Annotation:Miramichi Fire (3) (The)
X: 1 T: Miramichi Fire [3], The R: reel M: 4/4 L: 1/8 Z:Paul Cranford [1] K: Amaj |:cd|eaga eaed|ceAe dcBA|d=gfa ged=c|B=GdG BdGB| eaga eaed|ceAe dcBA|cacA B=gBG|AAB=G AB:| |:cd|eAce Aced|ceAe AcBA|eAce ABcA|B=GdG BdGB| eAce Aced|ceAe AcBA|cacA B=gBG|AAB=G AB:|
MIRAMICHI FIRE [3], THE. AKA and see "Willie D's Favourite." Canadian, Reel (whole or cut time). Canada; New Brunswick, Cape Breton. A Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. There are a number of settings[1] of this older tune that may date to the time of the 1825 conflagration in northern New Brunswick, or soon after (although this has not been determined). Cape Breton fiddler Michael Anthony MacLean learned the tune in the 1930's from two Acadian New Brunswick fisherman who had tied up to the Government Wharf at MacKay's Point, Victoria County, Cape Breton, according to Paul Cranford, who says: "One of them had a fiddle, an evening of entertainment ensued, and Michael learned the tune from them."
Cape Breton fiddler sometimes call the tune "Willie D's Favourite", after the habit of Margaree fiddler Cameron Chisholm who had learned it from the lilting of his father, Willie D. (brother of famed Cape Breton fiddler Angus Chisholm). Cranford notes that Willie D. had worked in both New Brunswick and Quebec and suggests that he picked the tune up in his travels.
- ↑ Peter Corfield prints five related settings of the reel from Scottish, Old-time and Acadian sources.