Annotation:Chester
Tune properties and standard notation
CHESTER. American, Air (4/4 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. A hymn tune composed by William Billings (1746-1800), employed as a march by Alstead, New Hampshire, fiddler Randy Miller. Billings was a tanner by trade and a friend to Boston patriots such as Paul Revere and Samuel Adams. He is considered the foremost American composer of his era, and his "Chester," a patriotic song, became the unofficial national anthem of the American Revolution. It begins:
Let tyrants shake their iron rods,
And Slav'ry clank her galling chains.
We fear them not, we trust in God,
New England's God forever reigns.
Printed source: Miller (Fiddler's Throne), 2004; No. 331, p. 195.