Wing Commander Donald Mackenzie’s reel

Great Edinburgh session tune, written by Phil Cunningham; apologies for any errors in ABC, as I’ve never tried this before

Great tune! It’s on one of my CDs, but I never have managed to work it out by ear. Thanks for posting it!

Don’t forget to make them triplets as below or the bars won’t add up correctly.

cE (3E/2E/2E/2

Geoff, you’ll find that Prouse’s add up correctly; yours don’t.

A lovely tune. Whence its name?

Phil Cunningham’s landlord. He came for a cup of tea at one o’clock each day and Phil offered him Bandit biscuits. Phil said he never got the ‘Bandits at one o’clock’ joke, but he left a little note on his coffin to explain it.
Found this info at http://www.capebretonlive.com/video/video-show20.htm

Causeway Crossing Concert

Recording/Video: October 7, 2005
Location: Civic Centre, Port Hawkesbury,
Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada

"Wing Commander Donald McKenzie was my landlord when I lived in _Bathkie???___ just outside Glasgow, or halfway between Glasgow and Edinburgh. He was a real wing commander from the RAF. He came every day for a cup of tea, and we had biscuits called bandit biscuits And every day at one O’Clock I would give him one of these biscuits, for two years. And he never ever got the joke ~ bandits at one O’Clock. I explained the joke and I left it in a little not on his coffin when they were burying him. I hope he read it as well."

~ Phil Cunningham
In the man’s own words, written out from his comments at the concert, just in case there is a time limit on access to the lovely video offerings on the link given above…

Thanks for the link Lurcherjohn

Slow on the uptake, the ??? above, "Bathkie", should have clicked, I suspect it is ‘Bathgate’… I had problems with the sound, using headphones…

The video is no longer up, and I am very curious about the joke about eh Bandit biscuits at 1:00. Would love to know what the joke was.

It relates to a war movie cliche where the pilot or someone else in the aircraft exclaims "bandits at x O’Clock" (the position in relation to the aircraft - bandits being the enemy).

I can never remember the name of this tune, so I’m glad I stumbled across this page, who says them recording links are no good 🙂

Slightly different notes in a few sections, but more idiomatic in my opinion.