Annotation:Bobby Shaftoe (3)

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BOBBY SHAFTOE [3]. AKA and see "Brave Willie Forster," "Canny Willie Foster." English, Reel. England, Northumberland. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody appears in the c. 1812 music manuscript collection of Northumbrian musician John Bell [1] (1783-1864). Matt Seattle identifies the tune as a version of "Brave Willie Forster" or "Canny Willie Foster," and says that it was, with old words, an electioneering song employed in 1761 by Robert Shaftoe (for whom see note for "Annotation:Bobby Shaftoe (1)").

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