Annotation:Manson's Schottische
X:1 % T:Manson's Schottische M:C L:1/8 R:Schottische N:"For Dancing" C:J. Scott Skinner N:"To Manson Scott Skinner" B:Skinner - The Logie Collection (1888, p. 87) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:D A,|D<D D2 E<E E2|F>D {D}A>D C<EE>G|F<F F2 G<G G2|A<d F>E F>D D:| B|A<d F>E F<D D>E|F>D {D}A>D C>(EE>)G|F<F F2 G<G G2|A>d F>E F>DD>B| A>d F>E F<(DD>)E|F>D A>D C<(EE>)G|FDFA BDGB|A<d F<E F<D D||
MANSON'S SCHOTTISCHE. Scottish, Schottische (whole time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. Composed by fiddler-composer and dancing master biography:J. Scott Skinner (1843-1927), dedicated to his son Manson Scott Skinner, (b. 1881, or 1879-1959). He specified the tune was "for dancing" but included the words to a poem by "W.S."
Oh! faither dear, screw up your pegs,
I'm a' but sleepin' on my legs,
An' "sairly pitten aff my eggs,"
For want o' Manson's Schottische, O.
The bue sea dances to the wind,
An' bairnies a' are good an' kind,
When wi' a partner to their mind,
They dance the Highland Schottische, O.
Sweet wild flowers play at jingo-ring,
The ivy roun' the oad doth cling,
The lark on high maun sweetly sing
Notes for the Highland Schottische, O.
Sae I maun follow Nature's plan
Wi' honest heart, dance when I can,
Haud high my head, an' be a man!
An' dance the Highland Schottische, O.
Manson would have been aged seven or eight when Skinner's Logie Collection was published, and apparently already enjoyed dancing. He is said to have developed into a very good dancer, although he did not play the fiddle as Skinner had hoped. Manson toured with Skinner as a boy, performing Highland and novelty dances, and later emigrated to Sydney, Australia. In 1913 he resided in the copper-mining town of Cobar, in central western New South Wales. During World War I at age 37 he enlisted as a private in served for a year and a half in the 19th Infantry Battalion overseas with the Anzac expedition.