Annotation:Back of the Change House

Back to Back of the Change House

BACK OF THE CHANGE HOUSE, THE. AKA and see "Cuckold's Song," "Hame Cam Oor Gude Man." Scottish; Reel, Strathspey and/or Pipe March. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (Athole, Gow, Skye): AABB' (Cranford/Holland): AB (Honeyman, Surenne): AABB (Bremner). A 'change house' was a 1) structure for changing horses on coaches or wagons, for example, as at an inn, and 2) short for 'exchange house', a commonly found building in rural areas for exchanging goods and services. Paul de Grae says, of the latter, "many of these buildings survive in large and medium-sized towns all over Ireland, though nowadays often converted to other uses such as shops, heritage centres or even public toilets." Not "Back of the Change" as printed in the Roche Collection. John Glen finds the tune first printed in Robert Bremner's 1757 collection.

The tune was one of the reels (along with "Lord John Campbell (1)") that late 19th century fiddler Archie Menzies used to play when he used to compete for prizes [Baptie, Musical Scotland, p. 240).

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Bremner (Scots Reels), c. 1757; p. 93. Cranford (Jerry Holland: The Second Collection), 2000; No. 90, p. 36. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 1, 1799; p. 33. Honeyman (Strathspey, Reel and Hornpipe Tutor), 1898; p. 11. Jones [Ed.] (Complete Tutor Violin), c. 1815; p. 8. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; p. 39. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; p. 101. Surenne (Dance Music of Scotland), 1852; p. 23.

Recorded sources: Rounder 7021, Natalie MacMaster - "A Compilation" (1998). Smithsonian Folkways Records, SFW CD 40507, The Beaton Family of Mabou - "Cape Breton Fiddle and Piano Music" (2004).