Annotation:Piddle and Craigie

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PIDDLE AND CRAIGIE. Shetlands, strathspey. Shetland, (island of) Whalsay. Peter Cooke (The Fiddle Tradition of the Shetland Isles, 1986) prints the following text to this dance tune, collected in the Shetlands from his informant, fiddler Andrew Poleson (d. 1979), born in Brough, a township two miles north of the harbor township of Symbister:

Andrew Poleson

They caa'd me this, they caa'd me that,
They caa'd my wife the staigie,
An every een that I cam by
They caa'd me Piddling Craigie

Cooke described it as a little known reel, known only on the tiny island Whalsay, off the east coast of mainland Shetland. Craigie is a diminutive of crag, the throat, the neck, while piddle is to be in a fuss about trifles, so 'piddling craigie' may mean 'pain in the neck'.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources:

Recorded sources:

See also listing at:
Hear Andrew Poleson playing the tune on a 1972 field recording by Peter Cooke at the School of Scottish Studies Archive [1]




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