Annotation:Burn of Forgue (The)

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X:1 % T:Burn of Forgue, The C:J. Scott Skinner M:C L:1/8 R:Reel Q:"With Enthusiasm" N:"To John MacGregor" B:Skinner - The Logie Collection (1888, p. 95) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:A E|CEAB cAec|(dc)BA GFED|.C.E.A.B .c.A.e.c|d/d/d (Be) cAA:| "Dancing Bow".a|.g.f.e.d .c.e.A.e|dcBA GBEa|.g.f.e.d .c.e.A.c|d/d/d (Be) ~cAAa| .g.f.e.d .c.e.A.e|.d.c.B.A .G.F.E.D|.C.E.A.B .c.A.e.c|d/d/d (Bg) {g}aAA||

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BURN OF FORGUE, THE. Scottish, Reel (cut time). A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Cranford/Fitzgerald): AAB (Skinner): AABB' (Hardie). Composed by the great Scottish fiddle-composer and dancing master biography:J. Scott Skinner (1841-1927) in honor of the parish of Forgue in Aberdeenshire, Scotland (located between the towns of Huntly and Turriff). A burn is a small stream. Hardie (1992) maintains it makes "an ideal reel to follow the strathspey 'Tulchan Lodge.'" Skinner printed a poem in his Logie Collection on the same page with "Burn of Forgue" and "Bogniebrae", the first two stanzas of which go:

As we cam' ower the Fourman Hill,
And down by Pennyburn, O--
We daunder'd in to Bogniebrae
To mak' a brief sojourn, O.
I rang the bell and bade the lass
Produce the real MacGregor, O!
She brought a gillie and a glass,
And slyly named the figure, O!

Quo' I, "my meanin' ye've mistaen,
Tho' ye be brisk and clever, O--
I thocht o' Macs there was but ane
At "Bogniebrae for ever O"
She up the stair, like ony hare,
And chappit at the closet, O--
A cheery voice cried, "Wha goes there?"
"Twa fiddlers needin' rozie, O!"

The MacGregor brothers, James and John, were distillers of a fine quality whisky. Skinner dedicated a few tunes to John MacGregor and his product.