Lochiel’s Welcome To Glasgow jig

whilst we’re on the subject of Lougheil/Lochiel, her’s another tune bearing the hero’s name. It is actually a 6/8 MARCH, not a jig, from the Highland piping repertoire. The version posted is as I learnt it from Ceol na Fidhle vol. IV, which gives the composer as Alexander Cameron. i haven’tbeen able to find out anything about him yet - perhaps he is/was a descendant or fellow clansman of Donald Cameron of Lochiel himself (the person to which the title presumably alludes).

I originally learnt this tune as a jig, from piper, singer, whistle and mandolin player, Carol Lawrie and her guitarist and fiddler husband, Geordie, in May 1997 on a campsite in Fort William. Carol and Geordie subsequently moved to Ireland, where they bought a pub, The Ferriters Arms, in Castlegregory, Kerry. Tragically, a few years ago, they, along with a third musican, were involved in a serious car accident. Carol and the unnamed musican were killed outright.

I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the setting I am about to post, as I only met Carol and Geordie the once (I only heard the terrible news on a chance meeting with an old friend of theirs during a visit to their home territory of North Aberdeenshire) and i was still quite a novice to traditional music then. This is how I remember it:

M: 6/8
L: 1/8
R: jig
K: Amix
e|ABA Ace|a2e fec|BcB Bce|fea fec|ABA Ace|a2e fec|efe eca|ABA A2:|
|:e|cee cee|fdf fed|cee cee|ABc cBA|cee cee|fdf fec|efe eca|ABA A2:|

They played Old Man Dillon https://thesession.org/tunes/2200
after it.

R: march
K: A Mixolydian
|: e |
A>AA A>Bc | a2 e f>ec | B>BB B>ce | f2 e f>ea |
A>AA A>Bc | a2 e f>ec | e2 e e>ca | A>AA A2 :|
|: d |
c<ee c<ee | f2 f f>ed | c<ee c<ee | A>Bc c>BA |
c<ee c<ee | f2 f f>ec | e2 e e>ca | A>AA A2 :|

The first part is almost identical to that of The Braemar Gathering.

Key signature: A Major
Submitted on March 7th 2007 by ceolachan.
https://thesession.org/tunes/6905

These two marches, as ‘slainte’ has said, share the same A-parts…

~ of the 92nd or Gordon Highlanders?

The Northern Highlands in the Nineteenth Century - No. XI
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/highlands/no11.htm

Ibid.—Died, at Belfast, on the 18th October, Sergeant Alexander Cameron, pipe-major of the 92nd or Gordon Highlanders. “His merits as a performer on the Highland bagpipe were generally acknowledged, but they could only be duly appreciated by those who felt the inspiring effects of his animating strains on the toilsome march or amid the thunder of battle. He served in the Peninsula during the whole of the last war, and by his zeal attracted the notice of several officers of high rank. Lieut. -General Sir William Erskine, in a letter to a friend after the affair of Rio del Molinas, says—’The first intimation the enemy had of our approach was the piper of the 92nd playing ”Hey Johnny Cope are ye waukin’ yet?“ To this favourite air from Cameron’s pipe the streets of Brussels re-echoed on the night of the 15th June, when the regiment assembled to march out to the field of Waterloo. How many a brave fellow heard it then for the last time! Once, and once only, was this brave soldier missed in his accustomed place in the front of the battle. and the occasion strongly marks the powerful influence which the love of fame had upon his mind. In a London newspaper a very flattering eulogium had appeared on the conduct of a piper of another regiment. Our gallant musician, anxious that no one should surpass him in zeal or intrepidity, felt hurt that he should not also have gained this flattering distinction, and declared that ‘if his name did not appear in the newspapers he would no more play on the battlefield.’ Accordingly, in the next affair with the enemy, Cameron’s pipe [at first] was mute! Some insinuation against the piper reached his ear. The bare idea of his conduct being misunderstood was torture to poor Cameron, and overcame at once the sullen resolution he had formed of remaining silent in the rear. He rushed forward, and not content with gaining his place at the head of the regiment, advanced with a party of skirmishers, and placing himself on a height, in full view of the enemy, continued to animate the party by playing favourite national airs. For the last two years his health sensibly declined. He was afflicted with an asthma which the blowing of the bagpipe tended to aggravate. Notwithstanding, he could not be induced to resign his favourite employment, but continued till very lately to play ‘The Gathering’ for the daily assembly of the regiment. His remains were attended to the grave by several officers, all the non-commissioned officers, and the grenadier company to which he belonged.”

???

So, that’s who he was, then.

Couldn’t he have somehow incorporated a nebuliser into his pipes?

It was in pre-nebulizer days… So how many colours of nebulizers do you have spoon? 😉

I don’t do nebulizers myself, although, I’m sure they are available in the Gordon (or Cameron?)Tartan. I did spend a couple of months working in a factory that made artificial respirators, but they only came in cream-of-mushroom-soup-grey.

This is not the same tune as Glendaruel Highlanders (aka Campbeltown Loch, as sung by Andy Stewart).