Annotation:My Silly Auld Man
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MY SILLY AULD MAN. AKA and see "Before I was Married" "Billy O'Rourke's Jig (1)," "Black Rogue (1)," "Come Under My Plaidie," "Johnny MacGill," "Johnnie McGill," "Johnnie MacGill." Scottish, Jig. F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB and variation sets. The tune appears in the 1794 collection of Capt. Robert Riddell (1755-1794) of Glenriddell, Laird of Friar's Carse, near Dumfries, Scotland. He was a friend of his neighbor, Robert Burns (1759-1796, who at the time was a tenant farmer), and the poet visited Friars' Carse frequently, describing the estate as 'positively the most beautiful spot in the lowlands of Scotland'. A cordial relationship continued until they had a falling out the year before Riddell issued his publication; it was over a drunken incident at Friar's Carse, although details remain mysterious.
The tune has roots in both Scotland and Ireland, and numerous variants are extent.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Riddell (Collection of Scotch Galwegian Border Tunes), 1794; pp. 10-13.
Recorded sources: