Annotation:Sadness of Life (The)

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X:1 % T:Sadness of Life, The M:C L:1/8 R:Air – “Pastoral” Q:"Eerie and hopeless" S:Skinner – Harp and Claymore (1904) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Cmin G, | C2 (cG) (A{B/A/}G/F/) {F}G2 | C2 (GF) (E{F/E/}D/C/) (DG,) | (C2 c)G (A{B/A/}G/F/) GE | (F/D/A/F/ D/=B,/G,/G/) ({G}C2C) :| g | (c'/g/e/f/ g/e/c/d/) (e/c/G/=B/ c/G/E/F/) | (G/E/C/=B,/ C/E/G/C/ ) =B,/D/G/=B/ d/g/=b/d'/ | (c'/g/e/f/ g/e/c/d/) (e/d/G/=B/ c/G/E/C/) | (F/D/A/F/ D/=B,/G,/G/) ({G}C2 C)g | (c'/g/e/f/ g/e/c/d/) (e/c/G/=B/ c/G/E/F/) | (G/E/C/=B,/ C/E/G/C/ ) (=B,/D/G/[A,/A/] G/F/E/D/) | (C/D/E/C/ F/D/G/E/) (A/F/=B/G/ c/G/E/C/) | (F/D/A/F/ D/=B,/G,/G/) ({G}C2C) ||

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SADNESS OF LIFE, THE. Scottish, Air (4/4 time). C Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. Composed in 1890 by the renowned Scottish fiddle-composer biography:James Scott Skinner (1847-1928) and dedicated to his friend and fellow fiddler composer biography:Peter Milne. Milne was a mentor and sometime playing partner of Skinner's, but became addicted to narcotics after taking them while recovering from a injury. Milne died in 1908 in an insane asylum after a long decline. In his handwritten score of the tune Skinner appended two lines from Alfred Lord Tennyson:

Ah! That a man would arise in me
That the man I am may cease to be'.