Tullochgorum

DESCRIPTION: "Come gie's a song, Montgomery cried, An' lay your disputes ' aside." The singer asks, "Let Whig and Tory all agree," and asks that all dance "The reel of Tullochgorum." Those who disagree are wished "dule and sorrow."
AUTHOR: Words: John Skinner (1721-1807) / Music: "The Reel of Tullochgorum" (source: Porter/Gower-Jeannie-Robertson-EmergentSingerTransformativeVoice)
EARLIEST DATE: 1776 (broadside, according to Porter/Gower-Jeannie-Robertson-EmergentSingerTransformativeVoice)
KEYWORDS: political nonballad dancing
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Porter/Gower-Jeannie-Robertson-EmergentSingerTransformativeVoice #23, pp. 151-152, "Tullochgorum" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Roud #5658
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3248), "The Reel of Tullochgorum" (unknown, n.d.)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Young Jimmie Drummond (The Choring Song)" (tune)
NOTES [186 words]: Supposedly Reverend John Skinner was at a dinner hosted by a Mrs. Montgomery when a political dispute broke out, and she requested a song from him, perhaps to the melody of the fiddle strathspey "The Reel of Tullochgorum." This pacific piece was the result. The year was supposedly 1776, so there were still some memories of the raw Whig and Tory quarrels that led to the Hannoverian Succession and the Jacobite Rebellions.
According to Maurice Lindsay, The Burns Encyclopedia, 1959, 1970; third edition, revised and enlarged, St. Martin's Press, 1980, pp. 334-335, Skinner was born at Balfour in Aberdeenshire, the son of s schoolmaster. Educated in Abderdeen, entered the ministry in 1742, and became minister at Longside in Aberdeenshire from 1744 until shortly before he died -- with occasional adventures along the way, such as when his church was wrecked and he was imprisoned for six months after the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion. His three most noteworthy songs were considered to be "Tullochgorum," (a clean version of) "Ewie wi' the Crookit Horn," and "John o' Badenyon (I)," all of which are in the Index. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: RPG023

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