Annotation:Four and Twenty Highlandmen (2)
X:1 T:Four and Twenty Highlandmen [2] M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel B:Alexander Mackay – A Collection of Reels, Strathspeys and Slow Tunes… B:Chiefly composed by Alexander Mackay, Musician Islay (c. 1822, pp. 23-24) B: https://digital.nls.uk/special-collections-of-printed-music/archive/104487947 N:Dedicated to the Right Hon. Lady Elinor Campbell of Islay and Shawfield. N:Mackay was born c. 1775 and was a fiddler-composer from Islay. Many of his N:tune titles are reflect Islay settings. N:Printed in Glasgow by J. MacFadyen, 30 Wilson St. Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:A a|A/A/A (cA) eAcA|B=ggd BGGB|A/A/A (cA) eAcA |Beed cAA:| g|(ae)ca eaca|B=ggd BGGg|(ae)ca eaca|Beed cBAg| (ae)ca eaca|B=ggd BGGg|afge fdec|dBe>d cAA||
FOUR AND TWENTY HIGHLANDMEN [2] (Uair a theid thu thun a mhunaidh, An). AKA and see "When You Go to the Hill Take Your Gun." Scottish, (Pipe) Reel (cut time). A Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. The tune sounds and plays like a pipe reel, but was first published in Islay fiddler-composer biography:Alexander Mackay's Collection of Reels, Strathspeys and Slow Tunes (Glasgow, c, 1822). Angus Mackay, "piper to Her Majesty" (Queen Victoria), included the reel in his 1854 collection (published by Alexander Glen, bagpipe maker"), along with the Gaelic translation the title, "An uair a theid thu thun a mhunaidh." Highland piper David Glen also published a strathspey version of the tune as "When You Go to the Hill Take Your Gun," in Book 1 of his multi-volume collection (1876).
The title is apparently taken from a song that relates the adventures of "Four and Twenty Highlandmen" or "Four and Twenty Tailors" etc.
