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Annotation:Leslie's March (1)
X:1 T:Lasly's March T:Leslie's March [1] M:6/8 L:1/8 R:March B:Oswald – Caledonian Pocket Companion, Book 2 (1760, p. 36) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:D d3 d3|(dc)B (AB)c|(dc)B (AG)F|(F/G/A)F TE2D| e3e2e|(fe)d (ea)g|Tf>ed dAB|d>e (f/>g/) Te2d:| |:fdd eAA|f(g/f/e/d/) eAA|gee fBB|g(a/g/f/e/) fBB| fdd eAA|f(g/f/e/d/) eag|Tf>ed (dA)B|d>e (f/g/) Te2d:| |:(df)a (df)a|(df)a (afd)|(eg)b (eg)b|(eg)b (bg)e| (df)a (df)a|(df)a a>b (a/g/)|Tf>ed dAB|d>e f/g/ Te2d:||
LESLIE'S/LESLEY'S MARCH [1]. AKA – "Lasly's March," "Lesley's March to Scotland," "Leshley's Favourite," "Lesley's Quick Step." AKA and see "Duplin House," "Blue Bonnets (2)," "March from Oscar and Malvina." Scottish, Jig. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Kerr): AABBCC (Gatherer). The tune is not the similarly titled "Leslei's Lilt" nor John Playford's "Lesleyes March," but appears as "General Leslie's March to Longmarston Moor" published in poet Allan Ramsay's Tea-Table Miscellany, where it was already marked as ancient and of unknown origin. The march was probably named after a Scottish general in England's civil wars (whose march event occurred in 1644), and was printed in cellist and composer James Oswald's Caledonian Pocket Companion, vol. 2 (1760).
The Leslie referred to may be Alexander Leslie, earl of Leven (c. 1580–1661), a Scottish soldier-of-fortune who served in the army of Gustavus Adolphus and led Scots in the Bishop's Wars, defeating the English at Newburn in 1640. He first supported the Parliamentarian side in the Civil Wars, and took Charles I's surrender at Newark in 1646, but later had a change of heart and fought for the Royalist forces at Dunbar in 1650. Alternately, the title may refer to David Leslie, Lord Newark (d. 1682), also a Scottish soldier-of-fortune who fought at one time for the King of Sweden. He commanded the pro-Parliamentarian Scottish cavalry at Marston Moor, and (after he changed sides) was later defeated by Cromwell at the disasterous Battle of Dunbar in 1650 and again at Worcester in 1651. Walter Scott, in his Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border gives these works to "Lesly's March":
March! march!
Why the devil do ye na march?
Stand to your arms, my lads,
Fight in good order...
Sir Walter adapted the song for use in his novel The Monastery (1830), set in the Scottish Border country he knew so well, referring to the tune as "the Ancient air of 'Blue Bonnets over the Border'." This set of words goes:
March, march, Etrrick and Teviotdale.
Why the De'il dinna ye march forward in order?
March, march, Eskdale and Liddesdale,
All the Blue Bonnets are bound for the Border.
Many a banner spread
Flutters above your head,
Many a crest that is famous in story,
Mound, and make ready then,
Sons of the mountain glen,
Fight for the Queen and our old Scottish glory!
O'Sullivan (1983) believes the tune is related to the Irish "Seamus an Chaca," or "James the Coward," "Dirty James," "James the Shit," or "Shitty James." Niel Gow's adaptation of the tune appears as "Duplin House." "Leslie's March" appears in the popular late 18th century ballad opera Oscar and Malvina, many of whose airs airs appear to have entered or re-entered tradition. "Leven's March" is a version of the tune used by the Earl of Leven's Regiment in 1689. "Blue Bonnets Over the Border (1)" is the name of "Leslie's March" to which another old pipe march, the "Fusiliers' March (The)," has been added to make the third and fourth parts. Watts' Musical Miscellany (London, 1731) gives "Leslie's March" as "Fancy All," with the alternate title "Joan as Good as My Lady", a song whose indicated tune is "Lesly's March". "Black White Yellow and Red" is another name for the melody and comes from the first line of the song in Watts' book. "Leshley's Favourite" is the title of the melody in the William Clarke (Feltwell, Norfolk) manuscript of 1858, and in the Lawrence Leadley (Helperby, Yorkshire) manuscript of the 1840's. "General Leshley's March (2)", or "Leshly's March," in Northumbrian musician Henry Atkinson's 1696 manuscript is cognate, with the first part corresponding to the second of "Leslie's March (1)."
Oddly enough, in "Old and New Favorites for the Violin" published in 1894 by J.W. Pepper, Philadelphia, the tune is called "Jig - Pig in the Parlor."
For Northumbrian musician Henry Atkinson's related version (c. 1694) see "General Leshley's March (2)."
