Glengarry’s Dirk strathspey

From John McCusker’s self-titled cd. He says he learned this old highland tune from Ian MacDonald. A friend of mine brought it to last night’s session, so we’re adding it to the local repertoire.

sounds great if you play mulqueens reel after it

This is quite a different tune from the well-known pipe reel of the same name ( Thompson’s Dirk), based on a gaelic song. It looks almost as if someone got the name mixed up when learning it from an old book. The first phrase looks a bit like ‘Old Man let me be’ (John Roy Stuart).

This is actually Glengarry’s Dirk not Thomson’s.

Most Cape Breton versions of this great tune (e.g.: Angus Chisholm) are in C, while many Scottish versions (e.g.: Hector MacAndrew) are in A. I like it both ways, though the versions in A are somewhat easier on the fiddle because no reaching or shifting is required. Love the tune.