Annotation:Sailor Laddie (1)
X:1 T:Sailor Laddie [1] M:6/8 L:1/8 S:Aird - Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs vol. II (1785) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G g | B>AG GDE | A>BA ABd | e/f/gG GDE | GAG B2G | cAc BGB | ABA ABd | e/f/gG GDE | GAG G2 :| |: e/f/ | gag gdB | Aaa a2g | def gdB | gb/a/g/f/ gdB | c>de gdB | aAA ABd | e/f/gG GDE | G>AG G2 :|]
SAILOR LAD(DIE) [1]. AKA and see "Sodger Lad(die)." Scottish, English; Jig (6/8 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. John Glen (1891) finds the earliest appearance of the tune in print in Neil Stewart's 1761 collection (p. 15). Stewart’s volume, printed in Edinburgh and entitled Collection of the Newest and Best Reels and Country Dances, is dated to 1775 by the Kellers et al. The jig next appears in James Aird’s Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. II, published in Glasgow in 1785 (Aird prints a different “Sailor Laddie” in his vol. 3). British army fifer John Buttery included “Sailor Laddie” in his turn of the 19th century manuscript collection (where it is labelled as a 'Quick Step'), in his possession throughout his twenty-year service. It is one of the "missing tunes" from William Vickers' 1770 Northumbrian dance tune manuscript.
