Annotation:Fairly Shot of Her (1)
X:1 T:Fairly Shot of Her M:12/8 L:1/8 R:Slide B:David Young – Drummond Castle/Duke of Perth Manuscript (1734, No. 6) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G G2E G2E G2B BGE|G2E G2E D2A AFD| G2E G2E G2B (BG)B|(cB)A (dc)B D2A (AF)D:| |:(B/c/d)E TB2E (B/c/d)E (BG)E|(B/c/d)E TB2E (B/c/d)D (AF)D| (B/c/d)E TB2E (B/c/d)E (BG)B|(cd)c (Bc)B D2A (AF)D:| |:G2g T(fe/f/g) G2B (BG)E|G2g T(fe/f/g) D2A (AF)D| G2g T(fe/f/g) (dg)f (gd)c|(dg)c (Bg)B D2A (AF)D:| |:(BE)B (EB)E (BE)d (BG)E|(BE)B (EB)E (FD)d (AF)D| (BE)B (EB)E (BE)B (EB)E|(cd)e (Bc)d D2A (AF)D:|]
FAIRLY SHOT ON/OF HER [1]. AKA and see "Good Night," "Weel's Me I Gotten Shott on Her," "We'll me I'm fairly shot of her," "Freely Shot Ower"(? Shetland). Scottish, English; Jig (12/8 time). England, Northumberland. G Major (most versions): A Major (Cocks). Standard tuning (fiddle). ABB (Stokoe): AABB (Cocks): AABBCCDD (O'Farrell, Vickers, Young). 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 John Johson's (Daniel) Wright's Compleat Collection of celebrated country Dances (1740) both contained "Fairly Shot on Her." A later manuscript collection by Edinburgh fiddler and writing master biography:David Young, his MacFarlane Manuscript (c. 1741, No. 34, p. 70), contains the melody with numerous variation sets. James Oswald published it in his Caledonian Pocket Companion, vol. 7 (1760). London musician Thomas Hammersley included it in his 1790 music manuscript copybook. Frank Kidson (Musical Times, Feb. 1, 1911, p. 94) traces the melody to "the old Scottish song tune 'O gin' I were fairly shut of her'."
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. A Welsh version of the tune appears in Nicholas Bennett's Alawon fy ngwlad (1896) as "Barley Shot" and it's equivalent Welsh name.
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."
