Annotation:Merry Lads of Foss (The)
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MERRY LADS OF FOSS, THE. Scottish, Reel (cut time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Surenne): AAB (McGlashan, Rook). The tune was entered into the 1780-1804 music manuscript copybook of fifer or fiddler John Fife, who may have been from Perthshire (and who also may have been at sea; battles in Caribbean and the Mediterranean are referenced in the ms.). It was also entered into the 1840 music copybook of multi-instrumentalist John Rook, of Waverton, Cumbria.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Aird (Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 4), 1796; No. 61, p. 25. McGlashan (A Collection of Reels), c. 1786; p. 15. Surenne (Dance Music of Scotland), 1852; p. 152.
Recorded sources: