Brose and Butter

BROSE AND BUTTER. AKA and see "The Peacock Followed/Follows the Hen," "Cuddle Me, Cuddy," "Yellow Stockings," "Mad Moll [1]," "Up and Down Again," "The Virgin Queen." AKA - "Uilleam 's Caulm's Mòrag" (William and Malcolm and Marion). Scottish, Country Dance Tune (9/8 time). D Major (Howe, Kennedy, Kerr, Martin): G Major {Bremner, Gow}. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (Gow, Martin): AABB (Bremner, Kennedy, Kerr). The tune is a member of a very large tune family that also includes "Up with Aley," "The Faraway Wedding," "Cummilum," "Ride a Mile," "Hey My Nanny/Nancy," "The Honeymoon," "The Dusty Miller," "The Kitten," "Jerry Houlihan," "The Cudgel," "Drops of Brandy/Whiskey," and "Follow Her over the Border." According to Ford (Song Histories, 1900, pgs. 189-190) "Brose and Butter" was a favourite air of Charles II in his exile. Despite the reference to the king (which would date it to the 1640's), John Glen (1891) does not find a printed version until Robert Bremner's 1757 collection. Brose is Scottish dish made with a boiling liquid and meal; "a dish of oat- or pease-meal mixed with boiling water or milk, with salt and butter etc added" (Concise Scots Dictionary). Origins of the term are unclear, although Webster's suggests perhaps it is an alteration of the Scots bruis broth, from Middle English brewes, from Old French broez, nominative singular of broet, diminutive of breu broth (see also note for "Atholl Brose").

There are suggestive lyrics to the melody printed by Herd (1776, vol. II, pp. 203-204):

CHO:
Gi'e my love brose, brose,
Gi'e my love brose and butter;
Gi'e my love brose, brose,
Yestreen he wanted his supper

Jenny sits up in the laft,
Jocky wad fain hae been at her;
There came a wind out of the wast,
Made a' the windows to clatter.

A goose is nae good meat,
A hen is boss within;
In a pye there's muckle deceit,
A pudding it is a good thing.

The melody (which begins on the relative minor chord) is still used as a mess call in Highland regiments. Martin (2002) prints the tune (along with "I Hae a Wife of my Ain" and "Drops of Brandy") as a vehicle for the dance Strip the Willow.

Printed sources: Bremner (Scots Reels), c. 1757; p. 32. Gow (Complete Repository), vol. 1, 1799, p. 22. Howe (1000 Jigs and Reels), c. 1867; p. 73. Kennedy (Fiddler's Tune-Book: Slip Jigs and Waltzes), 1999; p. 4, No. 7. Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 3; No. 294, p. 32. Martin (Traditional Scottish Fiddling), 2002; p. 46.

Recorded sources: Culburnie Records CUL 121D, Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas - "Fire and Grace" (2004). Maggie's Music MMCD222, Bonnie Rideout - "Scottish Fire" (2000).

X:2 T:Brose and Butter S:Johnny Cradden, Edinburgh Z:Nigel Gatherer M:9/8 L:1/8 K:D def dBB dBB | def dBB c2A | def dBB dBB | def fae c2A :| def aff aff | def aff g2e | def aff aff | def fae c2A :|]

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X:1
T:Brose and Butter
M:9/8
L:1/8
R:Jig
S:Gow - 1st Repository  (1799)
Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion
K:C
c>de AcA c2A|c>de AcA dBG|c>de AcA ABc|B2G Gge dBG:|
cde ege ege|cde ege dBG|cde ege e^fg|^f2d dge dBG|
cde ege ege|cde ege dBG|cde ege e^fg|^f2d dge dBG||

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Engraver Valerio M. Pelliccioni