Annotation:Where Gadie Rins

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X:1 T:O if I were where Gadie runs T:Hessian’s March, The N:William Christie (1778-1849) was a dancing master, fiddler N:and composer from Cuminestown, Aberdeenshire. M:2/4 L:1/8 R:Air or March Q:"Slow" B:Christie - Collection of Strathspeys, Reels, Hornpipes, B:Waltzes &c. (Edinburgh, 1820, p. 20) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:D {c}d/>B/|A>B d>e|.f.f Tf(e/d/)|ff {g}f(e/d/)|{f}(e/>d/)(e/>f/) {f}ed/>B/| ~A>B ~d>e|ff {g}f(e/d/)|{de}fA ~A>B|{c}d2 d:| |:{c}d/>B/|.A.F .F.F|AE EE|FD DD|{f}(e/>d/)(e/>f/) {f}ed/>B/| .A.F .F.F|AE EE|FD {c}d/>e/Tf/>e/|{c}c2c:| |:{c}d/>B/|T(A/>F/)(A/>B/) ~(d/>c/)(d/>e/)|T(f/>e/)(f/a/) (g/f/)(e/d/)|T(f/>e/f/)a/ (g/f/)e/d/|{f}(e/>d/)(e/>f/) {f}ed/B>/| {B}(A/>F/)A/>B/ (~d/>c/)d/>e/|(f/e/)(f/a/) (g/f/).e/.d/|{g}f/>e/ {c}d/>B/ A/>FA/>B/|d2 d:| |:(e/4d/4c/4B/4)|(A/F/).F/.F/ .F/.F/.F/.F/|(A/E/).E/.E/ .E/.E/.E/.E/|F/D/D/D/ D/D/D/D/|{f}e/>d/e/>f/ {f}ed/>B/| (A/F/).F/.F/ .F/.F/.F/.F/|(A/E/).E/.E/ .E/.E/.E/.E/|(F/D/).F/.A/ {c}.d/e/Tf/e/|d2 d:|]



WHERE GADIE RINS. AKA - " O Gin I were where Gadie Rins," "Whaur Gadie Rins." AKA and see “Hessians' March (The).” Scottish, Air and March (4/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCC (Skinner): AABBCCDD (Christie). The tune was originally called "The Hession's March" to which various sets of words were written. As an instrumental, "Where Gadie Rins" was the “March Past of the Gordon’s,” as noted by J. Scott Skinner, referring to the Gordon Highlanders regiment of the British army. The words to the song "Where Gadie Rins" were written by Dr. John Park (1805-1865), a Presbyterian Minister at St. Andrews. He heard a "peasant girl" singing them in the highlands around Aberdeen. Another set of words to the air, entitled "Bennachie," beginning "O, Gin I Were Where Gadie Rins!," were written by John Imlah (1799–1846, and who died of fever in Jamaica, West Indies. He had gone to see his brother, whom he had not seen since childhood, but become ill only a few weeks after his arrival). Imlah's song first appeared in print in biography:William Christie's A Collection of Strathspeys, Reels, Hornpipes, Waltzes &c. (c. 1820), where it is entitled "O if I were where Gadie runs, or the The Hessian's March"[1]. It begins:

O! gin I were where Gadie rins,
Where Gadie rins, where Gadie rins,
O! gin I were where Gadie rins,
By the foot o' Bennachie.

I've roamed by Tweed, I've roamed by Tay,
By Border Nith and Highland Spey,
But dearer far to me than they
Are the braes o' bennachie.

Gadie Burn is a 13-mile stream in Aberdeenshire, and rises at the back of Bennachie hill, later to join the Urie, a tributary of the Don, a little below the town of Inverury.


Additional notes



Printed sources : - William Christie (Collection of Strathspeys, Reels, Hornpipes, Waltzes &c.), Edinburgh, 1820; p. 20. Skinner (Harp and Claymore Collection), 1904; p. 26.



See also listing at :
See the Ballad Index entry on the song [1]



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  1. "The Hessian's March" was identified as an alternate title by James Davie, Aberdeen music teacher and music seller, who published several collections of tunes. Davie claimed that he often heard his father play the air on the bellows-bagpipes, and that it was then no new air. Davie claimed to have seen the air in an old printed collection under the "Hessian's March title."