Annotation:Favorite Dram (The)
X:1 T:Favorite Dram, The T:Ho rò mo bhoban an dràm M:9/8 L:1/8 R:Jig S:Fraser Collection (1816) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G c|B2c dBG G2f|g2e dBG G2c|B2c dBG GAB|c2B AFD D2:| |:c|(B>AB) (B>AB) G2 c|B2c dcB G2c|1 (B>AB) (B>AB) G2B|c2B AFD D2:| |2 B2c dBG gdB|c2B AFD D2||:d|gdB gdB G2f|g2e dBG G2f| |1 gdB gdB G2B|c2B AFD D2:|2 c|Bcd def gdB|c2B AFD D2||
FAVORITE DRAM, THE. AKA - "Bucket you want (The)," "Mo bhobag an dramm," "Ho rò mo bhoban an dràm," "My Favorite Dram." Scottish, Air or Slip Jig (9/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB'CC'. Fraser appends to the title: "A Highland Bumpkin." This tune "is a well known and popular bacchanalian Highland melody; but Culduthel's set of the words and music are so superior to any the editor has heard, that it is rather fortunate his edition of the air happens to be in print before an imperfect standard came forward" (Fraser). Fraser obliquely references the drinking song written to the air, attributed to poet Alasdair MacDonald of Moidart (ca. 1695–ca. 1770), AKA Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair (Alexander, the son of Master Alexander), who not only supported Bonnie Prince Charlie in the Jacobite rising of the mid-1740's, but was responsible for interpreting Gaelic conversation for Prince Charlie and for teaching him some Gaelic language. After the defeat at Culloden Alsadair fled, but continued to write satirical pieces in Gaelic about the victorious Hanovarians and their supporters. Discretion was not one of his faults, however, and his acerbic scribbling sometimes targeted his hosts, requiring him to flee to still other places of safety. Perhaps his "Favorite Dram" was a welcome relief, when it came.
Ho rò mo bhobag an dram,
Ho rì mo bhobag an dram,
Ho rò mo bhobag an dram,
’S e chuireadh an sodan nam cheann.
Fhearaibh ta ’r suidhe man bhòrd,
Le ’r glaineachan cridheil nar dòrn,
Na leanamaid righinn air òl,
Ma mill sinn ar bruidhinn le bòl.
Na tostachan sigeanta fial,
Gan aiseag gu ruige mo bheul;
Bu mhireagach stuigeadh, a’s triall,
Am màrsal le ciogailt trom chliabh.
Ho rò mo etc.
Ho ro, lad, bring me a dram!
Ho ro, lad, bring me a dram!
Ho ro, lad, bring me a dram!
That mirth come into my head!
Men, who sit around this table
With cheerful bumpers in your fists
Don't allow drink to disable
Your eloquence it should assist.'
It's not a toast to trifle with
That you shall hear now from my lips:
I'm inviting someone to writhe
Out of creels on a risky trip.
Ho ro etc. ..... [John McKenzie, Sàr-Obair nam Bard Gaelach/Beauties of Gaelic Poetry, 1865, [1], where the indicated air is "The bucket you want"].
The melody also appears in the 1820 music manuscript collection of piper Robert Millar, of the "Forfar Reg. and Piper to the Aberdeen Highland Society." See also the related tunes "Colonel (2) (The)," "Bucket (The)," and "Kick Ye Buckett" cognate in the first strain and similar in the second (c.f. the 'bucket' titles with the indicated tune 'The bucket you want', above).
