Annotation:Grant of Strathspey (The)

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GRANT OF STRATHSPEY, THE. AKA and see "Graf Spee (The)," "Grant's Strathspey." Scottish, English; Reel. England, Northumberland. C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCCDDEE. "I have not found this tune in any Scottish collections, but it is known in Ireland as the 'Graf Spee,' a curious corruption of the original title into the name of a German 1st World War battleship" (Seattle). The title derives from its publication in the c. 1790 collection of Donald Grant, thus "Grant's Strathspey." "Grant of Strathspey" is a corrupted title. Cape Breton fiddlers play the tune as "Rothiemurchus Rant."

Robert Burns used the tune as the vehicle for his 1794 song "Lassie wi' the lint-white locks," a pentatonic version of "Grant/Rothiemurchus", ending of the second degree of the scale. The opening stanzas go:

Lassie wi' the lintwhite locks,
Bonie lassie, artless lassie,
Wilt thou wi' me tent the flocks,
An wilt thou be my Dearie O.

Now Nature cleeds the flowery lea,
And a' is young and sweet like thee,
O wilt thou share its joys wi' me,
And say thou'lt be my Dearie O.

Source for notated version: William Vickers 1770 Norumbrian music manuscript collection [Seattle].

Printed sources: Riley (Flute Melodies, vol. 4), 1826; p. 1 (as "Lassie wi' the lint-white hair"). Seattle/Vickers (Great Northern Tune Book, part 3), 1987; No. 572.

Recorded sources:

See also listing at:
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recordings Index [1]
See/hear Karen Mathieson sing Burns' song "Lassie wi' the lint-white locks" on youtube.com [2].