AKA and see "Brian Borouhme." Irish, March (6/8 time). B Aeolian (Roche): A Minor (Mallinson, O'Neill, Sullivan): A Dorian (Tubridy). Standard. AA'B (Feldman & O'Doherty): AABB (Roche): AABBCC (Mallinson, Sullivan, Tubridy): ABCD (O'Neill). This piece was thought by Dr. Sigerson (writing in The Bards of the Gael and Gall) to evidence Scandinavian musical influence stemming from the Norse invasions of Ireland c. 800-1050, though Grattan Flood (1905) believes him erroneous and asserts the tune hardly dates from the Norse period or even, for that matter, from mediaeval days. It was in the repertoire of the man whom O'Neill calls the "last of the great Irish harpers," Patrick Byrne (c. 1784-1863). O'Neill never heard Byrne play, but an account of a Byrne concert which appeared in The Emerald of New York in 1870 caught his eye. Byrne played for an assemblage in the household of a Dublin gentleman in 1860, and O'Neill quotes from the article:
***
Byrne's command of the harp was complete, the writer tells us. His
touch was singularly delicate yet equally firm. He could make the
strings whisper like the sigh of the rising wind on a summer eve,
or clang with a martial fierceness that made your pulses beat quicker.
After quaffing a generous tumbler of punch, he would say, "Now,
ladies and gentlemen, I am going to play you the celebrated march
of the great King Brian to the field of Clontarf, when he gave the
Danes such a drubbing. The Irish army is far off, but if you listen
Attentively you will hear the faint sound of their music." Then his
fingers would wander over the upper range of strings with so delicate
a touch that you might fancy it was fairy music heard from a distance.
Anything more fine, more soft and delicate than this performance, it is
impossible to conceive. "They are coming nearer!" And the sound
increased in volume. "Now here they are!" And the music rolled
loud and full. Thus the march went on; the fingers of the minstrel's
right hand wandering farther down the bass range. You find it hard
to keep your feet quiet, and feel inclined to take part in the march
music assumes a merry, lightsome character, as if it were played for
dancers. "Rejoicing for the victory!" But this abruptly ceases; there
is another shriek and dischord, jangling and confusion in the upper
bass stings. The harper explains as usual, "They have found the old
King murdered in his tent." Then the air becomes much slower and
singularly plaintive. "Mourning for Brian's death." There is a firmer
and louder touch now, with occasional plaintive effects with the left
hand. "They are marching now with the brave old King's body to
Drogheda." The music now assumes a slow and steady tone, the tone
is lowered, and grows momentarily louder and louder, till finally it
dies away...And all these marvellous effects are produced upon what
is used as a simple dance tune in the south of Ireland (pgs. 81-82).
***
O'Neill (1913) also prints an appreciation of the tune from a German gentleman named Kohl, who heard it played on harp at Drogheda in 1843:
***
The music of this march is wildly powerful and at the same time
melancholy. It is at one the music of victory and of mourning.
The rapid modulations and wild beauty of the air was such that
I think this march deserves full to obtain a celebrity equal to that
of the 'Marseillaise' and the 'Ragotsky.'
***
In Drogheda there at one time was performed a dance to this and similar stately music, called the "Droghedy March" or "Dancing Drogheda," reports O'Neill, though the practice had died out by the time of his writing. It was danced by six men or boys, each wielding a stick or shillelagh. They kept time to the music, he states, "with feet, arms and weapons with their bodies swaying right and left." As the dance progressed the movements became more complicated, mimicking the appearance of a rhythmic fencing or battle. "Brian Boru's March" was identified as a pipe tune in the repertoire of Teelin, Donegal, fiddlers Francie and Mickey Byrne, who, according to Feldman & O'Doherty (1979), probably had the tune from travelling piper Mickey Gallagher (a cousin of Donegal fiddler John Doherty's). See also "Dan Sullivan's Reel," "General McBean," "Colonel McBain," "Sean Frank," "The Devonshire Reel," "The Duke of Clarence Reel," "Sporting Molly." Source for notated version: Francie and Mickey Byrne (County Donegal) [Feldman & O'Doherty]. Feldman & O'Doherty (The Northern Fiddler), 1979; pg. 175. Mallinson (Enduring), 1995; No. 96, pg. 40. O'Neill (1850), 1979; No. 1801, pg. 338. Roche Collection, 1982; Vol. II, pg. 58, No. 334. Sullivan (Session Tunes), Vol. 2; No. 50, pg. 21. Tubridy (Irish Traditional Music, Book Two), 1999; pg. 5. Flying Fish FF 355, Critton Hollow Stringband - "By and By" (1985). Front Hall FHR-024, Fennig's All-Star String Band - "Fennigmania" (1981. Learned from the Gallowglass Ceili Band). Green Linnet SIF-104, Joe Burke, Michael Cooney & Terry Corcoran - "The Celts Rise Again" (1990). Green Linnet SIF-1069, Joe Burke , Michael Cooney & Terry Corcoran - "Happy to Meet & Sorry to Part" (1986).
T:Brian Boru's March
L:1/8
M:6/8
K:A Dorian
ed||:cAA Aed|cAA Adc|BGG Gdc|BGG Ged|cAA Aed|cAA A3E|Acd e2d|cAA A:|
|:Acd e2d|e2d edB|GBc d2B|d2B dBG|Acd e2d|e2d e2d|cBA e2d|cAA A3:|
|:cBA a2A|cBA a2A|BAG g2G|BAG g2G|cBA a2A|cBA a2a|efe e2d|cAA A3:|

BRITISH GRENADIERS, THE. English, March, Reel, or Morris Dance Tune (4/4 time). D Major (Kerr, Raven, Sweet): G Major (Bacon, Wade). Standard. AABB (Kerr, Raven, Sweet, Wade): ABBABBACCACC (Bacon). The origins of the "British Genadiers," one of the most famous of English martial tunes, can be traced to a song called "The New Bath" published by Playford in the late 17th century, however it may be older than even that. Walker, in his History of Music in England (1924) concludes the present melody "is the result of some three centuries' evolution of an Elizabethan tune."
One version was printed in the Edinburg Musical Miscellany of 1738, and another version exists from 1745. By the time of the American Revolution the tune was quite well known and had been popular for nearly a century; popular enough to have fostered many 18th century parodies. According to Christopher Ward (1952) it was played by British military musicians during the Battle of Brandywine in September of 1777. The melody appeared in the revised version of the burletta pantomime Harlequin Everywhere "which reopened in January, 1780 at Covent Garden {London}, after the Americans had been bloodily thrown back from Savannah, Ga., during the War of Independence" (Winstock, 1970, pg. 30).
***
It was well-known in the Colonies and by American musicians during and after the Revolution. It appears in Wiliam William's 1775 manuscript printed in Pautuxit, Rhode Island. The Henry Brown and Mr. Thompson manuscripts (1789 and 1790, respectively) included the tune, both calling it "Vain Britons, Boast No Longer," an expression of post-Revolutionary pride.
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The subjects of the title, grenadiers serving in the English army, were originally soldiers who threw grenades "and thus tended to be long in arm, big, tall men" according to historian Byron Farwell (1981). Grenades went out of fashion for some time in European warfare, but grenadier companies consisting of the tallest men were usually attached to battalions and were thought of as specialized, somewhat elite troops, so that "...by the First World War the term 'grenadier' had so changed its meaning that when the grenade throwers returned to the battlefield there were objections to calling them grenadiers and they became known as 'bombers' (Farwell).
***
"The British Grenediers" has entered morris dance tradition as a polka step tune for North-West Morris and a Cotswold morris from the village of Longborough, Gloucestershire.
***
The following lyrics appears with the tune in the Edinburg Musical Miscellany:
***
Some talk of Alexander, and some of Hercules,
Of Conon and Lysander, and some miltiades;
But of all the world's brave heroes there'd none that can compare
With a tow, row, row, row, row to the British Grenadiers;
But of all the world's brave heroes there'd none that can compare
With a tow, row, row, row, row to the British Grenadiers.
***
Bacon (The Morris Ring), 1974; pg. 252. Jarman (Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes); No. or pg. 33. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 3; No. 380, pg. 42. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 150. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964; pg. 18 (two versions). Wade (Mally's North West Morris Book), 1988; No. 16. F&W Records 4, "The Canterbury Country Orchestra Meets the F&W String Band."

BUENA VISTA [2]. American, March (2/4 time). D Major. Standard. AABB'. According to Bayard (1981) this was a song and fife piece (apparently not related to version #1) named probably after a Mexican War battle. Several song titles were attached to the tune, some about Lafayette, but the one that attached its name to this version was published in 1852 and began:
***
On Buena Vista's mountain chain,
Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!
***
Source for notated version: a manuscript by fifer Thomas Hoge (Greene County, Pa., 1944) [Bayard]. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 279, pg. 233.

BUNKER HILL [1]. AKA and see "Dead March," "A Drag," "Harrison City." American, Reel. Southwestern Pa. D Major. Standard. AABB. Bayard (1981) identifies this tune as adapted from a work of classical music, namely von Weber's "Huntsman's Chorus" from the third act of his opera Der Freishutz. The tune entered folk tradition, and kept the title "Huntsman's/Huntsmen's/Hunter's Chorus" in England. It was well-known as a martial tune by Pennsylvania fifers who at some point named it after the Revolutionary War battle, and its operatic origins and name were forgotten. Source for notated version: a manuscript by fifer Hoge (Greene County, Pa., 1944) [Bayard]. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 322A, pg. 281.

CAMERONIAN('S) RANT, THE. Scottish, Reel. G Major (Kerr): F Major (Athole, Gow, Skye). Standard. AAB (Kerr): AABCCD (Athole, Gow, Skye). Glen (1891) finds the melody first in print in Robert Bremner's 1757 collection (pg. 82), though an early version also appears in the 1768 Gillespie Manuscript. Cowdery (1990) assigns the tune to the "Rakish Paddy" family of tunes, which also includes the famous Scottish piece "Caber Feidh." They are related, he finds, in unusual ways; the motifs and "diagnostic tones" of the "Cameronian" are one beat behind "Caber" in both strains. The two tunes have different cadences however, and on the whole do not sound like arrangements of each other but rather as discrete and distinctive melodies. Another related melody is "John Patterson's Mare," which is a jig-time version of "The Cameronian Rant." Cazden (et al, 1982) discusses "The Cameronian Rant" in connection with "The Boyne Water" and its variants, especially the Scottish melody "Andro and His Cutty Gun," and he remarks that the Scots poet Robert Burns adapted the tune for his satirical "Battle of Sherra-Moor (Sheriff-Muir)" after obtaining the melody from James Oswald's Caledonian Pocket Companion.
**
The name Cameronian refers originally to a militant 17th century sect called "Society People" or "Cameroians" from their founder, Richard Cameron, "a field preacher who advocated a particularly uncompromising from of covenanted Christianity" (David Hackett Fischer, Albions Seed, pg. 616) in the south and west of Scotland. As a splinter group, Cameronians were hunted like animals by the authorities of the day who eventually hanged several leaders, but many survived with religion and fighting spirit intact. The British authorities finally admitted defeat in stamping out the group, but to contain them they hit upon the idea of co-opting them by recruiting members of the sect for the fight against the Roman Catholic highlanders to the north. The result was the fighting regiment called the Cameronians, the only regiment in the British army to bear the name of a religious learder. Mustered in the late 17th century, the regiment first saw battle in 1689 when 1,200 recruits broke a veteran force of 5,000 Jacobites, and earned a reputation for fierceness. In line with their militant religious origins each enlisted man was required to carry a bible in his kit, and even in the 20th century the regiment carried arms to church. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 1, 1799; pg. 30. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; Set 2, No. 6, pg. 4. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; pg. 143. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 203.
X:1
T:Cameronian Rant, The
L:1/8
M:C|
R:Reel
B:The Athole Collection
K:F Major
f|cF F/F/F cFAF|cF F/F/F c2 Ac|BG G/G/G BGAG|BG G/G/G c2 A:|
G|Fffg fdcA|Fffg fdcA|Ggga gfed|gfga gfed|dffg fdcA|FAcf e2 cf|
e/f/g df e/f/g de|fgag fcd||
|:f|cFdF cFAf|cF F/F/F c2 Ac|BGdG BGAG|BG G/G/G c2A:|
G|Fffg fdcA|Fffg fdcA|Ggga gfed|gfga gfed|cffg fdcA|FAcf e2 cf|
e/f/g df e/f/g de|fgag fcd||
X:2
T:Cameronian Rant, The
L:1/8
M:C|
S:McGlashan - Strathspey Reels (pg. 16
K:F Mixolydian
f|c>F F/F/F c>FAf|c>F F/F/F c2 A>d|B>G G/G/G B>G A>d|B>G G/G/G c2 A:|
G|Fff>g fdcA|Fff>g fdcA|Ggg>a gfed|dgg>a gfed|cff>g fdcA|Fff>g e2 cf|
e/f/g dg e/f/g dg|e/f/g dg e2 d||
|:f|cFdF cFAf|cF F/F/F c2 Ad|BGdG BGAd|BG G/G/G c2A:|
G|FfFf g/f/e/d/ c/d/c/A/|FfFf g/f/e/d/ c/d/c/A/|GgGg a/g/f/e/ d/c/B/A/|
GgGg a/g/f/e/ d/c/B/A/|FfFf g/f/e/d/ c/d/c/A/|FfFf e2 cf|e/f/g/e/ d/e/f/d/ e/f/g/e/ d/e/f/d/|
e/f/g/e/ d/e/f/d/ e2d||

CRIOGAL CRIDHE (Glenlyon Lament). Scottish, Slow Air (4/4 time). G Mixolydian. Standard. AB. After the hanging of Macgregor of Glenstrae by the Campbell of Glenorchy, his widow composed this sad air. Neil (1991) relates the sad fate of the once strong and honorable Clan MacGregor, the traditional enemies of the Campbells, who went into decline before the beginning of the 17th century. By the early 1600's the MacGregors were nearly landless and most of their members had scattered to the estates of others, notably their old enemies the Campbells, and the Menzies. Desperate, individuals in the clan formed themselves into maurauding, lawless bands and became freebooters, finding haven in hiding places of Lannoch Moor. In 1602 they managed to annihilate the Colquhouns at the battle of Glenfruin (which became known as the 'Slaughter of Lennox') but for the next twenty-five years they themselves were hounded, repressed and nearly exterminated by the vengeful government and personage of King James VI, who only relented in 1627, when a new chief was able to bring the clansmen under his authority and exercise the peace. Neil (The Scots Fiddle), 1991; No. 152, pg. 195.

CULLODEN FIGHT. English, Country Dance Tune (6/8 time). G Major. Standard. AABB. The tune appears in Johnson's 200 Favourite Country Dances (Vol. 4, 1748) and can also be found in Longman, Lukey, & Co.'s Dances for 1772. It was written soon after the 1745 battle, for Kidson (1890) reports that not long afterwards British military officers called upon musicians at Edinburgh's Canongate Theater to play it, and a riot ensued when the rest of the audience demanded the Jacobite melody "You're Welcome, Charlie Stuart." Kidson (Old English Country Dances), 1890; pg. 7.

DOVER PIER. English, Country Dance Tune (2/4 time). B Flat Major. Standard. AABB. The tune dates to 1791. The name Dover is derived from one of the many words for water of the Celtic Britons (before the time of the Romans who called the same place Dubris). Julius Caesar landed at Dover in 55 BC. William the conqueror hastened to finish fortifying the castle just after the battle of Hastings in 1066 to consolidate his victory, thought the castle that exists today was build by Henry II in the 1180's. Dover Castle became noted for its royal meetings and romances. Barnes (English Country Dance Tunes), 1986. Front Hall 03, Dudley Laufman--"Swinging on a Gate."

DOWNFALL OF PARIS, THE (Ceimsios Parais). AKA - "Scrios b-Paris," "Fall of Paris." AKA and see "Hae You Ony More Ado" (Shetland), "Mississippi Sawyer" (USA). Irish, Hornpipe or Set Dance; English, Hornpipe; Old-Time, Breakdown; Scottish, March. G Major (Kerr, O'Neill): D Major (Ashman, Old-Time versions): C Major (Winstock). Standard. AABCC (O'Neill/Krassen): ABCCDD (O'Neill/1915): AABBCCDD (O'Neill/1001): AA'BBCCDD (Sweet): AA'BBCC'DD" (Kerr): ABBCDDEE (O'Neill/1850). Better known in the American South and among modern American fiddlers as "Mississippi Sawyer," the melody was called "The Downfall of Paris" in Europe and this title was at one time retained in parts of Tennessee and the Ozarks. According to Winstock (1970), the tune's popularity may have surpassed that of the famous "The British Grenediers" in its day. It was played early in the 19th century when the allies entered Paris after the battle of Waterloo, but "on that occasion (the British commander) Wellington sharply put a stop to it, and the offending Royal Regiment played instead 'Croppies Lie Down.' Apart from being played by military bands on every conceivable occasion, its 'one tormenting strum, strum, strum' was the delight of amateur pianists throughout Britain" (Winstock, 1970; pg. 105).
***
The melody, however, had not been new to France in Wellington's time. Famously, it had been the vehicle for the song "Ça Ira," or "Ah ca ira" ('les aristocrates a la lanterne', or, roughly, 'Lets go lynch the aristocrats'} sung by the first and bloodiest French Revolutionaries in the late 1780's. Elson (The National Music of America, 1899) reports: "It was sung to many a scene of massacre and bloodshed; it was warbled and trilled out when the mob carried the head of the beautiful Princess de Lamballe, on a pike, through the streets of Paris, and thrust it up for the unhappy queen to look at." Despite this gruesome association the melody began innocently enough as a light vaudeville piece composed by one M. Bécourt, a side-drum player at the Opéra. It soon proved popular as a contra-dance melody and frequently appeared in the French cotillions prior to its being seeped in blood. Interestingly, especially in view of the tune's later importation to America, the title was suggested by none other than Benjamin Franklin who used the phrase (which translates as "It will succeed") in connection with the prospects of the American Revolution. General Lafayette took Franklin's expression and passed it to a street singer named Ladré as a good refrain for a popular song. "Ça Ira" first appeared innocently enough as:
***
Ah! Ça ira, ça ira, ça ira!
Le Peuple en ce jour sans cesse répète:
Ah! Ça ira, ça ira, ça ira!
Malgre les mutins, tout réussira.
***
After the Paris mob burst forth in its fury, carried the Tuileries by assault and massacred the nobles in prison, these words appeared:
***
Ah! Ça ira, ça ira, ça ira!
Les Aristocrat' à la lanterne;
Ah! Ça ira, ça ira, ça ira!
Les Aristoncrat' on les pendra.
***
It took some time after this for its dance roots to resurface, but in 1816 the melody was again printed, this time in England in Wilson's Companion to the Ballroom. Vic Gammon, in his 1989 article "The Grand Conversation: Napoleon and British Popular Balladry," says the "La Ira" (sic) was adopted as a military march by the British Army, initially as a means of confusing the enemy on the battlefield. It later developed into the dance tune "Downfall of Paris" and became widespread in Britain, where it appears in collections of Irish music as well as in southern English village musicians' tune books. It us one of the official set dances (for dance competitions) in Ireland.
***
The title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published by 1954. Some 'crooked' versions are extent in the United States (see Charlie Acuff's version which has 15 beats in the 'A' part). See note for "Mississippi Sawyer" for more on the American variant. Source for notated version: a c. 1837-1840 MS by Shropshire musician John Moore [Ashman]. Ashman (The Ironbridge Hornpipe), 1991; No. 28, pg. 8. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 4, No. 372, pg. 40. O'Neill (1915 ed.), 1987; No. 395, pg. 189. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; pg. 165. O'Neill (1850), 1979; No. 1562, pg. 289. O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1986; No. 957, pg. 164 (set dance version). Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; pg. 44. Thomas and Leeder (The Singin' Gatherin'), 1939; pg. 59. Winstock (Music of the Redcoats), 1970; pg. 106. Island ILPS9432, The Chieftains - "Bonaparte's Retreat" (1976). Charlie Acuff. Rounder Records, Darley Fulks - "Traditional Fiddle Music of Kentucky, Vol. 2: Along the Kentucky River" (1997. An unusual version set in waltz time)
X:1
T:Ça Ira
L:1/8
M:2/4
S:Elson (1899), from a collection of French cotillions dated 1791
K:G
GG/A/ GG/A/|GG/A/ G2|(G/A/B/c/) (d/B/)(e/d/)|(d/c/)(c/B/) BA|
GG/A/ GG/A/|GG/A/ G2|(G/A/B/c/) (d/B/)(e/c/)|BA G2:|
B(d/B/) (c/B/)(A/G/)|FA/F/ G/D/B,/G,/|B(d/B/) (c/B/A/G/)|
F/A/B/^c/ d2|d(d/e/) d(d/e/)|d(d/e/) d2|(d/e/)(f/g/) (a/f/)(b/a/)|
(a/g/)(g/f/) fe|d(d/e/) d(d/e/)|d(d/e/) d2|(d/e/)(f/g/) (a/f/)(b/g/)|fe d2|
d/c/B/A/ ^GG|^GG A>B|c/B/A/G/ FF|FF G2|ABcB|c(d/c/) BG|A/G/F/E/ D2||
X:2
T:Downfall of Paris
L:1/8
M:2/4
S:O'Neill - 1001 Gems (957)
K:G
(3D/E/F/|GG/A/ GG/A/|GA/B/ c/B/A/G/|AA/B/ AA/B/|AA/B/ c/B/A/G/|
BB/A/ BB/A/|B/d/g/f/ e/d/c/B/|AA/B/ AA/B/|A/B/c/A/ G/F/E/D/|GG/A/ GG/A/|
GA/B/ c/B/A/G/|AA/B/ AA/B/|AA/B/ c/B/A/G/|B/A/B/c/ dd/c/|
B/A/B/c/ d/e/d/c/|(3B/c/d/ B/G/ (3A/B/c/A/F/|GGG:|
|:B/c/|dd/B/ dd/B/|edcB|cc/B/ cc/B/|dcBA|BB/A/ BB/A/|B/d/g/f/ e/d/c/B/|
AA/B/ AA/B/|A/B/c/A/ G/F/E/D/|GG/A/ GG/A/|GA/B/ c/B/A/G/|AA/B/ AA/B/|
AA/B/ c/B/A/G/|B/A/B/c/ d/e/d/c/|B/A/B/c/ d/e/d/c/|(3B/c/d/ B/G/ (3A/B/c/A/F/|GGG:|
|:B/c/|de/f/ g/f/e/d/|B/d/g/e/ d/c/B/A/|GGAA|BB AB/c/|de/f/ g/f/e/d/|
B/d/g/e/ d/c/B/A/|G(3A/B/c/ B/G/A/F/|GGG:|
|:(3B/A/G/|FGAB|cBAG|FF/G/ AB|cB AB/c/|de/f/ g/f/e/d/|B/d/g/e/ d/c/B/A/|
G(3A/B/c/ B/G/A/F/|GGG:|

ÉAMONN A' CHNUIC (Nos na Ronne). AKA and see "Ned of the Hill," "Edmond of the Hill." Irish, Air (3/4). G Major. Standard. One Part (Ó Canainn): AB (Roche). The melody first appears in the appendix to Walker's Historical Memoirs of the Irish Bards (1786). The song tells of Edmund Ryan of the Hill (Éamonn a' Chnuic), of Knockmeoil Castle, County Tipperary, an Irish earl who refused to go into exile and instead chose to stay on in Ireland after the Battle of the Boyne to fight the English. One of the rapparees o f the era, Éamonn had been forced into outlawry as the result of a altercation with a tax collector, and by 1702 had a price of 200 pounds on his head. He found some shelter for a time with an old lover but at the end was killed by a neighbour who had similarly offered him safe haven, but who betrayed him for English reward money (only to find that the reward had recently been withdrawn due to a service Edmund had performed for an Englishman). Éamonn was an associate of Sarsfield's famous scout "Galloping Hogan" (see "Galloping O'Hogan"). An English translation of the lyrics goes thus:
***
Who is that outside with anger in his voice beating my closed door?
I am Éamann of the Hill, soakend through and wet
From constant walking of mountains and glens
My love, fond and true, what else could I do
but shield you from wind and from weather?
When the shot falls like hail, they us both shall assail
and mayhap we will die together.
***
Through frost and through snow, tired and hunted
I go in fear both of friend and of neighbour;
My horses run wild, my acres untilled
and all of lost to my labour.
What grieves me far more than the loss of my store
is there is no one would shield me from danger
so my fate it must be to bid farewell to thee
and languish amid strangers
***
My darling, my beloved
we will go off together for a while
to forests of fragrant fruit trees
and the blackbird in his nest
the deer and the buck calling
sweet little birds singing on branches
And the little cuckoo on top of the green yew tree
Forever, forever, death will not come near us
in the middle of our fragrant forest.
***
(translation by Barbara Carswell on Connie Dover's CD "If Ever I Return").
Ó Canainn (Traditional Slow Airs), 1995; No. 92, pg. 79. O Sullivan, Songs of the Irish. Roche Collection, 1982; Vol. 3, pg. 1, No. 3.
T:Éamonn a' Chnuic
L:1/8
Q:90
K:G Major
B{c}{B}A|"G" G2{A}{G} E3 F |"Em" {A}G4 {A}GA |
"G" B{a}g3{a}{g} fd |"C" {a}e4 f{a}{f}e |"G" d4 B{c}{B}A |
"Em" G4 AB |1"C" c3 B{c}{B}A{B}{A}G |
"D" E4 :|2"C" A4 {B}{A} "D" GF |"G" G4 ||
Bd | "C" e c3 g2 |"G" {c}d4 d2 |"C" e2{a}f2{g}{f}e2 |"G" d4 de |
d4 B{c}{B}A |"Em" G4 AB |"C" c3 B {c}{B} A{B}{A} G|"D"E4 |
B{c}{B}A |"G" G2{A}{G} E3 F |"Em" {A}G4 {A}GA |
"G" B{a}g3{a}{g} fd |"C"{a}e4 f{a}{f}e |"G" d4 B{c}{B}A |
"Em" G4 AB |"C" A4 {B}{A}"D" GF |"G" G4 ||

EIGHTH OF JANUARY. AKA and see "Jackson's Victory." Old-Time, Bluegrass; Breakdown. USA, Widely known. D Major. Standard or ADAE. AABB (Brody, Christeson, Phillips, Ruth, Sing Out, Sweet): AABB' (Krassen). One of the most popular and widespread of Southern fiddle tunes. Ken Perlman (1979) reports that the melody was originally named "Jackson's Victory" after Andrew Jackson's famous rout of the British at New Orleans on January, 8th, 1815. Around the time of the Civil War, some time after Jackson's Presidency, his popular reputation suffered and the tune was renamed to delete mention of him by name, thus commemorating the battle and not the man. Despite its wide dissemination, Tom Carter (1975) says that some regard it as a relatively modern piece refashioned from an older tune named "Jake Gilly." Not all agree-Tom Rankin (1985) suggests the fiddle tune may be older than the battle it commemorates, and that it seems American in origin, not having an obvious British antecedent, as do several older popular fiddle tunes in the United States. A related tune (though the 'B' part is developed differently") is Bayard's (1981) Pennsylvania collected "Chase the Squirrel" (the title is a floater).
***
"Eighth of January" was recorded for the Library of Congress from Ozark Mountain fiddlers in the early 1940's by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, and from Mississippi fiddlers (John Hatcher, W.E. Claunch, Enos Canoy, Hardy Sharp) in 1939 by collector Herbert Halpert. It was in the repertoire of Cuje Bertram, an African-American fiddler from the Cumberland Plateau region of Kentucky who recorded it on a home tape in 1970, made for his family. In the 1950's Jimmy Driftwood famously refashioned the tune with new lyrics into his best-selling song "The Battle of New Orleans."
***
Missouri fiddler Glenn Rickman, born in 1901, was featured in an article in Bittersweet magazine and played "The Eighth of January" as part of his core repertoire. He had a seemingly curious habit:
***
I play the 'Eighth of January' over the telephone to a department store
here. Every eighth of January I call up the department store and they
put in on their loud speaker. This time I had it taped. I played 'Carroll
County Blues,...Sally Goodin',...Forked Deer' and 'Eighth of January.'
I'm glad to get to do this. The 'Eighth of January,' that was known way
back before my grandpa was born...
***
Rickman's playing over the phone for a department store audience is less curious when one considers that playing over the phone was at one time not unusual:
***
When the party line came in, telephones were used sort of like the radio
was later. Ten to fifteen families on a line could all listen in. On lines
like Slim Wilson's line, the neighbors would get a treat. The Wilson
family that lived near Nixa, Missouri, were all good musicians, and
when they were ready to play, they'd signal over the telephone line.
Everyone would take down the receivers and listen to the Wilson
family fiddling. Some would let the receiver hang down in a bucket
to help amplify the sound. (Allen Gage, Bittersweet, Volume IX, No. 3, Spring 1982)
***
Sources for notated versions: Charlie Higgins (Galax, Va.) [Krassen]; Cyril Stinnett (Oregon, Missouri) [Christeson]; Tommy Jackson [Phillips/1994]. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 99. R.P. Christeson (Old Time Fiddler's Repertory, Vol. 2), 1984; pg. 65. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 63. Kaufman (Beginning Old Time Fiddle), 1977; pg. 39. Krassen (Appalachian Fiddle), 1973; pg. 50. Phillips (Fiddlecase Tunebook), 1989; pg. 17. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 80. Ruth (Pioneer Western Folk Tunes), 1948; No. 15, pg. 7. Sing Out, Vol. 36, No. 2, August, 1991; pg. 77. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; pg. 76. Brunswick 239 (78 RPM) {1928}, Dr. Humphrey Bate and His Possum Hunters (Nashville, Tenn. Bill Barret was the fiddler for the tune, not Bate's regular, Oscar Stone). Caney Mountain Records CLP 228, Lonnie Robertson (Mo.) - "Fiddle Favorites." County 518, Arkansas Barefoot Boys- "Echoes of the Ozarks, Vol. 1." County 531, "Old TIme String Band Classics" (1975). County 541, Dr. Humphrey Bate & His Possum Hunters - "Nashville; the Early String Bands, Vol. 1." County 727, John Ashby- "Old Virginia Fiddling." Heritage 060, Major Contay and the Canebreak Rattlers - "Music of the Ozarks" (Brandywine, 1984). Kicking Mule KM-301, "Happy Traum, American Stranger" (1977). Marimac 9017, Vesta Johnson - "Down Home Rag." Mississippi Department of Archives and History AH-002, Hardy C. Sharp (Meridian, Mississippi) - "Great Big Yam Potatoes: Anglo-American Fiddle Music from Mississippi" (1985). Missouri State Old Time Fiddlers' Association, Bob Walters (b. 1889) - "Drunken Wagoneer." Morning Star 45004, Ted Gossett's String Band (western Ky., originally recorded Sept., 1930) - "Wish I Had My Time Again." Ok 45496 (78RPM), The Fox Chasers. Rounder 0085, "Tony Rice." Rounder 7002, Graham Townsend--"Le Violin/The Fiddle." Spr 2655 (78 RPM), Buddy Young's Kentuckian's (AKA the Ted Gossett Band, originally recorded Sept. 1930). Spt 9775 (78 RPM), The Country String Band (AKA the Ted Gossett Band/Buddy Young's Kentuckian's/Tommy Whitmer Band). Voyager 340, Jim Herd - "Old Time Ozark Fiddling."
T:Eighth of January
L:1/8
M:2/4
K:D
e/a/|f/e/f/a/ f/e/d/f/|e/f/e/d/ BB/d/|ee/f/ e/d/B/A/|d/B/A/F/ De/a/|
f/e/f/a/ f/e/d/f/|e/f/e/d/ B/d/e/f/|a/f/e/a/ f/e/c/A/|d/B/A/F/ D:|
|:A/A/|AA/B/ AA/A/|A/d/B/A/ F/E/D/F/|AA/B/ AA/d/|B/A/F/E/ DD/F/|
AA/B/ AA/A/|A/d/B/A/ F/E/D/F/|AA/A/ A/d/f/e/|d/B/A/F/ D:|

ERSKINE'S LAMENT. AKA - "Master Erskine's Lament, Killed at the Battle of Pinkie." Scottish. Williamson relates that a "lover's goodnight" called "Departe, Departe" was written to this tune, perhaps by Alexander Scott in the mid-16th century. The original title is given as the alternate. One Arthur Erskine was the Master of Mary Queen of Scots' household, but since the battle of Pinkie was fought when she was a little girl it is unlikely that this was the Erskine referred to. Williamson suggests it may have been his father who was killed. Henry VIII endeavoured to force a union between the young Mary and his son Edward in the so-called "Rough Wooing" in which his troops made a series of military expeditions into Scotland to "kill, burn, and spoil." After Henry died the warfare was contunued by Protector Somerset, as Henry's son Edward (VI) was too young; it was Somerset who defeated a Scottish force at the battle of Pinkie, near Musselburgh, in 1547. Flying Fish, Robin Williamson - "Legacy of the Scottish Harpers, Vol. 2."

FAIRY QUEEN, THE [1] ("An Beanriog Sige" or "Banrion na Siog"). AKA and see "Before the Battle," "Ciste No Stor." Irish, Air (3/4 time). G Major. Standard. ABC (Complete Collection): ABCD (O'Neill {both versions}). Both words and air are one of the early compositions by the Irish harper Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738), from the time he lived with one of his first patrons, George Reynolds Esq., whose seat was Letterfyan, County Leitrim. The year was 1693 and O'Carolan was then age 23. The lyrics were founded on a supposed battle between the fairies at Sidhe Beag and Sidhe Mor; the words are poor, critiques Kohl, but the tune is exquisite. The Irish collector Edward Bunting (1840) believes the air "Ciste No Stor" (Save Me from Death) is the original of "Fairy Queen," "the only difference being that Carolan added two parts to it, in which it was generally played the the harpers." It was recorded by the Belfast Northern Star of July 15th, 1792, as having been played in competition by one of ten Irish harp masters at the last great convocation of ancient Irish harpers, the Belfast Harp Festival, held that week. That the melody continued to be played on the harp after that time is attested to by a German traveller named Kohl, who published a work on Ireland in 1844. While visiting a residence in Drogheda an unknown harper was brought in to entertain the assembled guests. O'Neill (1913) quotes:
***
The march of 'Brian Boru' was followed by an air called 'The Fairy
Queen,' which I was told was a very old melody. Old or not I can
Testify that it is a charming piece of music, so tender, so fairy like
and at the same time so wild and sweetly playful that it can represent
nothing but the dancing and singing of the elves and fairies by moonlight.
I afterwards heard the piece on the pianoforte, but it did not sound
half so soft and sweet as from the instrument of the blind young harper (pg. 99).
***
The tune is discussed in DOSC, volume II, pgs. 116-117 and in Willis' edition of Neales Celebrated Irish Tunes, No. 17. Complete Collection of Carolan's Irish Tunes, 1984; No. 195, pg. 133. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; pg. 229. O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; No. 637, pg. 114. O'Neill (1913), pg. 72.
T:Fairy Queen
L:1/8
M:3/4
K:G
G2G2 ED|G4 ED|G2G2 ED|B2A2B2|G2G2DE|B,4 GF|E2C2 GF|G3 c BA|

FLORA MACDONALD'S ADIEU TO THE PRINCE (Tha mi fodh ghruaim). Scottish, Slow Air (6/8 time). F Sharp Minor. Standard. AAB. This air "is attributed, the editor knows not with what truth, to the celebrated Miss Flora MacDonald, on bidding adieu to Prince Charles. There is a degree of virtue, highly honorable to the national character for sincerity and integrity, perceptible in the universal disregard of the high rewards offered for delivering up the Prince" (Fraser). In fact, Flora Macdonald (b. c. 1721) was a celebrated heroine of the 1745 Jacobite rebellion, instrumental in saving Bonnie Prince Charlie after the battle of Culloden. Flora was born on the Hebridean side of South Uist, to which isle Charlie fled to, hotly pursued by the English forces who had offered a reward of the staggering sum of 30,000 pounds for his capture. The island was patrolled by warships and 2,000 Hanoverian troops were combing the countryside looking for him. Flora was persuaded to his cause and helped him elude his pursuers by dressing him as her Irish maidservent under the alias 'Betty Burke'. For three days she travelled with him under the constant fear of capture until he was able to make his way to Skye and then Inverness, where he was eventually rescued by a French ship which transported him to safety in Brittany. "Before leaving Portee, Flora and the Prince said their goodbyes. He was most grateful to her for risking her life for him during the three eventful days, and for looking after him with great tenderness and affection during the many dangers that had beset them. He presented her with his own portrait in miniature and after thanking her, expressed the hope that they might meet again" (Neil, 1991). They apparently never did, for Flora returned to Skye and five years later married Macdonald of Kingsburgh, with whom she had five sons and two daughters. The family soon found themselves in North Carolina, where Macdonald served with the Royal Highland Emigrant Regiment in the years prior to the American Revolutionary War. They returned to Scotland in the early 1770's and were visited by Dr. Johnson and Boswell on Skye in 1773. Flora was aged 51 at the time and was described by Johnson as "a woman of middle statue, soft features, gentle manners and elegant presence", and by Boswell as "a little woman of genteel appearance and uncommonly mild and well-bred." Flora died in 1790. Fraser (The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles), 1874; No. 219, pg. 98 & No. 219, pg. 90. Neil (The Scots Fiddle), 1991; No. 162, pg. 209.
T:Flora Macdonald's Adieu to the Prince
T:Tha mi fo ghruaim
L:1/8
M:6/8
S:Fraser Collection
K:A
F|AFF F>ED|d>ed c<e z/ c|Bce f>ea|f>ed (c<B) z/F|AFF F>ED|
d>ed c<ez/||c|Bce f>aa|fed e>dc|d>ed c>ea|f>ed (c<B)z/||

FLOWERS OF EDINBURGH [1] (Blata Duin-Eudain). AKA - "Flooers o' Edinburgh." AKA and see "Cois Lasadh/Leasa" (Beside a Rath), "Flowers of Donnybrook," "My Love's Bonny When She Smiles On Me," "My Love was Once a Bonny Lad," "Rossaviel," "To the Battle Men of Erin," "Old Virginia." Scottish (originally), Shetland, Canadian, American; Scots Measure, Country Dance Tune or Reel: English, Reel, Country or Morris Dance Tune (4/4, cut or 2/2 time); Irish, Reel or Hornpipe. Originally from Scotland, Lowlands region. USA; New England, southwestern Pa., Missouri, New York, Arizona. Canada; Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton. G Major (most versions): Morris version in D Major (Mallinson). Standard. AB (Bacon, Kerr): AAB (Bain, Mitchell): AABB (most versions): AA'BB (Phillips). Gow and others credit composition of the melody to James Oswald (Gow). Its earliest appearance in print is in Oswald's c. 1742 collection of Curious Collection of Scots Tunes (II), which appeared in London and contained the "Flowers" tune as a "crude" song entitled "My Love's bonny when she smiles on me." He printed the melody again in 1750 with the words "My love was once a bonny lad." The first version of the song and tune with the title "The Flower of Edinburgh" appeared in The Universal Magazine, April, 1749. That same year it was printed in John Johnson's Twelve Country Dances for the Harpsichord. Oswald himself republished it in 1751 in his volume Caledonian Pocket Companion under the title "The Flower of Edinburgh."
***
As regards the title, the convention "Flower of..." usually referenced a woman, although in the case of "Edinburgh" the plural form was appended at some point and stuck. The plural title appears in Herd's Scots Songs (without music) and in The Scots Musical Museum (1787, No. 13). Gow notes parenthetically in his Complete Repository (Part 4, 1817) that the 'flowers' of Edinburgh did not refer to comely females but in fact referenced the magistrates of the town. Some say the 'flowers' were female, although the females in question were prostitutes. It has also been suggested that the title refers to the stench of the old, overcrowded urban Edinburgh-a city fondly referred to as "Auld Reekie", which does not bespeak of a putrid, reeking smell, but rather comes from the Norwegian word røyk, meaning smoke. Thus 'Auld Reekie' refers to the pall of smoke that once hovered over the city, having been constantly spewed forth by its hearths. Finally, the 'flowers of Edinburgh' has been taken to refer to the contents of chamber pots which were, in the days before modern sewage systems, once disposed of by being thrown into the city streets (with or without the shouted warning "Gardez l'eau!" or "Mind yourself!"). Paul de Grae finds this latter interpretation in modern times incorporated by novelist Ian Rankin in one of his Inspector Rebus crime novels. Rebus, an Edinburgh detective, is being addressed by an "hard man" whose warning narrowly averted the Inspector's stepping in canine excrement. It will help to know human waste is called keech or keach in Ulster and Scotland (similar to the French caca, Italian cacca, Finnish and Icelandic kakku, and German kaka):
:***
"Know what 'flowers of Edinburgh' are?"
"A rock band?"
"Keech. They used to chuck all their keech out of the
windows and onto the street. There was so much of it
lying around, the locals called it the flowers of Edinburgh.
I read that in a book."
***
The renowned County Donegal fiddler, John Doherty (1895-1980) had his own idiosyncratic take on the title. In the notes for the album "The Floating Bow," Alun Evans writes of Doherty:
***
I can only say that I never found him to be other than exhilarating
company. Yet he was hard to pin down on detail, for in his mind fact and
fantasy were so tightly interwoven as to be indivisible - at least he led
you to believe so. He would tell how James Scott Skinner had composed the
tune 'The Flowers of Edinburgh' after a Miss Flowers with whom he was
besotted at the time. John must have known that this didn't ring true but a
story was a story, perhaps an example of the 'true Celtic madness' which is
said to be 'not psychotic but merely a poetic confusion of the real and the
imagined.'
***
English morris versions are from the Bampton area of England's Cotswolds and the North-West (England) tradition (where it is used as the tune for a polka step). Editor Seattle remarks of William Vickers' Northumbrian country dance version that it is "A fine setting with some distinctive 18th century touches."
***
In America the melody has also been used for country dances for over two hundred and twenty years. It was included by Greenland, New Hampshire, dancer Clement Weeks in his MS dance collection of 1783, and by Giles Gibbs (East Windsor, Ellington Parish, Connecticut) in his 1777 fife manuscript (Van Cleef & Keller, 1980). In the latter MS it is also called "Darling Swain." As "Old Virginia (Reel)" it was printed by George P. Knauff in Virginia Reels, volume II (Baltimore, 1839). Much later it was cited as having commonly been played for country dances in Orange County, New York, in the 1930's (Lettie Osborn, New York Folklore Quarterly), and was in the repertoire of Arizona dance fiddler Kenner C. Kartchner in the early twentieth century. The title also appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. Howard Marshall writes that Art Galbraith (d. 1992) of Springfield, Missouri, "had the most famous version in his area which was handed down through his family from at least 1840. Art's version is distinctive for its retention of the old 'extra beat' that has been lost in other versions." This famous Scottish reel is as well known to Pennsylvania fiddlers as it is to country players everywhere in the area of British folk music tradition, says Bayard (1944), and is one tune to which a single title has been transmitted intact through the generations of folk process.
***
In Ireland "Flowers of Edinburgh" is most common rendered as a hornpipe. The Irish "Cois Leasa" (Beside a Rath) is a version of this tune, maintains O'Neill (Dance Music of Ireland), who perhaps found it in Haverty's 100 Irish Airs, 2nd series, 1859, where "The Flowers of Edinburgh" is given in parenthesis as an alternate title for the "Rath" tune. Bayard (1981) agrees with O'Neill, though Sullivan (Bunting Collection) and Alfred Moffat do not, and the connection is not addressed in the Fleischmann index (Sources of Irish Traditional Music, 1998). Stanford/Petrie notes his Arranmore-collected Irish tune "Rossaveel" is "the old form of 'Flowers of Edinburgh.'" Finally, a version is played under the title of "The Flower of Donneybrook" in Ireland.
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Sources for notated versions: Fennigs All Stars (New York) [Brody]; John Kubina, (near) Davistown, Pennsylvania, September 3, 1943 (learned from traditional players in Pittsburgh) [Bayard]; Gilpin, Yaugher, Hall, Wright, Shape (all southwestern Pa. fiddlers whose versions were collected in the 1940's) [Bayard]; Arnold Woodley (Bampton, England) via Roy Dommett [Bacon]; Art Stamper (Mo.) [Phillips]; piper Willie Clancy (1918-1973, Miltown Malbay, west Clare) [Mitchell]; Elliot Wright (b. 1935, North River, Queens County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]; fiddler Dawson Girdwood (Perth, Ottawa Valley, Ontario) [Begin]. Bacon (The Morris Ring), 1974; pgs. 46, 57, 81. Bain (50 Fiddle Solos), 1989; pg. 33. Bayard (Hill Country Tunes), 1944; No. 54. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 340A=E, pgs. 326-327. Begin (Fiddle Music from the Ottawa Valley: Dawson Girdwood), 1985; No. 46, pg. 55. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 109. Burchenal (Rinnce na h-Eireann), p. 24. Calliope, pg. 28. Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 256. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 4, 1817; pg. 16. Hardie (Caledonian Companion), 1992; pg. 32 (includes variations by Bill Hardie). Harding's Orig. Coll., No. 177. Hogg (Jacobite Relics), II, p. 129. Henderson (Flowers of Scottish Melody), 1935 (includes sets of variations). Howe's School for the Violin, p. 34. Howe's Diamond School for the Violin (1861); pg. 44. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 310. Jarman (Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes); No. or pg. 6. JEFDSS, I, 82, second half of 'Birds-a-Building' equals the second half of No. 54. Jigs and Reels, p. 12. Johnson (Scots Musical Museum, edition of 1853), Vol. I, No. 13. Johnson, S.L. (Twenty-Eight Country Dances as Done at the New Boston Fair), Vol. 8, 1988; pg. 5. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; No. 1, pg. 23. Lerwick (Kilted Fiddler), 1985; pg. 19. Levey, No. 4. Mallinson (Mally's Cotswold Morris Book), 1988, Vol. 2; No. 30, pg. 16. Mallinson (Enduring), 1995; No. 19, pg. 8. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddlers Repertorie), 1983; No. 122. Mitchell (Dance Music of Willie Clancy), 1993; No. 88, pg. 79. Neal (Esperance Morris Book), pt. II, p. 29. O'Neill (1915 ed.), 1987; No. 350, pg. 171. O'Neill (Krassen), 1976; pg. 208. O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1907/1986; No. 920, pg. 157. O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; No. 1746, pg. 325. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island) 1996; pg. 61. Petrie, No. 372. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 90. Reavy (The Collected Compositions of Ed Reavy), No. 86. Reiner (Anthology of Fiddle Styles), 1979; pg. 52. Robbins, Nos. 28 & 152. Saar, No. 29. Seattle (William Vickers), 1770/1987, Part 2; No. 384. Sharp and Macilwaine (Morris Dance Tunes), Set V, pp. 2,3 (same version printed in other Sharp folk dance books). Sharp (Country Dance Tunes), 1909/1994; pg. 6. Smith (Scottish Minstrel), III, 25. Calliope (4th edition, 1788), p. 28. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 146. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; pg. 59. Tolman (Nelson Music Collection), 1969; pg. 12. Wade (Mally's North West Morris Book), 1988; pg. 22. White's Unique Coll., No. 71. Williamson (English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish Fiddle Tunes), 1976; pg. 53. Breakwater 1002, Rufus Guinchard- "Newfoundland Fiddler." Edison 52313 (78 RPM), John Baltzell (Mt. Vernon, Ohio), 1928 {appears as "Flowers at Edingurgh"} [Baltzell was taught to play the fiddle by minstrel Dan Emmett]. Front Hall 01, Fennigs All Stars- "The Hammered Dulcimer." Glencoe 001, Cape Breton Symphony- "Fiddle." Kicking Mule 209, Ken Perlman- "Melodic Clawhammer Banjo." North Star NS0038, "The Village Green: Dance Music of Old Sturbridge Village." Olympic 6151, The Scottish Festival Orchestra- "Scottish Traditional Fiddle Music" (1978). Philo 1008, "Kenny Hall." Sonet 764, Dave Swarbrick and Friends- "The Ceiledh Album." Voyager VRCD 344, Howard Marshall & John Williams - "Fiddling Missouri" (1999. Learned from the playing of Missouri fiddler Art Galbraith).
X:1
T:Flowers of Edinburgh
L:1/8
M:C|
R:Country Dance
B:The Athole Collection
K:G
GE|D3E G3A|BGdG cBAG|FGFE DEFG|AFdF E3F|
D3E G3A|BGBd efge|dcBA GFGA|B2G G2:|
|:d|gfga gbag|fdfg fagf|edef gfed|B2 e>f efge|dBGB B/c/d cB|
egfa g2fe|dcBA GFGA|B2G2G2:|
X:2
T:Flowers of Edinburgggg
M:2/4
L:1/8
S:Bruce Molskey
R:Old-time
Z:M. Reid 27-Jan-199
K:G
D2|G3 D|ED B,D|G2 G2|BA Bd|cB AG|FG FE|DE FG|A4|A,4|ED EF|G3 A| BA Bc|d2
ef|ga ge|dB GB|A2 Ac|B2 F2 |1 G4-|G2:|2 G4-|G4 |:g3 a|b2 ag|fe fg|a2
A2|e3 f|gf ed|B2 e2|e2 ef|g2 e2|dB GB| Bd- dB|d2 ef|gf ef|ga ge|dB GB|A2
Ac|B2 F2|1 G4-|G4:|2 G4-|G2|]
X:3
T:Flower of Edinburgh
S:Twelve Country Dances for the Harpsichord, 1749.
Q:60
Z:Transcribed by Bruce Olson
L:1/4
M:C|
K:G
(3 G/F/E/|D3/2E/G3/2A/|B/G/ B/d/{c/}BA/G/|{G/}F3/2E/ D/E/ F/G/|\
A/F/ d/F/EF/E/|D/E/ F/D/G3/2A/|(3B/A/G/ (3 B/c/d/ e3/2g/|\
d/B/ A/G/EG/A/|BG/A/G||d|g/f/ g3/4a/4 f/4a/4b/ a/g/|\
f/e/ f3/4g/4 f/4g/4a/ g/f/|e/d/ e/f/ g/f/ e/d/|\
Bee3/2 g/8f/8e/4|d/B/ A/G/dc/B/|e/d/ e/f/ g3/2g/8a/8b/4|\
c/B/ A/G/ EG/A/|BGG|]
X:4
T:Flowers of Edinburgh
S:Scots Musical Museum, #13 (1787)
Q:60
Z:Transcribed by Bruce Olson
L:1/4
M:C
K:F
C/|C3/2 D/F3/2G/|(A/F/) (c/F/) {B/}AG/F/|\
~E3/2D/ C3/4D/4 E3/4F/4|G/E/ c/E/ ~D3/2E/|\
C3/2D/F3/2G/|~(A3/4G/4A/) c/d (d/4e/4f/)|\
(B/A/) (G/F/) {A}/G (F/G/)|A~G3/4F/4F||(c/4d/4e/)|\
(f3/4e/4f/) g/ (f/4g/4a/) ~(g/f/)|\
~(e3/4d/4e/) f/ (e/4f/4g/) ~(f/e/)|\
(d3/4c/4d/) e/ (f/e/) (d/c/)|Ad3/4e/4 d(d/4e/4) f/|\
{c/}A G/F/c(B/A/)|d/c/d/e/ .g3/2 {g/a/} A/|\
(B/A/) G/ F/ GF/G/|A~G3/4F/4F|]
X:5
T:Flowers of Edinburgh
S:from the playing of Dave Swarbrick,
S:from "The Ceilidh Album" (?)
Z:Transcribed by Nigel Gatherer
N:An English morris version?
M:2/4
K:G
L:1/8
D|GG BG/B/|dB g>e|dB B/A/G/A/|BG ED|
GG BG/B/|dB g>e|dB B/A/G/A/|BG G:|]
d|g2 f>e|Be e>f|g2 f/g/f/e/|Be eg/e/|
d/B/G/B/ dd|e/d/e/f/ gg/e/|dB B/A/G/A/|BG G:|]

FORTY-SECOND HIGHLANDER'S FAREWELL, THE. Scottish, Pipe March (2/4 time). B Minor. Standard. AA'B. The 42nd Highlanders, known as the Black Watch, were one of the most famous units in the British Army, originally composed of Scots Highlanders. As with many old British regiments, the Black Watch acqurired its own distinctive lore and customs over the centuries. They were, for example, given the privaledge of wearing a red vulture feather on their bonnets in recognition of the regiment's gallantry at the battle of Guildermalson in 1794. Another story goes that during the Indian Muntiny its troopers found a huge gong in a bullock cart and appropriated it; ever after it was used to sound the hours wherever the regiment was stationed. Like many Scots regiments the Watch ws known for its drinking; on return from the victory of Waterloo they had to be doled out their pay in installments, else the regiment would have disintigrated from the huge benders of its troops. The officers drank as well--an English officer gazetted to the regiment would be required to wash down a Scots thistle with a glass of whiskey, making him an honorary Scotsman. The Black Watch had their share of defeats; they were beaten back by the backwoods riflemen of Andrew Jackson and the Battle of New Orleans, and in 1884 Dervishes temporarily broke a British square of which the Black Watch formed a part during the battle of Tamai. A reference to the latter by another regiment in a pub would invariably provoke a brawl (Farwell, 1981). Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 3; No. 419, pg. 47. Green Linnet SIF 1047, John Cunningham - "Fair Warning" (1983).

GARRYOWEN (Garad-Eogan Le Atrugad). AKA - "Garry/Gary Owen." AKA and see "Auld Bessy," "Battle of Limerick," "The Bivouac (of the Dead)," "Bosom that Beats," "Daughters of Erin," "Finnegan's Dream," "Hurrah for the Women of Limerick," "Let Bacchus' sons not be dismayed," "O! Friendship will smile," "The Scotch Laddie," "We May Roam Thro' This World." Irish (originally), Scottish, English; Jig and (in England) North-West Morris Dance Tune. G Major (Cole, Ford, O'Neill, Phillips, Trim, Sweet, Wade): F Major (Gow, Harding): A Major (Kerr): D Major (Russell). Standard. One part (Russell): AAB (Gow): AABB (Cole, Ford, Harding, Kerr, O'Neill, Sweet, Wade): AABB' (Phillips). "Garryowen," the name of a suburb of Limerick, was written c. 1770-1780 supposedly in honor of the moneyed young hooligans who ran riot in the Irish county at the time. Garryowen translates as "Owen's garden." Samuel Bayard, however, finds the first printed appearance of the tune in Aird's 1787 Collection under the title "Auld Bessy." Another early Irish printing is in O'Farrell's Pocket Companion. After its use in a pantomime called Harlequin Amulet, produced in 1800, the jig gained great popularity as a fife and fiddle tune. It is sometimes (mistakenly) attributed to 'Jackson of Cork', a reference to the famous 18th century uilleann piper and composer Walter "Piper" Jackson. Doolin, north County Clare, tin whistle player Micho Russell described it as a "very old jig," often played for the dance called the 'plain set' in Clare and surrounding Irish counties.
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In the United States it was adopted as a favorite marching air by General George Custer's 7th Cavalry, an association which helped to popularize the jig throughout country following Custer's demise. "It had been said that the 7th acquired the song through Captain Miles Keogh, an Irishman and a former member of the Papal Guard, but it seems unlikely that (its American use) can be ascribed to a particular person, since 'Garryowen' appeared in a number of Civil War songsters, and was therefore presumably well known to any number of American soldiers in 1861-1865 -- dates preceding Keogh's association with the 7th" (Winstock, 1970; pgs. 102-104).
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The melody was cited as having commonly been played at Orange County, New York country dances in the 1930's (Lettie Osborn, New York Folklore Quarterly) and it was used as a tune for a single step in the English North-West morris dance tradition. Queen Victoria requested the tune of piper Thomas Mahon (along with "St. Patrick's Day" and "Royal Irish Quadrilles") during her first visit to Ireland in 1849, and the piper was thus "surprised when he learned that not only the Queen, but the Prince Consort was familiar with the best gems of Irish music" (O'Neill, 1913). His performance pleased the Queen and she directed that he might thenceforth bear the title "Professor of the Irish Union Bagpipes to Her Most Gracious Majesty, Queen Victoria."
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Words were set to the jig melody at some point, and go:
***
Let Bacchus' sons be not dismayed
But join with me, each jovial blade
Come, drink and sing and lend your aid
To help me with the chorus:
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Chorus:
Instead of spa, we'll drink brown ale
And pay the reckoning on the nail;
No man for debt shall go to jail
From Garryowen in glory.
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We'll beat the bailiffs out of fun,
We'll make the mayor and sheriffs run
We are the boys no man dares dun
If he regards a whole skin.
***
Our hearts so stout have got no fame
For soon 'tis known from whence we came
Where'er we go they fear the name
Of Garryowen in glory.
***
Adam, 1928; No. 26. Aird (Selections), Vol. 3, 1788; No. 600 (appears as "Auld Bessy"). American Veteran Fifer, 1927; No. 59. Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 502 (appears as "Gary Owen"). Cole (1001 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 63. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; pg. 118. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 2, 1802; pg. 30. Harding's Original Collection, 1928; No. 7. Harding's All-Round, 1905; No. 187, pg. 59. Howe (Diamond School for the Violin), 1861; pg. 49. Jarman (Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes), No. or pg. 16. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; No. 17, pg. 37. Old Fort Snelling Instruction Book for the Fife, 1974; pg. 61.O'Neill (1850), 1903/1979; No. 971, pg. 180. O'Neill (1001 Gems), 1907/1986; No. 1001, pg. 172 (includes variations). Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 2, 1995; pg. 365 (appears as "Gary Owens"). Robbins, 1933; No. 69. Russell (The Piper's Chair), 1989; pg. 23. Saar, 1932; No. 5. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; pg. 22. Trim (Thomas Hardy), 1990; No. 52. Wade (Mally's North West Morris Book), 1988; pg. 4. Winstock (Music of the Redcoats), 1970; pg. 103. Edison 50870 (78 RPM), Joseph Samuels, 1919 (appears as 1st tune of "St. Patrick's Day Medley").
X:1
T:Cary Owen (sic)
L:1/8
M:6/8
S:Gow - 2nd Repository
K:F
f|~fcB ~AGF|A>BA A2f|~fcB ~AGF|GAG G2f|~fcB ~AGF|
ABA A2d|c>de f2A|GAG G2:|
A/B/|(A/B/c)A ~c2A|c2A c2f|d2B d2B|d2B d2e|f2g {fg}a2g|f2d c2A|
cde f2A|GAG G2 A/B/|{AB}c2A {AB}c2A|{AB}c2A c2f|d2B d2B|
d2B d2e|f2g {fg}a2g|f2d c2A|cde f2A GAG G2||
X:2
T:Garryowen
L:1/8
M:6/8
S:O'Neill - 1001 Gems (1001)
K:G
g/f/|edc BAG|B>cB Bgf|edc BAG|ABA Agf|edc BAG|B>cB B2 B/c/|def gdB|A>BA A2:|
|:B/c/|d2B d2B|dec dgf|e2c e2c|efd e2f|g2a b2a|gfe edB|def gdB|A>BA A2:|
|:g|e/f/ge dBG|BGB Bgf|e/f/ge dBG|AFA Agf|e/f/ge dBG|BGB BAB|def gdB|ABA A2:|
|:B/c/|dBg dBg|dBg d2g|ecg dcg|ecg e2f|g2a b2a|gfe dcB|def gdB|ABA A2:|
|:B/c/|d2B g2B|b3 bag|f2g a2b|c'ba gfe|d2B g2B|b3 bag|def gdB|ABA A2:|
|:c/B/|A2B c2c|B2c d2d|e/f/gd gbd|e/f/gd e2f|g2d b2d|gfe dcB|def gdB|ABA A2:|

GENERAL MONROE'S LAMENTATION (Marbna Ceannairt Munroe). Irish, Slow Air (3/4 time). G Minor (O'Neill): A Dorian (Ó Canainn). Standard. AB (O'Neill): AA'B (Ó Canainn). Henry Monroe was chosen to lead the rebels from County Down in the rising of 1798. After an initial success at Saintfield he was defeated in the Battle of Ballynahinch and was forced to flee to a farmhouse for refuge. He was betrayed, arrested, brought to Lisburn, County Antrim, and subsequently hanged there in front of his own home (and then beheaded, according to O'Neill), just three days after his defeat (Ó Boyle, 1976). Ó Canainn (Traditional Slow Airs of Ireland), 1995; No. 74, pg. 65. O'Neill (1915 ed.), 1987; No. 6, pg. 13. O'Neill (1850), 1979; No. 37, pg. 7.

HAUGHS O' CROMDALE, THE. AKA and see "Barrack Hill," "Lady Catherine Stewart/Stuart," "Merry Maids Meeting," "Merry Maid's Wedding," "New Killiecrankie," "O'Neill's March," "Sid mar chaidh n' Cal a gholaigh" (That is How the Cabbage Was Boiled), "The Spilling of the Kale," "Tralee Gaol." Scottish, Canadian; Strathspey, Air or Polka. Canada; Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island. E Minor/Dorian (Dunlay & Greenberg/MacMaster, Perlman): A Dorian (Dunlay & Greenberg/Campbell): D Minor (Lowe, Surenne). Standard. AAB (Honeyman): AABB (Athole, Dunlay & Greenberg/MacMaster, Emmerson, Kerr, Perlman, Skye): AA'BB' (Dunlay & Greenberg/Campbell). 'Haughs' are the low-lying ground along a river, in this case the Cromdale. The melody is an example of a strathspey of the schottisch structure, states Emmerson (1971); two accents to the bar {on the first and third beats of the measure} instead of one. Dunlay & Greenberg point out there are two main strains of the tune: both have similar 'A' parts, but the 'B' parts differ, one beginning on the tonic/I chord and one beginning on the VII chord. They speculate that the tune originally had only one part, as many ballads did, but that differing second turns were added to it later. John Glen (1891) finds the earliest printing of the tune in Angus Cumming's 1780 Scottish collection (A Collection of Strathspeys or Old Highland Reels, pg. 15), though it also appeared in print the same year in Alexander McGlashan's Collection of Reels as "Merry Maid's Wedding." Creighton and Calum MacLeod (1979) find it earlier in Scotland in the Margaret Sinclair Manuscript (c. 1710) under the title "New Killiecrankie," and Dunlay and Greenberg report it was said to be in an older manuscript under the title "Wat ye how the play began."
***
A Scottish country dance also goes by the name of "Haughs of Cromdale," one of the relatively few that go in strathspey tempo. Flett and Flett (1964) date the dance from somtime after 1855, the date of the introduction of the Highland Schottische, for Haughs incorporates the Highland Schottische's movements. In the Dalbeattie district of Kirkcudbrightshire before 1914 the dance was very popular, according to an informant (Mrs. Margaret Patterson of Auchencairn) who danced it as a young girl. Mrs. Patterson remembered the dance always was accompanied by a briskly played schottische such as "Kafoozalum," "Orange and Blue" or "Wha's a' the steer, kimmer."
***
During the battle of the Haughs of Cromdale in the 17th century a piper in the routed Jacobite army under the inept General Buchan bravely attempted to rally his comrades. Though badly wounded, he clambered atop a rock and continued to play until he expired; the very rock can be seen today and is still named Clach a Phíobair, the Piper's Stone (Collinson, 1975). Perhaps in memory of this feat of bravery, "Haughs of Cromdale" was one of the pipe tunes played by the British 92nd Regiment at the battle of Maya, 1813, which served to so inflame the Highlanders that they charged the French, who became so panic stricken at their audacity that they turned and ran (Winstock, 1970; pg. 139). David Glen (in his bagpipe Tutor) states the tune was the "charge and double post of the Gordon Highlanders." Dunlay & Greenberg find the tune set as both a march and a strathspey in various bagpipe collections, including Logan's Complete Tutor for the Bagpipes and The Scots Guards Collection (set as a four-part march).
***
As with many popular British Isles tunes, there were various sets of words attached to it. "As I came in by Auchindown" is one common ballad sung to the air (which tells of a battle with the English on the haughs) and can be found in James Hogg's Jacobite Relics of Scotland (Vol. 1, 1819). "Birniebouzle" is another song set to "Haughs". In Cape Breton there was a Gaelic song entitled "Sid mar chaidh an cal a dholaigh" (That is How the Kale/Cabbage Was Ruined/Spoiled) that tells the amusing story of a meeting between Scottish Highlanders and Lowlanders at an inn and how the kale broth was ruined while the lady of the house was dancing (Dunlay & Greenberg). Bayard identifies this as one of the tunes from the large "Welcome Home" tune family. See "Cape North Jig" for a 6/8 time setting of "Haughs" and the A Minor Irish variant "Tralee Gaol." Sources for notated versions: John Campbell (Cape Breton) [Dunlay & Greenberg]; Kevin Chaisson (b. 1950, Bear River, North-East Kings County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]. Dunlay & Greenberg (Traditional Celtic Violin Music of Cape Breton), 1996; pgs. 36 & 85. Emmerson (Rantin' Pipe and Tremblin' String), 1971; No. 65, pg. 153. David Glen (Bagpipe Tutor), 1876-1901 (two settings). Gow (Beauties of Niel Gow), 1819. Honeyman (Strathspey, Reel and Hornpipe Tutor), 1898; pg. 14. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; Set 7, No. 1, pg. 6. Lowe (A Collection of Reels and Strathspeys), 1844. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; pg. 85. MacDonald (The Gesto Collection). Middleton's, 1870. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; pg. 198. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 249. Surenne (Dance Music of Scotland), 1852. ACC-49290, Natalie MacMaster - "Road to the Isle." ACC-4925, Tara Lynne Touesnard - "Heritage." Kicking Mule KM-327, "Scartaglen" (1984. Played as a march). RCC-102, Ian McKinnon & Rawlins Cross - "Crossing the Border" (1991). RMD-CAS1, Rodney MacDonald - "Dancer's Delight" (1995). Rounder 7003, John Campbell - "Cape Breton Violin Music"(1976. Appears as "Traditional Strathspey," side two).
T:Haughs of Cromdale
L:1/8
M:C
R:Strathspey
B:The Athole Collection
K:E Minor
e|B<E E>F B>A F<A|B>E E>F D>EF>A|B<E E>F B>AF>A|
d>BA>F ~E2 E:|
|:F|D<d d>e d/^c/B/A/ d2|F<A A>B A<F A2|B<e e>f g>fe>d|
B<d B/A/G/F/ E2E:|

HECTOR [MACDONALD] THE HERO. Scottish, Lament ("with intense sadness," 6/8 time). A Major. Standard. AAB (Hunter): AA'BB (Perlman): ABC (Martin, Skinner). Composed by the great Scots fiddler and composer J. Scott Skinner (1843-1927) in honor of the famous Major-General Sir Hector MacDonald (1857 - 1903), one of the most famous Victorian-era British military figures. MacDonald was born in the Black Ilse and at the age of thirteen enlisted in the 92 Gordon Highlanders. He came up through the ranks, serving as a color-sergeant in the Afghan War, until he was promoted to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant at the end of those hostilities. Transferred to South Africa, he was mentioned in dispatches in the 1st Boer War, and in 1885 he led a military expedition up the Nile to Sudanese territory. In 1888 he took part in the Battle of Sunkin and a year later won the Distinguished Service Order for his service in Sudan. He remained in the Sudan for the next decade, seeing action in the Battle of Tokar (1891), and leading the 2nd Infantry Brigade in the Dunglen Expeditionary Force, by which time he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General. During the next two years he took part in the battles of Khartoum and Omdurman, with which he ended his Sudan service. He subsequently served as the Aide de Camp to Queen Victoria and as a Major General with the Highland Bridgade in South Africa during the Boer War. In 1901 he was knighted and the next year was stationed as Major General with British forces in Ceylon, however, in 1903 he was accused of being a homosexual and, feeling disgraced, he committed suicide.
***
Though the charge of homosexuality was probably true it was popularly believed by all levels of society in Scotland at the time that MacDonald had been framed. Soon after the incident Edward VII made his first visit to Scotland, though the atmosphere was decidedly chilly.
***
This ballad was composed in the soldier's honor:
***
HECTOR THE HERO
***
Lament him, ye mountains of Ross-shire;
Your tears be the dew and the rain;
Ye forests and straths, let the sobbing winds
Unburden your grief and pain.
Lament him, ye warm-hearted clansmen,
And mourn for a kinsman so true
The pride of the Highlands, the valiant MacDonald
Will never come back to you.
***
O, wail for the mighty in battle,
Loud lift ye the Coronach strain;
For Hector, the Hero, of deathless fame,
Will never come back again.
***
Lament him, ye sons of old Scotia,
Ye kinsmen on many a shore;
A patriot-warrior, fearless of foe,
Has fallen to rise no more.
O cherish his triumph and glory
On Omdurman's death-stricken plain,
His glance like the eagle's, his heart like the lion's
His laurels a nation's gain.
***
O, wail for the mighty in battle,
Loud lift ye the Coronach strain;
For Hector, the Hero, of deathless fame,
Will never come back again.
***
O rest thee, brave heart, in thy slumber,
Forgotten shall ne'er be thy name;
The love and the mercy of Heaven be thine;
Our love thou must ever claim.
To us thou art Hector the Hero,
The chivalrous, dauntless, and true;
The hills and the glens, and the hearts of a nation,
Re-echo the wail for you.
***
O, wail for the mighty in battle,
Loud lift ye the Coronach strain;
For Hector, the Hero, of deathless fame,
Will never come back again.
***
Perlman (1996) notes that the melody is currently played on Prince Edward Island as a lament at funeral services. Source for notated version: Sterling Baker (b. mid-1940's, Morell, North-East Kings County, Prince Edward Island; now resident of Montague) [Perlman]. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 29. Martin (Ceol na Fidhle), Vol. 2, 1988; pg. 24. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; pg. 208. Skinner (The Scottish Violinist), pg. 49. The Bothy Band (1st album). Dougie MacDonald - "A Minor." Green Linnet GLCD 1189, John Cunningham - "Celtic Fiddle Festival: Encore." Greentrax CDTRAX 096, "Tony McManus" (1995).
T:Hector the Hero
C:James Scott Skinner
Z:Juergen.Gier@post.rwth-aachen.de
L:1/4
M:3/4
K:A
A,|{B,}C>>B,A,|{E}F>>EC|{D}E3|~E2A,|{A,B,}C>>B,A,|{E}F>>EC|\
{A,}B,3|~B,2A,/<B,/|{B,}C>>B,A,|{E}F>>EC|{D}E2A,|{A,}[A,2A2]{AB}A/F/|\
E<<A,{B,}C|{D}B,2=G,/<A,/|A,3|~A,2||A|{AB}c>>BA|{A}f>>ec|e3|e2A|\
{AB}c>>BA|{A}f>>ec|{A}B3|~B2A/<B/|c>>BA|{A}f>>ec|{c}e2A|\
{ABcdefg}a2{ab}af|e<<A{B}c|{Bd}[E2B2]{Bd}[E/B/][E/A/]|[E3A3]|\
[E2A2]c/<[c/e/]||[d2f2][~df]|[c2a2]g/<f/|[A3e3]|[A2e2]c/<[c/e/]|\
[d2f2]{fg}e/<c/|e<<AB/<c/|[E3B3]|[E2B2]c/<[c/e/]|[d2f2]f/{gfef}>g/|\
[c2a2]a/{bag}>f/|e<<AB|c<<a{ab}a/f/|e<<AB/<c/|\
{Bd}[E2B2]{Bd}[E/B/][D/A/]|[E3A3]|[E2A2]|]

HER MANTLE SO GREEN. AKA and see "George Reilly," "The Plains of Waterloo," "Young Willie of Famed Waterloo." Irish, Slow Air. This melody is published in Colm O'Lochlainn's Irish Street Ballads (No. 7), and was taken from early twentieth century broadsides. The ballad tells of a young woman visited in the meadows by a young man; he tests her to see if her love is true; she passes, having remained faithful to her William Reilly, whom she believed killed at the battle of Waterloo. He reveals himself and they are wed. A similar situation occurs in Homer's Oddessy, when Ulysses returns home after his voyages of twenty years. The melody also belongs to the 18th century song "George Reilly."
**
When I was a-roving one morning in spring,
To view the sweet flowers and the meadows so queen,
I met a young damsel, she appeared like a queen
With her costly fine robes and her mantle so green.
**
Green Linnet GLCD 1151, Seamus McGuire - "The Wishing Tree" (1995).

HIGH ROAD TO FORT AUGUSTUS, THE (Coir'-a-Ghearraig). Scottish, Reel. B Minor. Standard. AB (Fraser, Neil): AAB (Athole). Captain Simon Fraser, compiler of the famous collection of Highland melodies, writes in his note to this tune: "The words associated with this air give annecdotes regarding that stupendous work, the road cut in traverses, by General Wade, down the face of a mountain, in forming a communication betwixt Fort Augustus and Garvamore. By this road old Lord Lovat was carried, when on his last journey to London, on a litter,--and here he was met by the late Governor Trapaud, of Fort Augustus, then in the Duke's army, who requested to have Lovat's face uncovered, that he might have a look of 'the old fox.' Lovat heard all this, but pretended to be sound asleep. Whenever he found Trapaud examining his phiz, he started up, and with the vigour of youth, made a snappish bark at him, like that of a terrier, which so thunderstruck the governor, that he fell backwards with terror, to the no small amusement of the party. Another anecdote, not less worthy of notice, occurs regarding this place. Hugh Fraser, Esq. of Dell, a most extensive drover and grazier, in returning from the southern markets, was benighted here, as he came on a fine frosty November evening to the foot of the traverses, when all of a sudden, as he ascended, a most furious driving of snow come on; he kept forward as long as he could, thinking it might cease,--but in vain,--he lost his way. He had an appointment for next day to pay large sums of money, in his custody,--which, if he was lost, would bring ruin on many persons. If he sat down, he knew he must have inevitably perished with cold. In this state, a thought occurred to him worthy of being universally known,-- and the cause of the present mention of it,--that he should make for the highest pinnacle of the hill and there form a circular path and ride and walk by turns round it till morning came. This he according did, and hailed the morning cry of the grouse as the sweetest music ever he heard. When day-light came, he could not distinguish one object known to him, nor find the road; and, even at sunset, in place of being near Fort Augustus, he reached a hut, entirely in a different direction, within three miles of his own house, unable to go further, and found he had rode over morasses and lakes that would have swallowed him up, but for the intenseness of the frost. He, however, perfectly recovered in a day or two. The presence of mind displayed by him, in preserving life during the night, as a lesson to others, will apologize for the length of this note."
***
The ancient name of Fort Augustus, "Kilchuimen" (sometimes Kilcumein), or 'Church of Saint Cumine.' It was named after Saint Cumine (sometimes Cumein), a monk of Iona who became 7th Abbot of the island and who gained fame for his life of Saint Columba. The Fort that gives Fort Augustus its name was one of a series of forts built by the Hanoverians to secure the Great Glen of Scotland. There was Fort George near Inverness, Fort Augustus in the heart of the Glen at Loch Ness, and Fort William at the southern end. All were named after members of the Hanover royal family; Augustus was the name of George II's son, William Augustus, the Duke of Cumerland. Cumberland is infamous for his part in the battle of Culloden and its aftermath, so much so he was known as 'Butcher Cumberland'. Following the defeat of the Highland forces of Bonnie Prince Charlie he took up residence in Fort Augustus, and remained oblivious to the depredations of his troops upon the local population and the suffering of the Highland people during the harsh winter of 1746. General Wade, referred to by Fraser in the passage above, built the fort in 1730 along with a network of roads and bridges, and he is recognized today as a great engineer. In later years Fort Augustus passed into the hands of Lord Lovat, who bought it in 1867 as a shooting lodge, and whose son donated it to monks in the mid-1870's. The old fort was transformed into a Benedictine Abbey which survived until the present day, although it recently has been closed.
***

HIGHLAND BRIGADE'S MARCH TO THE BATTLE OF ALMA. Scottish, Pipe March (2/4 time). A Mixolydian. Standard. AABB'. Composed by William Ross in commemoration of the march of the Black Watch (42nd Highlanders), Sutherland Highlanders, and the Cameron Highlanders to the Crimean War battle of Alma. On 20th September, 1854, the Highland Brigade reached the River Alma overlooked by the Russians. Under very heavy fire the 93rd (Sutherland) reached the summit and then charged the enemy. After fierce hand to hand fighting, the Russians abandoned their positions to the 93rd.
**

KELLY THE BOY FROM KILANE. Irish, Air (4/4 time). D Major. Standard. AABB. John Moulden identifies this song as written by a Dublin City Councillor and Patrick Street publican, Patrick Joseph McCall (1861-1919), a prolific songwriter of mostly patriotic ballads whose ballad sheet collection is in the National Library of Ireland. Moulden states his style of writing was informed by ballad sheets and therefore is missing from "polite" anthologies. John Kelly was a merchant's son from Kilane, County Wexford, and a man of impressive size, seven feet or more. He participated in the rising of 1798, fighting under the command of Bagnal Harvey, one of the Protestant leaders of the rebellion. Kelly led the men from the Wexford areas of Bargy, Forth, Shelmalier and the Barony of Bantry in Harvey's attack on the town of New Ross. The United Irishman captured the town, rested, and lost it again and several hundered croppies were lost in the battle. Kelly was badly wounded in the engagement and was captured at his sister's house where he was recovering. Subsequently he was tried at a court-martial and convicted; a story goes it was on the evidence of a Yeoman sergeant, a neighbor whose life he had saved some days before. He was hanged on Wexford bridge, his trunk thown into the water and his head spiked over the courthouse to rot after being kicked about. Kelly's head was eventually recovered by friends who brought it to Killane, where, much later a monument to his memory was erected.
***
What's the news, what's the news, my bold Shelmalier
with your long barrell'd gun of the sea,
Say, what wind from the sun blows his messenger here,
with a hymn of the dawn for the free;
Goodly news, goodly news do I bring your of Forth,
goodly news you shall hear Bargy men,
For the boys march at dawn from the south to the north,
led by Kelly the boy from Killane.
***
Roche Collection, 1983, Vol. 3; No. 36, pg. 10.
T:Kelly the Boy from Killane
R:March
M:4/4
Z:Transcribed by Paul Keating
L:1/8
S:Tony Crehan, Miltown Malbay
Q:150
K:A
Ac|e2 e>e a2 a>f|e2 c>A F2 A>B|c2 B>c ed BG|A2 A>B A2:||
ee|f2 df a2 af|e2 af e2 e>e|f2 d>f ab/2a/2 g>f| e2 e>f e2 Ac|
e2 e>e a2 a>f|e2 cA F2 A>B|c2 B>c ed B>c|A2 A>B A2||

KILLIECRANKIE [1]. AKA and see "Planxty Davis." Scottish, Air and Slow March (cut time). C Major. Standard. One part (Sharp): AB (Johnson, Perlman). The title commemorates the famous Battle of Killiecrankie, Perthshire, in 1689. The name Killiecrankie is derived from the Gaelic root word coille, meaning a wood, coupled with 'crankie' referring to aspens; thus the phrase means 'wood of the aspens' (Matthews, 1972). Johnson (1983) states it was later renamed after another (different) battle called Tranent Muir, East Lothian, fought in 1745 {which battle is usually known as the Battle of Prestonpans}. He suggests on stylistic reasons that the tune may be the surviving opening for a battle pibroch (see "Highland Battle, A"), though no other parts have come down. A tune by the name of "Keel Cranke" was published by Henry Playford in his 1700 collection of Scottish tunes (Original Scots Tunes), however, the earliest printing of the song appears to be in the Leyden Manuscript of c. 1692. The words to the air go:
***
Whaur hae ye been sae braw, lad?
Whaur hae ye been sae brankie-o?
Whaur hae ye been sae braw, lad?
Come 'ye by Killiecrankie-o?
***
An' ye had been whaur I hae been
Ye wadna been sae cantie-o
An' ye had seen what I hae seen
On the braes o' Killiecrankie-o
***
I fought at land, I fought at sea
At hame I fought my auntie-o
But I met the Devil and Dundee
On the braes o' Killiecrankie-o
***
The bauld pitcur fell in a furr
And Clavers gat a crankie-o
Or I had fed an Athol gled
On the braes o' Killiecrankie-o
***
Oh fie, MacKay, What gart ye lie
I' the brush ayont the brankie-o?
Ye'd better kiss'd King Willie's loff
Than come tae Killiecrankie-o
***
It's nae shame, it's nae shame
It's nae shame to shank ye-o
There's sour slaes on Athol braes
And the de'ils at Killiecrankie-o
***
'Clavers', in verse four, refers to the Earl of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, John Graham, who in 1689 led the first Jacobite Rebellion against the forces of William of Orange. Essentially, it was a battle between Clavers' Highland allies (mostly from Clan Cameron, Donald, Stuart and MacLean), pitted against a largely lowland Scots army (though the Williamite forces did include some professional Highland soldiers with the result that close relatives fought on opposite sides) commanded by Major-General Mackay. They met at Killiecrankie in the southern Highlands in July, 1689, with the result that the supporters of James II won a significant but bloody battle, with a phyric conclusion, for Claverhouse himself was slain. Having no leader to replace him the clans disbanded and the rebellion quickly petered out. The Gow printing is a version of "Planxty Davis," and is labelled "very slow." Sources for notated versions: James Thomson Manuscript, pg. 20 [Johnson]; Peter Chaisson (b. 1942, Bear River, North-East Kings County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]. Gow (Complete Repository), Part First, 1799; pg. 7 (appears as "The Original Sett of Killecrankie"). Gow (Collection). Johnson (Scottish Fiddle Music in the 18th Century), 1984; No. 6, pg. 24. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; pg. 210. Sharp (Country Dance Tunes), 1909/1994; pg. 62.
T:The Original Sett of Killecrankie
L:1/8
M:C
S:Gow - 1st Repository
K:C
E/F/|G>A{A}GE (G/E/)G/A/ G>E|(G/F/)(E/D/) (C/D/)E/F/ G2 GE/G/|
~AcAG/A/ cAA G/A/2B/2|c>e {cd}ed/c/ A2 Ae/g/|ag/e/ ge/d/ ed/c/ de|
c>A (G/A/)c/E/ {E}G2 Gc/B/|AG/A/ cA/c/ (dd) {d}e>d|{B}c>A (G/A/)c/E/ D2C:|
|:e/f/|g>age (g/e/)g/a/ {a}g>e|(g/f/)e/d/ (c/B/)e/f/ g2 (ge/g/)|a>c' ag (a/g/)a/c'/ {b}ag|
ag/e/ de/g/ a2 ae/g/|(a/g/)e/a/ (g/e/)d/g/ (f/e/)(d/c/) de|~c>A (G/A/)c/E/ {E}G2 Gc/B/|
AG/A/ cA/c/ (dd) {d}e>d|{B}c>A (G/A/)c/E/ D2C:|

KILLIECRANKIE [2]. AKA - "The Battle of Killiecrankie/Killicrankie." AKA and see "Planxty Davis." Scottish, Irish; Slow March (2/4 time) or Set Dance (cut time). D Major. Standard. AB (Kerr): AABB (Roche). A much elaborated version of Set No. 1. The original tune, "Planxty Davis" (by which name it is known in Ireland), is the product of the Sligo born ancient harper Thomas O'Connellan (who is supposed to have composed seven or eight hundred tunes), who died near Lough Gur, County Limerick, in 1698. Sometimes his place of death is given as Bouchier Castle along with the information that and was buried at Temple Nuadh, while a banshee wailed. Sanger & Kinnaird (Tree of Strings, 1992, pg. 110), however, say the "Planxty Davis" title seems to have been attached to the tune by mistake, and instead belongs to a tune to which the Irish harper O'Carolan wrote words called "The Two William Davises." After Thomas's death his younger brother Laurence, also a harper who it is said effected a different style, travelled to Scotland and popularized several of this dead brother's pieces, including "The Battle of Killiecrankie."
***
Sanger and Kinnaird find the tune associated to other tunes throughout the British Isles which date at least to the early 17th century. In Ireland it is related to "The Star of the County Down," and the Scottish Atkinson Manuscript (1694-95) includes it under the title "The Irish Gillycranky." In England it is related to "The Clean Country Way," "Gilderoy" and "The Miller of Dee," all common in instrumental and vocal collections. Modern Cape Breton fiddlers (like Mike MacDougall and Jerry Holland) play the tune in the key of C major. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; No. 23, pg. 49. Roche Collection, 1983, Vol. 2; No. 282, pg. 34. Cape Breton's Magazine, Mike MacDougall - "Tape for Father Hector" (1985).

LOCHIEL'S AWA' TO FRANCE (BUT HE'LL COME AGAIN). Scottish, English; Reel. England, Northumberland. A Dorian. Standard. AAB. "Old set." The title refers of Cameron of Lochiel, one of Bonnie Prince Charlie's chiefs who fought under his standard at the battle of Culloden (1746). After the defeat Lochiel was forced to flee with the Prince to France. Clan Cameron, however, was eventually pardoned and still retain substantial lands in Scotland. Breathnach (1976) finds the first part of this tune the same as the "The Gossan that beat his father" family of tunes, but that the second part is the same as that of "The Mountain Rose." MacDonald (1887) opines that the "modern set by Neil Gow (is) not so playable." Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; pg. 9 (appears as "Lochiel's Rant"). MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; pg. 49. Seattle (William Vickers), 1987, Part 2; No. 222 (appears as "Lochiel's Reel").
T:Lochiel's Awa' to France
L:1/8
M:C
S:Skye Collection
K:A Dorian
g|eA A/A/A e2 dc|B>G G/G/G (B<d)d<g|e>A A/A/A e2 dc|BGAB gee:|
g|(de)ga (bg)ab|gd d/d/d (gd)dg|dega bgab|ge e/e/e (ge)eg|dfga bgab|
gd d/d/d (gd)dg|bgae degB|BA A/A/A (ge)e||

MACALISDRUM'S MARCH ("Máirseáil Alasdroin" or "Máirseáil Alasdruim"). AKA and see "Alastrum's March," "Alasdruim's March," "The Church Hill," "Kitty the Rag, I'm in Love with You," "MacDonnell's March," "Ollistrum Jig" (O'Neill). Irish, Scottish; March (6/8 time). Ireland, Munster. D Major. Standard. AABBCC (Bunting): ABCD (O'Neill).
***
Alaster or Alexander MacDonnell, also known as Alasdair Mac Allisdrum/MacAllistrum or Colkittu (Colkitto), was a commander who was killed at the battle of Knockinoss (Cnoc na nDos, or Shrub Hill), near Mallow, County Cork, in the south of Ireland, in September, 1647. The famous martial hero was a Scotsman, a brave and skilful warrior who commanded Lord Antrim's Irish in Scotland under Montrose, and when Montrose's army was broken up he and his Irish returned to Ireland, joining the confederation of Catholics under Lord Taaffe in Munster. At the battle of Cnoc na nDos (Knockinoss) one account (quoted by Flood, 1906) gives that he was assassinated while parlaying with the English Parliamentary forces under Lord Inchiquinn, while Bunting (1840) states that "after the rout of the main body of the Irish, Macdonnell and his people held their ground till they were cut to pieces by the English. It is said that none escaped." MacDonnell's sword, which had a steel apple running in a groove on the back supposedly to increase the striking force, was in Bunting's time said to still have been preserved in Loghan Castle, County Tipperary. Bunting (1840) states Allisdrum was the son of Coll Kittogh (Ciotach) or Left-handed Coll, also a famous warrior whose name has been preserved by Milton in the lines:
***
Why, it is harder, Sirs, than Gordon,
Colkittor, or MacDonnall, or Galasp.
***
Flood (1906) states: "We may form some idea of the desperate courage which inspired these men from the impetuous energy and wild shrilly fervour of this strain, which is undoubtedly the same pibroach (pipe tune) that they marched to on the morning of their last battle...This march was played at his funeral by war-pipers when his remains were interred in the ancestral tomb of the O'Callaghans at Clonmeen (near Kanturk), County Cork, and ever since has been called "Máirseáil Alasdroim." Breathnach (1966) believes that Flood's statement that the piece was a death-march especially composed by the Irish warpipers at the time is almost certainly untrue, and notes Flood now has a reputation for repeating some extremely questionable facts.
***
In 1750 Dr. Charles Smith (in his History of Cork, volume II, pg. 159) noted the tune was "well-known in Munster...a wild rhapsody...much esteemed by the Irish and played at all their feasts" (Flood, 1906; Bunting, 1840). Despite its supposed age, however, the oldest appearance of the noted music is to be found in a MS collection from Lisronagh (near Clonmel), County Tipperary, dating from 1784, and Crofton Croker's 1824 Researches in the South of Ireland also contains a printing of the piece. According to O'Neill (1913), Croker acknowledged its popularity in the south of Ireland but thought that "Ollistrum's March" (as he called it) should not be considered an Irish air, but rather Scottish due to its stylistic similarity to the pibroch of that country. Again, Breathnach (1966) demures, saying that there is no good grounds for Croker's assertion that "Allasdrum's March" is not Irish. Paddy Moloney of the Chieftains seems to split the difference when he states the tune reflects the "rich fertilisation between Irish and Scottish harpers and pipers."
***
Croker goes on to say: "The estimation in which it is held in Ireland is wonderful. I have heard this march, as it is called, sung by hundreds of the Irish peasantry who imitate the drone of the bagpipe in their manner of singing it. On that instrument I have also heard it played and occasionally with much pleasure from the peculiar and powerful expression given by the performer." O'Sullivan (1983) notes the piece is printed by Bunting (1840) but that his version is only a section of a longer descriptive piece for pipers called "Máriseáil Alasdruim." It is a relatively complicated programmatic tune, in its entirety. Goodman, writing in 1861, described the piece as he heard it from Kerry pipers:
***
...(It) contains in addition to the March, the Gathering, the Battle,
the shouts on the fall of Allisdrum, and the cries, first of the mother,
the Munsterwoman, then that of his nurse, a Leinsterwoman, with
the lament of his wife, the Ulsterwoman, and the piece concludes
with the old jig 'Cnocán an Teampuill' which she is said to have
struck up so soon as she ascertained that her husband was really dead.
***
A variant of the piece is called "Sarsfield's Quickstep" and appears in Haverty's Three Hundred Irish Airs (1858-1859). Sources for notated versions: Bunting noted the piece from "a piper at Westport (Co. Mayo), 1802"; Willie Clancy (Miltown Malbay, County Clare), who had his version from an old piper, Mickey McMahon, who lived at Kilcororan (County Clare) and called it "Alexander's March" [Breathnach]. O'Neill (1913), pg. 124 (appears as "Allistrum's March"). Breathnach (Ceol II, 3), 1966. Breathnach (The Man and His Music), 1997; pg. 18. O'Sullivan/Bunting, 1983; No. 112, pgs. 161-162. Claddagh CC17, Sean Keane - "Gusty's Frolics." Island ILPS9432, The Chieftains - "Bonaparte's Retreat" (1976). RCA 09026-61490-2, The Chieftains - "The Celtic Harp" (1993).
X:1
T:MacAllistrum's March
R:march
D:Chieftain's - Celtic Harp
Z:Michael Hogan
M:6/8
L:1/8
K:D
|:Fdd fee|fdd dBA|Fdd fee|fdd B2A:|
|:~F2E FDD|Fdd dBA|~F2E FDD|Fdd B2A:|
|:d2f e2f|ded dBA|d2f e2f|ded B2A:|
|~B2A B2E|~B2A BAF|(3Bcd B c2F|(3Bcd B cAF|
~B2A B2E|~B2A BAF|BdB c2F|Bdc BAG||
X:2
T:Máirseáil Alasdruim
L:1/8
M:6/8
S:Breathnach (Man and His Music, 1997)
K:G
c|ABG AGF|G2g fdc|ABG AGF|Ggf d2c|
ABG AGF|Ggg fdc|ABB cBc|dgf d2c:|
|:Aff Agg|age fdc|Aff Agg|age (3dedc|
Aff Agg|bag fde|fef g3|age d2:|

MARMADUKE'S HORNPIPE. AKA - "Marmadike." AKA and see "Damon's Winder," "Dan Jones." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Arkansas, Missouri. D Major (Christeson, Phillips): D Mixoydian {'A' part} & D Major {'B'part} (Songer). Standard. AABB (Christeson, Songer): AABB' (Phillips). Missouri fiddler Howard "Rusty" Marshall reveals that Missouri oral tradition gives that the tune was named for Confederate general John S. Marmaduke, son of pre-conflict Missouri governer M.M. Marmaduke, who was"from a dynasty of Little Dixie tobacco and hemp farmers, slave holders, and politicians." More political appointee than warrior, John S. and his outnumbered, outgunned rebel forces were soundly defeated at the battle of Boonville in June, 1862, resulting in surrendering control of the Missouri River to Union forces. Despite his lack of success in the martial arena Marmaduke was, like his father, elected governor of the state after Reconstruction. The title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. In fact, the melody is commonly played at fiddle contests in the mid-west. "Local fiddlers in central Missouri have mentioned this tune was propagated by Daniel Boone Jones, a widely remembered fiddler from Boone County, who represented Missouri in one of Henry Ford's national contests in the late 1920's" (Christeson). The tune was so closely associated with Jones, who was a highly influential regional fiddler in the early 20th century, that his name was an alternate title for his contest winning version. "Cricket on the Hearth," "Grand Hornpipe" and "Rocky Mountain Goat" are melodies thought to be reminiscent of "Marmaduke's" and perhaps cognate. "Damon's Winder" is the same tune, save for the 'C' natural notes played in the third and fourth measures instead of a 'C' sharp. Sources for notated versions: black fiddler Bill Driver (Iberia, Cole County, Missouri) [Christeson]; Seattle fiddler Barry Schultz via fiddler Armin Barnett (Seattle) [Songer]. R.P. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, Vol. 1), 1973; pg. 50-51. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 2, 1995; pg. 206. Songer (Portland Collection), 1997; pg. 131. Missouri State Old Time Fiddlers Association 002, Taylor McBaine (b. 1911) - "Boone County Fiddler." Missouri State Old Time Fiddlers' Association, Vee Latty (1910-1956) - "Fever in the South." Missouri State Old Time Fiddlers' Association, Cyril Stinnett - "Plain Old Time Fiddling." CLP 228, Lonnie Robertson (Mo.) - "Fiddle Favorites" (Privately issued, c. 1971-72). Voyager 340, Jim Herd - "Old Time Ozark Fiddling." Voyager VRCD 344, Howard Marshall & John Williams - "Fiddling Missouri" (1999. Learned primarily from Taylor McBaine).
T:Marmaduke's Hornpipe
L:1/8
M:2/4
K:D
F/G/|AA/A/ A/B/A/G/|F/E/F/E/ D/E/F/D/|A,E/E/ CE/E/|A,E/E/ C/E/F/G/|
AA/A/ A/B/A/G/|F/E/F/E/ D/E/F/D/|A,E/E/ CE/E/|(A,/ D) (A,/ D):|
|:(A|A/)B/d/e/ f/d/e/d/|B/d/e/f/ g/f/g/(A/|A/)B/d/e/ f/e/d/f/|e/d/B AF/G/|
A/B/d/e/ f/d/e/d/|B/d/e/f/ g/f/g/(b/|b/)g/a/f/ g/f/e/d/|c/A/B/c/ d:|

MUDDY ROAD TO MOBERLY. AKA - "Muddy Road to Ducktown." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Missouri, Tennessee. Little Dixie, Missouri, area fiddler Howard Marshall thinks this tune was a Civil War tune perhaps brought back by soldiers after the battle of Shiloh. The Confederates were camped near there at a place called Ducktown (a Tennessee title may be "Muddy Road to Ducktown"). Marshall, not knowing the name, called it after his own hometown. Voyager VRCD 344, Howard "Rusty" Marshall & John Williams - "Fiddling Missosuri" (1999. Learned from hearing it in his childhood before he played the fiddle).

O'RAHILLY'S GRAVE. AKA - "O'Reilly's Grave." Irish, Slow Air (4/4 time). A Dorian. Standard. One part. The title undoubtedly refers to the poet Aogán Ó Rathaille (c. 1675 - 1729), whose name is also given as O'Reilly and Egan O'Rahilly, born in Screathan an Mhil (Scrahanaveel), in the Sliabh Luachra region some ten miles east of Killarney. He appears to have received a good formal schooling, being versed in Latin and English as well as in Irish literature and history. The Browne family and the McCarthy's were both patrons of Ó Rathaille, and his fortunes rose and fell with them. Sir Nicholas Browne (of old Elizabethan planter stock, although Catholic and Jacobite) backed King James, and after the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 in which James was defeated, Browne lost his lands and titles for the remainder of his life. Ó Rathaille, in consequence, had to leave his native district and lived in poor circumstances at Tonn Tóime, at the edge of Castlemaine Harbour, some twelve miles west of Killarney. His poetry, the best of which has a heroic desolation and grandeur, is in many ways a result of his effort to come to terms with the chaos in which he and his people found themselves. Ó Rathaille is buried with the McCarthys in Muckross Abbey, Killarney. Ó Canainn (Traditional Slow Airs of Ireland), 1995; No. 117, pg. 100. Green Linnett SIF 3041, Matt Molloy - "Stony Steps." Julia Clifford - "Star Above the Garter." Joe Burke - "Tailor's Choice."

OVER THE WATER TO CHARLIE. AKA - "Charley Over the Water," "Over the River to Charlie," "Over the Water." AKA and see "Ligrum Cush," "Lacrum Cosh," "The Marquis (Marquess) of Granby," "Pot Stick," "Sean Buidhe" (Yellow John) "The Shambuy," "Wishaw's Delight." Scottish (originally), English, American; Air, Jig and Morris Dance Tune (6/8 time, with an irregular measure in the 'B' part). England, Northumberland. A Major (Raven): G Major (Alewine, Kennedy, Kerr, Mallinson). Standard. AABB (x4). A Jacobite (i.e. Highland supporters of Bonnie Prince Charlie) tune that was "improbably" introduced into British Guards regiments by 1764 (Winstock, 1970). That Winstock finds this improbable seems to be because the last Jacobite attempt to capture the throne of England was defeated at the Battle of Culloden in 1745, a mere nineteen years prior to the Britsih Guards introduction. However, memories of the rising appeared to have healed even more quickly in the general populace of England, as evidenced by this excerpt from a letter written by Ralph Bigland in 1749 of an entertainment on the London stage (quoted by Emmerson, 1972):
***
I have since I came here [London] been lately two or three
times at the play and what invited me most was to see a
new dance called the Scots Dance consisting of about 20
lads and lasses dress'd after the Highland fashion. The
scene represents a very romantic, rocky, or mountainous
country seemingly, at the most distant view you behold a
glorious pair (which far surpass all the other actors) sitting
among the rocks, while the rest are dancing below among
groves of trees. Some are also representing with their
wheels a spinning; all the while the music plays either
Prince Charlie's minuet or the Auld Stewarts Back Again.
At last descends from the mountains the glorious pair
which to appearance is a prince and princess. Then all the
actors retire on each side while the royal youth and his
favourite dance so fine, in a word that the whole audience
clap their hands for joy. Then in a moment the spinning
wheels are thrown aside and every lad and lass join in the
dance and jerk it away as quick as possible while the
music briskly plays--Over the Water to Charlie, a bagpipe
being in the band. In short it was so ravishing seemingly
to the whole audience that the people to express their joy
clap their hands in a most extraordinary manner indeed.
***
Though the title stems from the Jacobite era, the tune is older and has had many names (given above as alternates--see notes for "Pot Stick" and "Sean Buide"), however, by the 1750's it was appearing in published collections with the "Over the Water" title. Bayard (1981) identifies that at some point the tune was altered and a new group of variations formed using the second half of the "Charlie" tune as the first strain and adding a different second strain. This second group is usually known as "Blow the Wind Southerly" (after song lyrics) or "Kinloch (of Kinloch)" {a title which first appeared in 1798 in John Watlen's Second Collection of Circus Tunes}. Early printings of the tune can be found in Oswald's Caledonian Pocket Companion (book 4, pg. 7, c. 1752), the Gillespie Manusript of Perth (1768) and Robert Bremner's 1757 collection (pg. 16). A three-verse version exists in the Scots Musical Museum (1788) and it appears in Hogg's Jacobite Relics (early 1800's).
***
"Over the Water to Charlie" was employed variously as an accompaniment to dancing in the British Isles and was imported as a dance tune to America. A morris dance version was collected in the village of Bledington, Gloucestershire, in England's Cotswolds, while country dance instructions, but not the melody, appear in the Scottish Menzies Manuscript, 1749 (contained in the Atholl Collection of the Sandeman Library, Perth). The title appears in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes ("The Northern Minstrel's Budget"), which he published c. 1800 and, in America, the tune appears in Giles Gibbs' MS collection made in 1777 in East Windsor, Connecticut.
***
Words to the melody can be found in several collections. The following are from the Scots national poet, Robert Burns:
Come boat me o'er, come row me o'er,
Come boat me o'er to Cherlie:
I'll gie John Ross anither bawbee
To boat me o'er to Charlie. --
***
Chorus:
We'll o'er the water, we'll o'er the sea,
We'll o'er the water to Charlie;
Come weal, come woe, we'll gather and go,
And live or die wi' Charlie. --
***
I lo'e weel my Charlie's name,
Tho' some there be abhor him:
But O, to see auld Nick gaun hame,
And Charlie's faes before him!
***
I swear and vow by moon and stars,
And sun that shines so early!
If I had twenty thousand lives,
I'd die as aft for Charlie.
***
And these from the Ettick Shepherd, James Hogg (Jacobite Relics):
Come boat me o'er, come ferry me o'er,
Come boat me o'er tae Charlie
I'd hear the call once, but never again,
Tae carry me over tae Charlie.
***
Chorus:
We'll over the water, we'll over the sea,
We'll over the water tae Charlie.
Come weel, come woe, we'll gather and go
And live or die with Charlie.
***
I swear by moon and stars sae bright,
And sun that shines sae Dearly,
I would give twenty-thousand lives
I'd given them all for Charlie.
***
Once I had sons, but now I've gat nane,
I've treated them all sae sairly.
But I would bear them all again,
And lose them all for Charlie
***
Sources for notated versions: John White (Greene County, Pa., 1930's) and Thomas Patterson (Elizabeth, Pa., 1930's) [Bayard]. Alewine (Maid that Cut Off the Chicken's Lips), 1987; pg. 28. Bacon (The Morris Ring), 1974; pg. 81. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 556A-B, pgs. 494-495. Hall & Stafford (Charlton Memorial Tune Book), 1974; pg. 18. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book), Vol. 2, 1954; pg. 38. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; No. 6, pg. 31. Mallinson (Mally's Cotswold Morris Book), 1988; No. 16, pg. 14. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 78 (morris version). Folk-Legacy Records FSI-42, The New Golden Ring - "Five Days Singing, Vol II."

PITBAVINIE. Scottish, Strathspey. E Flat Major. Standard. AABB'. Composed by William Macpherson. According to Neil (1991) Pitgavinie, or Pitgaveny, is traditionally believed to be the famous Bothgowan of Shakespeare's play "MacBeth." After Duncan's defeat at the battle of Forforness (Burghead) in 1040, he and his general MacBeth fled to Bothgowen where he was mortally wounded by the traitorous MacBeth who had his own designs on Duncan's throne. Neil (The Scots Fiddle), 1991; No. 65, pg. 89.

RODNEY'S GLORY [1] (Gloire {Ui} Rodnaig). AKA and see "Irishman's Return from America," "My Name is Moll Mackey," "Praises of Limerick." Irish, Air and Long or Set Dance (2/4 time). A Aeolian/Mixolydian (O'Neill/1001, Welling): G Aeolian/Mixolydian (O'Neill/1915): A Dorian (Mitchell, Mulvihill, O'Neill/1850 & Krassen). Standard. AABB. The tune is a set dance version of Turlough O'Carolan's air "Princess Royal" or "Miss MacDermott." The title "Rodney's Glory," explains O'Sullivan (1983), was derived from verses set to the tune by the poet Eoghain Rua Ó Súilleabháin in 1782, commemorating a naval battle fought that year in which George Rodney (d. 1792), then vice-admiral of Great Britain, encountered the French fleet under Admiral Comte De Grasse. "The Battle of the Saints" or "Les Saintes" (named after Les Isles des Saintes, in the West Indies between Guadeloupe and Dominica), as the engagement was called, was one of the most important sea battles in wooden-ship history, in which Rodney's thirty-three ships broke in two places the French line-of-battle of thirty-seven ships of the line, when, after the fleets had nearly passed each other on opposite tacks, a change of wind favored the British. The result was the capture of the French flagship and admiral along with five other ships. It was to be the final battle of the War of the American Revolution, and although it did not negate Washington's victory at Yorktown, it did preserve Britains West Indian territories. Rodney was rewarded with a peerage although he came in for criticism for not following up his initial victory with the destruction of the remainder of the French fleet. Ó Súilleabháin served on The Formidable, a ship which saw some of the severest fighting and thus "Rodney's Glory" is a first-hand account.
**

ROSLYN/ROSLIN CASTLE. AKA - "House of Glams." Scottish, English; March & Air (4/4 time). E Minor (Camus, Neil): C Minor (Hunter). Standard. One part (Hunter): AB (Camus, Hardie): AABB (Neil). A British march used by the English army during the Revolutionary War period (Winscott, 1970). Camus (1976) says the tune was the melody most often associated with funerals during the Revolution, and notes that legend has it that it was played by Scottish bagpipers stationed in New York at the time, in honor of the castle at Roslyn, Midlothian, Scotland. The castle does in fact exist, and has since the early 14th century (c. 1304), when it was built by Sir William St. Clair soon after the Battle of Rosslyn, when, as part of the Scottish War of Independence, the English army of Edward I was decimated by the Scots. It is a castle of the rock and waterfall, lying high above the north bank of the River Esk a few miles south-west of Edinburgh, and features a small but magnificent chapel founded in 1446 by the Earl of Orkney and Roslin. Added to through the years, it survived two fires but was ultimately destroyed by Cromwell's troops in 1650. The heyday of the edifice was in the 14th and 15th centuries, where it has been likened to a 'Camelot' of the era. Neil (1991) remarks "It is on record that one of the princesses of the castle had 75 ladies-in-waiting and 53 of them were also members of the nobility, all of whom were beautifully dressed in gowns of velvet and silk and who also wore gold and other jewels. When this princess travelled to her house in Edinburgh, she was accompanied by 200 men on horseback and, if at night, by a further 80 carrying torches. There is also the legend that the castle is haunted by the "Sleeping Lady" who guards a vast treasure. If awakened by the sound of a trumpet, to be heard in the lower apartments, she will appear and reveal the treasure, whereupon the castle would rise from its ruins to its former glory." After the Revolution the melody appears to have continued to have been associated with funerals; Rocellus Guernsey stated that it was always used as a dirge during the War of 1812. It was commonly published in fife tutors of the day, and appeared in the Gillespie Manuscript of Perth (1768). Words to the tune were written by Richard Hewitt of Cumberland, who acted as amanuensis to the Scottish lyric poet Dr. Blacklock (1721-1791). The tune is often erroneously attributed to the expatriate Scottish music publisher, composer and dancing master James Oswald (1711-1769), who lived in London for much of his later career, however, the melody had appeared a few years earlier in McGibbon's (2nd) collection under the title "House of Glams."
***
Sir Walter Scott referenced the playing of "Roslyn Castle" by the renowned Scots fiddler Niel Gow in his book St. Ronan's Well:
***
Gow's fiddle suddenly burst forth from where he had established
his little orchestra. All were of course silent as through his dear
strathspeys he bore with highland rage. He changed his strain to
an adagio, and suffered his music to die away in the plaintive notes
of Roslin Castle...
***
Camus (Military Music of the American Revolution), 1976; Example 16, pg. 117. Hardie (Caledonian Companion), 1992; 102. Henderson (Flowers of Scottish Melody), 1935. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No.

Ceolas > Tunes > Fiddler's Companion

The Fiddler's Companion