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John Pottinger’s Compliments To The Late Ronnie Cooper reel

By John Pottinger

Also known as John Pottinger’s Compliments To Ronald Cooper.

There are 3 recordings of this tune.

John Pottinger's Compliments To The Late Ronnie Cooper has been added to 10 tunebooks.

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One setting

1
X: 1
T: John Pottinger's Compliments To The Late Ronnie Cooper
R: reel
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
K: Fmaj
|:CB,|A,CDE FEFG|Ac=Bc dcAF|G,B,DG Bd^cd|=Bg^fg ecBc|
Aa^ga fc=Bc|ABcB AFDB,|G,B,DG Bdgf|ecde f2:|
|:zb|afef cfaf|cdcB AFEF|bg^fg ec=Bc|BG^FG ECB,C|
A,F F/F/F AFEF|Ac c/c/c fcAc|Bd^cd =Bg_bg|ecde f2:|

Three comments

John Pottinger’s Compliments To The Late Ronnie Cooper

More in a Scots style than Shetland, this tune nevertheless was composed by Shetlander John Pottinger in honour of his friend Ronnie Cooper. This setting is how Willie Hunter played it on his “1982” album, but there are some fairly subtle snaps, ritardandos etc, so best listen to it for the full experience.

I have it elsewhere in my collection played by other Shetland fiddlers: Davie Tulloch (on “Curlew”) and Maggie Adamson (on “Back to the Hills”), and by Edinburgh group Jock Tamson’s Bairns. All of them play it more reel-like than Hunter. Great tune.

John Pottinger

John was a neighbour of mine, and he was a great player, but unbelievably only wrote the one tune - and what a tune!

John Pottinger’s Compliments To The Late Ronnie Cooper

His only tune! Amazing. If you only composed one tune, this could be the one, and I quite agree, fiddler71, it’s a great one. In a similar vein, Lell Robertson from Yell only wrote one tune, “Willie Taylor’s Fiddle” and I think it’s a cracker. Ian Burns wrote a few tunes, but his very first composition - “Spootiskerry” - surpassed all others and is played all over the world.