Annotation:Lads of Ayr (1)
X:1 T:Bonny Lads of Air T:Lads of Ayr [1] M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel B:Archibald Duff – Collection of Strathspey Reels &c. (1794, p. 19) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:F f|:(ed).c.A cGGf|edcA f3g|(ed)cA cGGc|(A/=B/c) .G.E D3:| d|c2 ga gede|ccga g2 .e.d|c2 ga gede|(f/g/)a ge d2 de| c/c/c ga gede|c/c/c ga g2 ed|c/c/c ga gedc|fage dcdf||
LADS OF AYR/AIR [1], THE. AKA and see "Bonny Lads of Air," "Merry Lads of Ayr (The)." Scottish, English; Reel or Country Dance Tune (cut time). England, Northumberland. C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody appears in the Bodleian Manuscript (in the Bodleian Library, Oxford), inscribed "A Collection of the Newest Country Dances Performed in Scotland written at Edinburgh by D.A. Young, W.M. 1740," and in the (James) Gillespie Manuscript of Perth (1768). It also was included in the 1770 music manuscript collection of Northumbrian musician William Vickers (as "Lads of Are"). A set of this tune called "Merry Lads of Ayr (The)" has been identified as one of Joseph (or John) Riddell (or Riddle) (1718-95) of Ayr's compositions, published in his own 1766 collection. It appears in Archibald Duff's Collection of Strathspey Reels &c. (1794, as "Bonny Lads of Air") and Robert Mackintosh's A Third Book of Sixty-Eight New Reels and Strathspeys. Also above forty old Famous Reels (Edinburgh, 1796). For more see note under "Annotation:Merry Lads of Ayr (The)."
