Annotation:Lord Alexander's Reel
X:1 T:Lord Alexander's Reel C:Abbie Andrews (Ontario) M:2/4 L:1/8 F:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhJ5wT8NXsY R:Reel K:D ABc|{c}dd/c/ d/A/F/A/|{e}f{g}f/e/ f/g/a|F/G/[G/B/]B/ G/[G/B/]G/B/|gg/a/ g/f/e/d/| {B}c[c/e/][c/e/] {d}c/A/c/e/|{^g}[Aa][A/a/][A/a/] a((3e/f/g/|1 a)^g/a/ ba|f>g f/A/B/c/:|2 a^g/a/ bc|d2 e/f/e/d/|| cc c/A/c/e/ |[Aa][Aa] [A/e/][A/f/][A/e/][A/d/]| B/[c/a/][ca] {d}c/A/c/e/| {g}aa e/f/e/d/| B/[c/a/][ca] {d}c/A/c/e/| a[ca] e/f/e/d/|B/[c/a/][ca] {d}c/A/c/e/|[Aa]B/c/ Bc||
LORD ALEXANDER'S REEL. AKA and see "Crazy Jack." Canadian, Reel. Canada, Ontario. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). Composed by fiddler Abbie Andrews of St. Catharine's, Ontario. His band, the Canadian Ranch Boys, featured the McMullen Brothers on vocals and guitars (their father was a fiddler who emigrated from Belfast, northern Ireland in 1915), and, later on, a teenage accordionist named Walter Ostanek. They were primarily a dance band, but they featured vocals, comic patter and comedy skits, one of which involved a huge wrestler by the name of Sky Hi Lee, who feigned displeasure that his singer wife, Billie Allen, was not getting her share of the spotlight [1].
The tune was taken up by some Acadian fiddlers from Cape Breton Island, including Joe Cormier, Joseph Larade and Joe Confiant, although no one of them either could put a name to it, or did not mention it. In the 'folk process' of transmission the reel become known as "Crazy Jack." In the Acadian fiddlers' hands, Andrews' tune became 'crooked' or irregular.
