Annotation:Music o' Spey (The)

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MUSIC O' SPEY, THE. Scottish, Slow Air (4/4 time). C Major (Skinner/Hirn): A Major (Bain, Hunter, Skinner/Violinist). Standard tuning (fiddle). One Part (Skinner): AB (Hunter): AABB (Bain). Composed by the great Scottish fiddler and composer biography:J. Scott Skinner (1848-1927).

Words were written to the tune by R. Grant of Peterhead, known as 'The Bard of Ugie', and appear in the front of Skinner's Miller o' Hirn Collection (1881). They begin:

I sing o' the Spey, the bonnie, bonnie Spey,
Whar the primrose grows so early,
An' ilka mile o' the bonnie Hielan' stream
Can shew you some rare fairlie.

O dearly I lo'e the grand auld Spey,
And its music aye sae cheerie,
Whan I hear the sound' o' my aid dear stream;
I ne'er feel dow nor weary.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Bain (50 Fiddle Solos), 1989; p. 10. Hardie (Caledonian Companion), 1992; p. 49. Skinner (Miller o' Hirn Collection), 1881. Skinner (The Scottish Violinist); 1900, p. 35.

Recorded sources:

See also listing at:
Hear the tune played on fiddle by Jo Miller at Tobar an Dualchais [1] (1st tune in set, followed by "Scott Skinner's Compliments to Mr. MacDonald" and "Mason's Apron) and [2].