Annotation:Peter's Peerie Boat

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PETER'S PEERIE BOAT (Peter's Little Boat). AKA and see "Hooper's Jig." Shetland, Jig. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'B (Hunter): AABB (Anderson). Composed by Tom Anderson in 1949 in honor of Peter Leith, the first pianist of the Islesburgh Scottish Country Dance Band (of which Anderson was the leader). The pianist was a very keen sailing enthusiast and loved boats, one small (peerie) one of which he was trying to sell. Anderson "used to complain that he thought more about the boat than about the piano accompaniments--so he wrote a tune about it!" (Hunter, 1979). Peerie in Scots can also mean a spinning top, and there is some speculation that Anderson's title might refer to a boat spinning in the waves, but Anderson used the work peerie in several annotations in his published works, each time giving its meaning as 'small'. It is unlikely he meant anything but 'a small boat'.

This tune was first used by Scottish accordion player Jimmy Shand and his Band in the early 50's for the dance 'Hoopers Jig,' and has been played on the radio by most leading Scottish Dance Bands.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Anderson (Ringing Strings), 1983; p. 26. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 297.

Recorded sources:

See also listing at:
Hear melodeon player Lester Bailey's version [1]

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