Annotation:Orange and Blue (1)
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ORANGE AND BLUE [1]. AKA and see "Blue Bonnets Hornpipe," "Blue Ribbon (The)," "Brochan Lom" (Thin Porridge), "Frolic (2) (The)," "Katy Jones’," "Kitty Jones," "Kitty Jones’," "Orange & Blue Highland (The)," "Orange and Blue Highland Fling." Scottish, Shetlands, English; Highland Schottische or Strathspey; Irish, Fling. A Major (Skinner): D Major (Kennedy, Kerr, Raven, Sweet): C Major (Gow, Hardie, Hunter, Lowe): A Major (Milne). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Hardie, Kerr, Milne, Skinner, Sweet): AA'BB' (Kennedy, Raven). Known throughout the Shetlands as well as Scotland both as the Highland Fling/Schottische "Orange and Blue" and "Brochan Lom," the latter also as puirt a beul (mouth music). Researcher Conor Ward finds the melody in common time in Alexander's Fifty New Scotch and Irish Reels and Hornpipes (London, c. 1826, No. 31, p. 15) under the title "Blue Ribon [sic] (The)." Ward also finds variants of the tune with the Alexander title in several 19th century Irish musicians' manuscript collections, including those of Francis Reynolds (Gaigue, Ballinamuck, Co. Longford, 1885), the Gunn Book (Co. Fermanagh, c. 1850), and Larry Smyth (Abbeylara, Co. Longford, c. 1900, as "Green Ribbon (The)"). Reynolds also included the alternate title "Kitty Jones."
The Scottish country dance Orange and Blue, of East Lothian, was one of the relatively few either wholly or in part in strathspey tempo (Flett & Flett, 1964). See also the Welsh variant "Allt-y-Caethiwed."
It has been suggested that the title refers to the traditional colors of the Ulster Protestants (Orangemen) and Scotsmen (Blue), the traditional color of the Liberal Party (orange) and Conservatives (blue), or the Orange and True Blue Masonic Lodge. See also the 6/8 time setting of the melody printed by Gow and in Kerr's Merry Melodies vol. 2 ("Orange and Blue (2)").
Source for notated version: Bill Hardie (Scotland) [Hunter]; Bill Hardie states, "In its present form it has been handed down from my grand-uncle, Charles Hardie (1849-1893), via my grandfather, and his nephew, the late William Cheyne, to whom I am indebted for impressing it on my memory."
Printed sources: Gow (Complete Repository, Part 4), 1817; p. 32. Hardie (Caledonian Companion), 1986; p. 34. Hunter (The Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 354. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune-Book, vol. 2), 1954; p. 19. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 1), c. 1880’s; No. 13, p. 20. Lowe's Collection of Reels, Strathspeys and Jigs, book 4, 1844–1845; p. 20. Milne (Middleton’s Selection of Strathspeys, Reels &c. for the Violin), 1870; p. 36. Moffat (Dance Music of the North), 1908; No. 43, p. 18. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 177. Skinner (The Scottish Violinist), 1900; pp. 20-21 (with three variations by Skinner). Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1964/1981; p. 69.
Recorded sources:
"The Caledonian Companion" (1975).
"Bob Smith's Ideal Band, Better than an Orchestra" (1977).
See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]