Annotation:Leslie's Joog

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LESLIE'S JOOG. Scottish. The tune appears in Robert Edwards' "Commonplace Book" of 1635 and in the Panmure MS #9450. Robin Williamson says joog has several meanings, including a trick or deceit to a courteous greeting. He specutlates that either meaning might apply if the Leslie in the title was in acuality General David Leslie who lead the Covenanter army which defeated the Royalist forces under Montrose at the Battle of Philiphaugh (between Selkirk and Ettrick Water), 1645. Montrose escaped the ensuing massacre in which surrendering troops were shot down, and 300 women, children, and Irish camp followers were slaughtered. The peak period of religious strife in Scotland ended when Leslie himself was defeated in 1650 by Cromwell at Dunbar. Showing that no one side had the edge on cruelty, at this battle 3000 were killed, 10,000 were captured, of whom an untold number starved to death while imprisoned in Durham Cathedral, while the rest were sold into indentures in the colonies (Williamson).

Source for notated version:

Printed sources:

Recorded sources: Flying Fish, Robin Williamson - "Legacy of the Scottish Harpers, vol. 2."

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