Annotation:Merry Lads of Foss (The)
X:1 T:Merry Lads of Foss, The M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel S:McGlashan - Reels (c. 1786) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:D FA A/A/A B2 Ac|dBAF GEEG|FA A/A/A B2 Ag|fdef d/d/d d2:| ||g|f2 df aeeg|f2 df eBBg|f2 df aeeg|faef d/d/d df| f2 df aeeg|f2 df eBBg|f2 df aeef|fdef d/d/d d2||
MERRY LADS OF FOSS, THE. AKA and see "Lads of Foss (The)." Scottish, Reel (cut time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Surenne): AAB (McGlashan, Rook). The tune was entered into the music copybook [1] of John Buttery (1784-1854), a fifer with the 37th Regiment, British army, who served from 1797-1814 and who late in life emigrated to Canada. Buttery's manuscript collection has also been identified as belonging to John Fife [1], with a suggested date of 1780. Fife was a family name, like Buttery, identified with the manuscript. "Merry Lads of Foss" was also entered into the 1840 music copybook of multi-instrumentalist John Rook, of Waverton, Cumbria.
Researcher Conor Ward finds the tune derivative of "Keel Row (The)."
- ↑ Early American Secular Music and Its European Sources, https://www.cdss.org/elibrary/Easmes/Index.htm