Annotation:Lady Mary Ramsay (1)
X:1 T:Lady Mary Ramsay's Favorite T:Lady Mary Ramsay [1] M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel B:Abraham Mackintosh - A Collection of Strathspeys, Reels, Jigs, etc. (n.d., early 19th century) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:F A|[A,3F3]d cAAd|cAdB c>BAf|F<FFd cAAc|dFcA AGG:|| f/g/|affa geeg|fddf cAA f/g/|affa geec|dfcA AGG f/g/| affa geeg|fddf cAA f/g/|afge fdcA|dfcA AGG|]
LADY MARY RAMSAY('S) [1]. AKA and see "Mary Ramsay," "Sail Her ower da Raft Trees," "Sailor Ower da Raft Trees" (Shetland), "Auld Toon o' Edinburgh." Scottish, Shetland, Canadian; Strathspey or Reel. Canada, Cape Breton. D Major (most versions): G Major (Huntington): E Flat Major (Athole, Gow). Standard or ADae (in the Shetlands) tuning (fiddle). AB (Cole, Honeyman, Surenne): AAB (Gow, Howe, Hunter, Kerr, Lowe, Martin): AABB (Huntington): AABB' (Skinner, Stewart-Robertson): AABB'CCD (Skye). Lady Mary Ramsay was the daughter of George Ramsay, 8th Earl of Dalhousie, and her brother was William Ramsay Maule (see "Annotation:Mr. Maule’s Frolick"). She married James Hay in 1801 (who was later the High Sheriff for Devon).
The tune is generally considered to have been composed by Nathaniel Gow (1763–1831), and is attributed to Gow in the Fourth Collection (1800) and in Part 4 of his Complete Repository. An excellent tune, it is one of his best-known compositions. However an alternate claim is mentioned by Keith Norman MacDonald in his Skye Collection (1887): "This tune...(appears) in James Porteous's Collection and having his initials attached it is possible he may have been the composer of it". Porteous's name for the melody was "Auld Toon o' Edinburgh."
The name of the strathspey was shortened by Shetland fiddlers (as "Mary Ramsay") and played as a reel. It has been suggested that this occurred when the tune first circulated on the islands, via [J. Scott Skinner's] gramophone records, the play-back was at a faster tempo than the original performance and it was assumed that it was a reel. The Shetlanders had no knowledge of strathspeys in the country districts (Alburger {1983}, quoting the late Shetland collector and fiddler Tom Anderson). However, the a version of "Lady Mary Ramsay" was known in tradition in the Shetlands at least as far back as the 1880's in a Shetland Reel version called "Sail Her ower da Raft Trees" (see "annotation:Sail Her ower da Raft Trees" for more).
"Lady Mary Ramsay" was also printed in Joseph Lowe's First Collection (1844), and was entered into the c. 1833 music manuscript collection of Northumbrian small piper Lionel Winship [1]. The reel appears in Newcastle, Northumberland, fiddler-composer Abraham Mackintosh's early 19th century collection A Collection of strathspeys, reels, jigs etc. as "Lady Mary Ramsay's Favorite", identified as "an old Reel."
In Ireland the tune was a popular Highland fling and reel, going under such titles as "Four Provinces Flings (3)," "Queen’s Shilling (The)," and "Jamie Duffy's Highland" (see "Lady Mary Ramsey (2)"). A version in Boston, Mass., publisher Elias Howe's Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883) is to be found under the title "Forget Me Not (3)."
