Annotation:Favorite Dram (The): Difference between revisions

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FAVORITE DRAM, THE. AKA - "Mo bhobag an dramm," "Ho rò mo bhoban an dràm," "My Favorite Dram." Scottish, Air or Slip Jig (9/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB'CC'. Fraser appends to the title: "A Highland Bumpkin." This tune "is a well known and popular bacchanalian Highland melody; but Culduthel's set of the words and music are so superior to any the editor has heard, that it is rather fortunate his edition of the air happens to be in print before an imperfect standard came forward" (Fraser). Fraser obliquely references the drinking song written to the air, attributed to poet Alasdair MacDonald of Moidart (ca. 1695–ca. 1770), AKA Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair (Alexander, the son of Master Alexander), who not only supported Bonnie Prince Charlie in the Jacobite rising of the mid-1740's, but was responsible for interpreting Gaelic conversation for Prince Charlie and for teaching him some Gaelic language. After the defeat at Culloden Alsadair fled, but continued to write satirical pieces in Gaelic about the victorious Hanovarians and their supporters. Discretion was not one of his faults, however, and his acerbic scribbling sometimes targeted his hosts, requiring him to flee to still other places of safety. Perhaps his "Favorite Dram" was a welcome relief, when it came.

The melody also appears in the 1820 music manuscript collection of piper Robert Millar, of the "Forfar Reg. and Piper to the Aberdeen Highland Society."

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Fraser (The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles), 1816/1874; No. 164, p. 67.

Recorded sources:

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-'''FAVORITE DRAM, THE'''. AKA - "[[Ho rò mo bhoban an dràm]]," "[[My Favorite Dram]]." Scottish, Air or Slip Jig (9/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB'CC'. Fraser appends to the title: "A Highland Bumpkin." This tune "is a well known and popular bacchanalian Highland melody; but Culduthel's set of the words and music are so superior to any the editor has heard, that it is rather fortunate his edition of the air happens to be in print before an imperfect standard came forward" (Fraser). The melody also appears in the 1820 music manuscript collection of piper Robert Millar, of the "Forfar Reg. and Piper to the Aberdeen Highland Society."
+'''FAVORITE DRAM, THE'''. AKA - "[[Mo bhobag an dramm]]," "[[Ho rò mo bhoban an dràm]]," "[[My Favorite Dram]]." Scottish, Air or Slip Jig (9/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB'CC'. Fraser appends to the title: "A Highland Bumpkin." This tune "is a well known and popular bacchanalian Highland melody; but Culduthel's set of the words and music are so superior to any the editor has heard, that it is rather fortunate his edition of the air happens to be in print before an imperfect standard came forward" (Fraser). Fraser obliquely references the drinking song written to the air, attributed to poet Alasdair MacDonald of Moidart (ca. 1695–ca. 1770), AKA Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair (Alexander, the son of Master Alexander), who not only supported Bonnie Prince Charlie in the Jacobite rising of the mid-1740's, but was responsible for interpreting Gaelic conversation for Prince Charlie and for teaching him some Gaelic language. After the defeat at Culloden Alsadair fled, but continued to write satirical pieces in Gaelic about the victorious Hanovarians and their supporters. Discretion was not one of his faults, however, and his acerbic scribbling sometimes targeted his hosts, requiring him to flee to still other places of safety. Perhaps his "Favorite Dram" was a welcome relief, when it came.
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+The melody also appears in the 1820 music manuscript collection of piper Robert Millar, of the "Forfar Reg. and Piper to the Aberdeen Highland Society."
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