Annotation:Cannie Hobbie Elliot
X:1 T:Cannie Hobbie Elliot M:9/8 L:1/8 S:Bruce & Stokoe - Northumbrian Minstrelsy (1882) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G c|B2d c2B ABc|B2d e2f g3|B2d c2B ABc| BAB cGE D2:||:c|dB/c/d/B/ dB/c/d/B/ ABc|dB/c/d/B/ dB/c/d/B/ g2e| dB/c/d/B/ dB/c/d/B/ ABc|BAB cGE D2:||
CANNY HOBBIE ELLIOT. AKA - "Hobbie Elliot." English, Jig (9/8 time). England, Northumberland. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The version in Bruce & Stokoe's Northumbrian Minstrelsy is identical to Vickers' 1770 version, and it seems likely that it was a primary source. "A copy of this tune will be found in Oswald's Caledonian Pocket Companion, 1759; and the late Mr. Thomas Doubleday, in writing of it says: 'There is in Oswald what I should call an authentic and genuine set of this tune ( I forget under what name), and has at its tail more variations that a kite has wisps of hay. It speaks for itself, and as there were Elliott's on both sides of the Border, I don't see the Scotch have any exclusive right to it; besides, the tune being compound triple is in our favour'. In Bell's Rhymes of the Northern Bards, 1812, appears the following short song:--
O, canny Hobbie Elliot,
O, canny Hobbie still,
O, canny Hobbie Elliot,
Who lives at Harlow Hill.
Had Hobbie acted right,
As he has seldom done,
He would have kissed his wife,
And let the maid alone. (Bruce & Stokoe).
The title appears in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes ("The Northern Minstrel's Budget"), which he published c. 1800. John Bell's c. 1812 "Hobbie Elliot" is cognate, but distanced from Vickers' tune.