Annotation:Fairly Shot of Her (1)

Back to 

 FAIRLY SHOT ON/OF HER [1]. AKA and see "Good Night," "'Weels Me I Gotten Shott On Her," "Freely Shot Ower"(? Shetland). Scottish, English; Jig (12/8 time). England, Northumberland. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABB (Stokoe): AABBCCDD (O'Farrell, Vickers). The word 'shot' in the title may have several meanings, but the one which appears to fit has the sense of being depleted, exhausted or 'done with'. The tune appears earliest in the Drummond Castle Manuscript (in the possession of the Earl of Ancaster at Drummond Castle), inscribed "A Collection of Country Dances written for the use of his Grace the Duke of Perth by David Young, 1734." However, London publications included the melody soon afterward: Walsh's Third Book of the Compleat Country Dancing-Master (1735) and Johson's (Daniel) Wright's Compleat Collection of celebrated country Dances (1740) both contained "Fairly Shot on Her." James Oswald published it in his Caledonian Pocket Companion, vol. 7 (1760). London musician Thomas Hammersley included it in his 1790 music manuscript copybook. The jig seems to have been particularly popular among musicians in the North East. Matt Seattle (1987) identifies William Vickers' 1770 Northumbrian version as a fiddle setting of a tune that is more widely known in pipe versions. He finds a distanced variant in Atkinson's (Northumbrian) 1695 manuscript under the title "Weels Me I Gotten Shott On Her," and compares later Northumbrian versions in Bewick's and Bruce & Stokoe's publications, that he finds not particularly similar to Vickers'. The title appears in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes which he published c. 1800. O'Neill (1922) remarks: "Altho McGoun's tune (see version #2,) was at hand for years, and was not known to our traditional musicians, I hesitated to claim it as Irish, until O'Farrell specifically notes it as being Irish in his Collection for the Irish or Union Pipes. Few variants, while preserving a distinct strain, differ so widely in their development. O'Farrell was a renowned Irish piper who took part in operatic performances on the London stage late in the 18th Century." There is no evidence of an Irish provenance, however, and O'Farrell printed many English and Scottish tunes in his collections, as well as Irish. See also the related "I'll Go Home and Tell My Mother."  Source for notated version:  Printed sources: Bewick's Pipe Tunes, 1986; No. 14. Bruce & Stokoe (Northumbrian Minstrelsy), 1882; p. 187. O'Farrell (Pocket Companion, vol. 1), c. 1805; p. 49. O'Neill (Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody), 1922; No. 158. Seattle (Great Northern/William Vickers), 1987, Part 2; No. 261.  Recorded sources: Shanachie 79007, Clannad - "Clannad 2" (1978).

Back to