Annotation:Grant's Rant (1) (The)
X:1 T:Grant's Rant [1], The M:C| L:1/8 R:Strathspey S:McGlashan - Strathspey Reels (c. 1781) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G B | G/G/G B>A B>GG>B | A/A/A e>d e>AA>B | c3e d/c/B/A/ B>G | A/A/A B>A G>EE :| |: B | G/G/G e>e g>dd>g | e/e/e a>g aeef | g>age d>cBG | A/A/A B>A G>E E :| |: B | G>FG>A B>AG>B | A>Bc>d e>AA>B | c>Bc>e d>cB>d | c>AB>G A>G E :| B | G/G/G g>e g>dd>g |e/e/e a>g aeef | g>ag>e d/c/B/A/ BG | AcB>A G>E EB | G/G/G g>e g>ddg | e>ag>b a>ee>f | g>be>g d>gB>g | A>cB>A G>E E ||
GRANT'S RANT [1]. AKA - "Feve feve Tunal chie." AKA and see "Green Grow the Rushes O," "Highland Sword Dance." Scottish, Strathspey. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Bremner): AABBCCD (McGlashan). Robert Burns used the tune for his song "Green Grow the Rushes O," by which it is usually known today. The tune was originally written as a rant, but as "Green Grow the Rushes," it is commonly heard as a strathspey; not an uncommon circumstance (or fate) for rants. A melody called "Grant's Rant" (see "Grant's Rant (4), AKA - "Cromdale Hill") is contained in the Drummond Castle Manuscript Part 2 (1734, No., 39), in the possession of the Earl of Ancaster at Drummond Castle, however, the resemblance to other "Grant's Rants" is superficial.
John Glen (1891) finds the "Grant's Rant [1]" strathspey earliest in print in Robert Bremner's 1757 collection. It appears in the Angus Cumming c. 1778 (or 1780) collection under the title "Fevei feve Tunal chie," although Michael Newton, writing in his blog "The Origins of the Strathspey: A Rebuttal" [1] believes the correct Scots Gaelic title should be "Faire, Faire Dhunnchaidh."
The Grant clan was located primarily in Strathspey, where stands castle Grant, the seat of the chief. At the upper end of the district is the famous hill called Craigellachie, or the rock of alarm, from which the war shout known as the Cathghairm and gave name to the gathering of the clan. There is a pipe tune called "Stad Creageilichie!" (Craigellachie, stand firm!) that derives from this connection.
