Annotation:Aandowin at da Bow(e)
X:1 T:Aandowin At Da Bow R:Reel M:4/4 K:G A|BGAG E2D2|BGAG BGAd|BGAG E2D2|GABA G3:| g|egdB AGE2|egdg egdg|egdB AGE2|g2gg afg2| egdg egdg|egdB AGED|GABG E2D2|GABA G3||
AANDOWIN AT DA BOW(E). Shetland, Shetland Reel. Shetland, widely known in the islands. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (Hunter, Martin, Martin & Hughes); AABB' (Cooke). A good example of an indigenous Shetland reel, states Peter Cooke (1986), widely known in the islands. Tom Anderson & Tom Georgeson (Da Mirrie Dancers, 1970) relate that it is supposed to have been composed by a fiddler from Muckle Row, Shetland. Anderson also explains the title refers to the action of keeping a fishing boat steady in one place by means of "iddling" with the oars while the lines are out. The 'bowe' referred to in the title is a marker buoy attached to a fishing line. Cooke (1986) prints the following text sung with this dance tune, of more recent composition than the tune and in oral tradition in the Shetlands in the 1970's:
No gaen forward, no gaen trow,
Bidin aboot ae place, Aandowin at da bow.