Annotation:79th's Farewell to Gibraltar (The)

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X:1 T:79th’s Farewell to Giberalter [sic], The M:2/4 L:1/8 R:March B:John McLachlan - Piper’s Assistant (1854, No. 89, p. 52) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Amix c/d/|e>fec|A2 A/A/a|Tfe/c/ e/f/e/d/|cB B/B/c/d/| e>fec|A2 A/A/a|fe/c/ e/f/a/e/|TcA A/A/:| |:a|Tfe/c/ e/f/a/e/|f/a/e/c/ B/B/a|Tfe/c/ e/f/a/e/|fB B/B/a| Tfe/c/ e/f/a/e/|f/a/e/c/ B/B/a|Tfe/c/ e/f/a/e/|cA A/A/:| |:Tc/B/|A>Bca|Tfe/c/ B/B/c/B/|A/B/c/d/ e/f/e/c/|TfB BTc/B/| A>Bca|Tfe/c/ B/B/a|Tfe/c/ e/f/a/e/|cA A/A/:| |:c/d/|e>fec|e>dea|f>efa|Tfeca| Tfe/c/ cB/A/|B/A/B/c/ ea|fe/c/ e/f/a/e/|cA A/A/|]

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SEVENTY NINTH'S FAREWELL TO GIBRALTER. AKA and see "Farewell to Gibralter." Scottish, March (2/4 time). A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABCD (Miller): AABBCCDD (Martin). “The finest pipe march ever written,” as it has been called, was composed by Pipe Major John MacDonald in 1848, upon the occasion of the regiment’s receiving orders to leave their post in Gibraltar. The 79th was originally supposed to have gone to the West Indies, a post notorious for its unhealthy climate and the inordinate amount of casualties due to fever, however, at the last minute the regiment was posted to Canada due to the fortuitous intervention of the Secretary of State (who controlled such things and who happened to be the commanding officer’s brother and an old 79th officer himself). The title, however, may have been somewhat “tongue in cheek, as the transport lay off Gibraltar for some days, delayed by contrary winds” . The 79th Regiment was (and still is) known as the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, the only single-battalion regiment in the British army until 1897. It consisted not only of Scotsmen, and even in Victorian times was noted for the number of Englishmen in its ranks.