Annotation:Postman's Knock (2) (The)
POSTMAN'S KNOCK [2]. AKA and see "Messe (Le)." A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The tune is Donegal fiddler John Doherty's [1] (1900-1980) reworking of J. Scott Skinner's "Messe (Le)," composed in honor of c. 1890's sale of a renowned Stradivarius violin called the 'Messiah'. Doherty himself claimed he heard the air from a 'country girl bringing the cows home', which may be his attempt to at once obscure its origins in his repertoire, and perhaps to deliberately but playfully confound collectors.