Annotation:John Cheap the Chapman
Tune properties and standard notation
JOHN CHEAP THE CHAPMAN. Scottish, Reel. G Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Surenne): AAB (Gow, Kerr, Stewart-Robertson). Composed by Nathaniel Gow (1763-1831), fiddler, composer, music publisher and bandleader. Son of the famous Scots fiddler/composer Niel Gow. A chapman was a hawker or peddlar, and, indeed the title refers to a volume by Dougal Graham [1] (c. 1724-1779), one of the most famous chapmen, even though physically deformed and of rather small stature. He wrote numerous very popular chapbooks (under assumed names), one of which was entitled A History of John Cheap, the Chapman. He was a contemporary of Nathaniel Gow's father, Niel Gow (1727-1807).
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 447. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 2, 1802; p. 13. Henderson (Flowers of Scottish Melody), 1935. Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 1; Set 21, No. 6, p. 13. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection, 1884; p. 189. Surenne (Dance Music of Scotland), 1852; p. 35.
Recorded sources: Culburnie CUL 113D, Alasdair Fraser & Tony MacManus - "Return to Kintail" (1999).