Annotation:Lady Nelly Wemyss's Reel
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LADY NELLY WEMYSS/WEMYES'S JIG. AKA - "Lady Wemyss (1)," "Lady Nellie Wemyss," "Lady Nelly Wemyss," "Lady Nelly Wemyss's Reel," "Wait Awhile." Scottish, Jig. A Major/Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. John Glen (1891) finds the earliest appearance of this tune in print in Robert Bremner's 1757 collection (p. 13). Bremner's title, "Lady Nelly Wemyss's Reel", describes the dance this 6/8 tune accompanies, a title mirrored in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, fifer William Morris's c. 1776-77 music copybook where it appears as "Lady Nelley Wimsey Real." See also Francis O'Neill's version as "Wait Awhile."
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Anonymous (A Companion to the reticule), 1833; p. 5. Bremner (A Collection of Scots Reels), 1757; p. 13. Gatherer (Gatherer's Musical Museum), 1987; p. 20. Gow (Complete Repository, Part 1), 1799; p. 25. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 2), c. 1880's; No. 317, p. 35. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 3). c. 1880's; No. 229, p. 26. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; p. 177. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; p. 134.
Recorded sources: