Annotation:Ruffian's Rant (The)

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X:1 T:Ruffian's Rant, The M:C L:1/8 S:McGlashan – Strathspey Reels Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:D B | A<FF>E F>EF<B|A>FF>D E>DEB | A<F F>D d>ef>e | d>BA>F E>D E :| |: B | A<F d>A B>Ad>B | A<F d>A B>AB>d | G<F F>D d>ef>d | B>dA>F E<D E :| |: b | a<f f>e f>e f<b | a<f f>d e>d e<b | a<f f>e d>gf>e | d>B d/B/A/F/ E>D E :| || B | A<Fd<F A<Fd<F | A<Fd<F BABd | A<F E>D d>ef>e | f/e/d/B/ d/B/A/F/ E>DEB |A/F/E/F/ d/F/E/F/ A/F/E/F/ d/F/E/F/ | A/F/E/F/ d/F/E/F/ B>A A<d | AFE>D Defd |EBdF E>DEB || |: A<F F>E F>E F<d | A<F F>DE>D EB | A<F F>A d>ef>e| F<F F>A E<DE :| |: B | A<F d>A d>Ad>B | A<F d>A B>ABd | A<F F>D d>efd | B>dA>F E>DE :|]

RUFFIAN'S RANT. AKA and see "Ben Nevis," "Coig na Scalan," “Down on Yon Bank,” "I'm Over Young to Marry Yet (1)," "Kilt is My Delight (The),” "Lady Francis Wemys' Reel," "Old Virginia," "Roy's Wife (of Aldivalloch)." Scottish, English; Strathspey or Rant. England, Northumberland. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Hall & Stafford): AABBCCD (Gow): AABBCCDD (Aird, Bremner, Huntington, Kennedy): AABBCCDEEFF (McGlashan). The composition has been credited to Scottish fiddler-composer and music publisher Robert Bremner (c. 1713-89), who printed the first collections of specifically Scottish dance music between 1757-1761. John Glen (1891) traced the tune back the mid-18th century, appearing under the title "Lady Frances Weemys' Reel in London publisher John Walsh's "24 Country Dances for year 1742." However, it probably appeared a few years earlier in David Young's Macfarlan Manuscript (1740) as "Cog na Scalan." The reel was first printed as "Ruffian's Rant" by Bremner in his 1757 collection and also appears in James Gillespie's Duke of Perth manuscript (1768, AKA - "The Gillespie Manuscript of Perth").

Set as an air, the melody was used by Robert Burns for his song "Theniel Menzies' Bonie Mary," the words of which were partly written, and partly improved by the poet, and printed in Johnson's Scots Musical Musesum. Burns must have liked the melody, for his song "In Commin' by the Brig o' Dye" in The Caledonian Museum (1770, No. 156) and three songs in his Merry Muses of Caledonia (published after his death, in 1800) were directed to be sung to it.

Additional notes

Source for notated version: -

Printed sources : - Aird (Selection of Scotch, English Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. II), 1785; No. 114, p. 42. Bremner (A Collection of Scots Reels), c. 1757; p. 43. Campbell (12th Book of New and Favorite Country Dances), p. 1. Gillespie (A Collection of the Best and Most Favourite Tunes for the Violin), 1768. Gow (Complete Repository, Part 1), 1799; p. 33. Hall & Stafford (Charlton Memorial Tune Book), 1956; p. 10. Huntington (William Litten's Tune Book), 1977; p. 9. Johnson (The Scots Musical Museum vol. 2), 1787-1803; No. 156. Kennedy (Traditional Dance Music of Britain and Ireland: Reels and Rants), 1997; No. 176, p. 41. McGlashan (Collection of Strathspey Reels), c. 1780/81; p. 22. Preston (A Collection of Scots Reels and Country Dances), p. 43.

Recorded sources: -