EAST NEUK OF FIFE. AKA and see "She Gripped At the Greatest On't," "Green Grow the Rushes" (Bayard, 1981;No. 206H-M). Scottish (originally), Shetland, Canadian; March, Country Dance, Scots Measure or Reel. Scotland, Lowlands region. Canada, Prince Edward Island. G Major (double tonic, G and A). Standard. AB (Skye): AABB (Athole, Brody, Emmerson, Hardie, Hunter, Kerr, Perlman, Skinner, Williamson): AA'BB' (Cooke {Thomson}). Composed by James Oswald (c. 1711-1769) and included in his Caledonian Pocket Companion (Bk. 4, 1752) as "She gripped at the greatest o't." It first appears under the above title in William McGibbon's (c. 1690-1756) Third Collection (1755) and Bremner's 1759 Scots Tunes (Bremner negotiates the double tonic by using G and A Major in even numbered strains and G and A Minor in odd numbered strains"). It is still a popular Scots tune today, including the variations which uncharacteristically have survived in the popular repertory (variations were published by Nathaniel Gow in 1823-the first three were recorded by J. Scott Skinner in the first part of the 20th century). The East Neuk of Fife is that part of Scotland's county of Fife that juts into the North Sea and contains the town of St. Andrews, the ancestral home of the game of golf. In the eighteenth century Fife sported a profusion of decaying architectural marvels, a trade in thread, the making of calico, and the shooting of porpoises in the firth for their blubber-oil" (Williamson, 1976). The tune has become associated with a Robert Burns song, though it was not his choice of an air for the words, but rather an editor's substitution (Alburger). Bayard (1981) collected versions of the tune "Green Grow the Rushes" or by the floating title (in America) "Over the Hills and Far Away." Johnson (1984) retells an anecdote about the tune which was first published in Murdoch's Fiddle in Scotland, pg. 59 (Murdoch learned it from Baillie's grandson): "One day in about 1805, the fiddler Peter (Pate) Baillie of Loanhead, near Edinburgh, was on his way to play at a ball in Fife. The journey involved crossing the Firth of Forth by ferry, and when Baillie boarded the boat at Leith the other passengers noticed the violin he was carrying. As everyone had an hour to kill before the boat reached Burntisland, Baillie was soon holding an impromptu musical session on deck, with the other passengers calling out requests for tunes:
***
A gentleman asked Pate if he could play the 'East Neuk of Fife'
with ten variations, to which the minstrel replied in his homely
way: 'Weel, sir, I'll try it'. Off Pate set at a brisk pace with both
theme and variations, till the number bargained for was completed.
But Pate did not stop here. He dashed into fresh variations of his
own improvising, more wonderful than the first, and went on,
and on, and on, the gentleman looking at him with astonishment,
till at last the fiddler did make a halt. 'Well I declare!' said the
gentleman. 'Every one of the variations must have turned out
twins since I last heard them!' (pgs. 66-67).
***
Sources for notated versions: Henry Thomson (Vidlin, Mainland, Shetland) and George Sutherland (Bressay, Shetland) [Cooke], Bremner's (Scots Tunes), pg. 17 [Johnson, 1983]; George MacPhee (b. 1941, Monticello, North-East Kings County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]. Aird (Selections), 1778, Vol. 1; No. 57. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 97. Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 251. Cooke (The Fiddle Tradition of the Shetland Isles), 1986; Ex's. 52 and 53, pgs. 110-111. Emmerson (Rantin' Pipe and Tremblin' String), 1971; No. 89, pg. 164. Hardie (Caledonian Companion), 1992; pg. 31. Henderson (Flowers of Scottish Melody), 1935 (includes the traditional set of variations). Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 309. Johnson, (The Scots Musical Museum) 1787-1803; Vol. 3; No. 277. Johnson (Scottish Fiddle Music in the 18th Century), 1983; No. 34, pg. 92-93 (with variations). Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; pg. 23. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; pg. 170. McGibbon CST, pg. 89. McGibbon Scot, Vol. 3; pg. 17. McGlashan (Collection of Scots Measures), 177?; pg. 8. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; pg. 61. Skinner (Harp and Claymore), 1904. Skinner (The Scottish Violinist, with 5 of his variations), pg. 22-23. Smith (The Scottish Minstrel), 1820-24; Vol. 2; pg. 42. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 147. Thompson (Original Scottish Airs for the Voice, 1805; Vol. 4; No. 165. Williamson (English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish Fiddle Tunes), 1976; pg. 53. Olympic 6151, The Scottish Fiddle Festival Orchestra- "Scottish Traditonal Fiddle Music" (1978). Topic 12T280, J. Scott Skinner- "The Strathspey King."
T:East Neuk of Fife
L:1/8
M:C|
R:Country Dance
B:The Athole Collection
K:G
D|G2G2G2Bc|dBGB dBGB|A2A2A2gf|edef g2fe|dcBA GABc|
dBGB d2cB|ABcd BcAB|B2E2E2:|
|:dc|B2G2G2dc|B2G2G2ed|c2A2A2 eg|a2A2A2dc|B2G2d2G2|
g2G2d2cB|ABcd BcAB|G2E2E2:|
JOE MACDONALD'S REEL. Canadian, Reel. Canada, Prince Edward Island. A Major ('A' part) & A Mixolydian ('B' part). Standard. AABB'. Composed by Emmett Hughes (b. 1921, Dromore, Queens County, PEI) in honor of a St. Andrews, Kings County, PEI, fiddler. Source for notated version: Emmett Hughes [Perlman]. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; pg. 106.
LESLIE. Scottish, Reel. D Major. Standard. AAB. Charlie Gore finds the tune as "Miss Leslie of St. Andrews" by Donald Grant, who published a collection in Elgin around 1820. He was originally from the Moray/Inverness-shire region, ancestral home of the Grants. It also appears to be in Neil Stewart's collection (c. 1761) as "Miss Annie Livingston's Reel." Gatherer (Gatherer's Musical Museum), 1987; pg. 13. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; pg. 46. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 85. Beltona 2103 (78 RPM), Edinburgh Highland Strathspey and Reel Society (1936).
T:Leslie
L:1/8
M:C|
R:Reel
B:The Athole Collection
K:D
A|d2 fdec Ac|BcdB AFDF|G2 BGAF DF|GECE D2D:|
g|f2 dfec Ac|BcdB AFDg|f2 dfec Ac|Bgec d2 dg|f2 dgec Ac|BcdB AFDF|
GBGB FAFA|GECE D2D||
MISS LESLIE OF ST. ANDREWS. AKA and see "Leslie," "Miss Annie Livingston's Reel." Scottish, Reel. Composed by Donald Grant and published by him around 1820.
MISS ANNIE LIVINGSTON. AKA and see "Leslie," "Miss Leslie of St. Andrews." Scottish, Reel. John Glen (1891) finds the earliest appearance of the melody in Neil Stewart's 1761 collection (pg. 47).