The Flowers Of Edinburgh

barndance

Key signature: Gmajor

Submitted on February 22nd 2004 by noah.

This tune has been added to 289 tunebooks.

Also known as Blata Duin-Eudain, Da Flooers O' Edinburgh, Da Floors A' Edinburgh, Flours Of Edinburgh, The Flours Of Edinburgh, Flower Of Edinburgh, The Flower Of Edinburgh, Flowers Of Edinburgh, The Flowers Of Edinburgh Jig, Knuckle Down, My Love Was Once A Bonnie Lad, My Love's Bonny When She Smiles On Me, To The Battle Men Of Erin, The Weobley Hankie Dance, The Weobley Hanky Dance.

Recordings of a tune by this name:

Celtic Passion by John Williams, Dean Magraw
Dancing Days by Chris Leslie
Down The Line by Ciaran Tourish
Father's Of The Newfoundland Fiddle Volume 1 by Rufus Guinchard
I Feel My Heart Fly by Darcy Nair
Jefferson And Liberty by The Itinerant Band
Nice To Meet You by Kaitlin Hahn
Portrait Of A Scottish Jew's Harp Player by Lindsay Porteous
Rig-a-jig-jig: Dance Music Of The South Of England by Various Artists
Shetland Fiddle Music by School Of Scottish Studies, University Of Edinburgh
Shetland Springs Fae Da Bonnie Isle by Gibbie Hutchison
Slowplay Jigs, Reels And Hornpipes by Jeffrey Hillgrove
Songs, Jigs, Reels by Glenside And Kilfenora Ceili Bands
Souvenir Of Scotland by Hamish MacGregor And The Blue Bonnets
Strict Tempo: Scottish Country Dance Music From The 1950's, Volume 1 by Adam Rennie And His Scottish Country Dance Quartet
The Cat That Ate The Candle by John Carty And Brian McGrath
The Ceilidh Album by Dave Swarbrick
The Devils Of Dublin by Celtic Music Society (East Rochester HS)
The Fiddlesticks Collection by Jerry Holland
The Gravel Walks: The Fiddle Music Of Mickey Doherty by Mickey Doherty
The Houston Sessions by The Alans
The Lark In The Clear Air by Various Artists
The Legendary Down Home Recordings by Various Artists
The Nervous Man by Mícheál O' Raghallaigh
The Robin by Kirkmount
Traditional Irish Fiddle Music by The Kilfenora Fiddle Ceili Band
Tri by Far From Home
Vivacious by Samantha Robichaud

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

Details ABC Sheetmusic Comments

The Flowers of Edinburgh

Shouldn't the high d in bar 4 of the first part be in fact a low D, so that the ABC of that bar reads ADFD E2GE?
Trevor

# Posted on February 22nd 2004 by lazyhound

This is usually considered either a reel or hornpipe round here -- by construction, it's the latter...

# Posted on February 22nd 2004 by Zina Lee

"Shouldn't the high d in bar 4 of the first part be in fact a low D, so that the ABC of that bar reads ADFD E2GE?"

High d is usually played in our neck of the woods and I would normally play it as written.

# Posted on February 22nd 2004 by Bill Reeder

A little north of Edinburgh they play a high D too. Very popular tune, usually played as a reel here.

# Posted on February 23rd 2004 by Jamie

Commonly reel in and around Edinburgh. For those who don't already know: the "Flowers" of Edinburgh is reference to the aroma of the various human "ejecta" tossed from tenement windows in the days before proper waste management!

# Posted on February 23rd 2004 by Apteryx

Unfortunately, it's played to death around here in Edinburgh. It was a good tune, though.

# Posted on February 23rd 2004 by Johannes J

I play two basic versions of this tune, one as a Scottish reel slightly different to this with more notes in the 'B' music with a high D. The second is as an English morris dance tune from the Bampton tradition, slightly simpler in the 'A' music but with a 'B' music very close to the version given here. the 'A' music does not go up to high D nor to a low D but stays on F#. It is written differently at this point anyway. A comparison of different versions would prove interesting. certainly within the different traditions of Morris Dance many tunes differ slightly from tradition to tradition and make for interesting 'reading' if you like that sort of thing.

# Posted on February 28th 2004 by hetty

Flowers of Edinburgh

The Angels of the North play it both the ways Hetty saysbut usually we play it as a Northumnbrian Rant which lies somewhere between the English and Scottish ways of playing it.
Noel Jackson
Angels of the North

# Posted on February 29th 2004 by noelbats

Flowers of Edinburgh

I've only ever heard a high D. FoE is originally a fiddle tune and the bounce off the high D is nice on that instrument.but it can be tricky toget to sound neat. The low D makes for an easier run, so I would suggest that this is a later simplification.
Noel Jackson
Angels of the North

# Posted on February 29th 2004 by noelbats

The Flowers of Edinburgh

There is now an entertaining and informative general discussion about this tune on,

http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display.php/3843

Trevor

# Posted on June 20th 2004 by lazyhound

The Flowers Of Edinburgh

It's a reel, not a hornpipe, although the Irish play it as one. It's just that reels meant for Scottish country dancing have those quarter note hornpipe endings which are so unbearable for Irish tradists. So I've come up with a purified version with some fancy twiddly bits and smoothed out endings for all you people who secretly like this tune but daren't play it in Irish sessions in case people laugh at your quarter notes. Played like this, it shouldn't be any more offensive than, say, "Sally Gardens":

|:D3E ~G3A|BGBd cBAG|(3FGF EF DEFG|AFdF E2GE|
D3E ~G2A|BGBd efge|dcBA GFGA|1 BGGF GAGE:|2 BGGF GABd||
|:g2gf gbag|f2fe fagf|edef gfed|Beed efge|
dBGB d2Bd|edef g2fe|dcBA GFGA|1 BGGF GABd:|2 BGGF GAGE||

# Posted on June 20th 2004 by Dow

The audio for this tune is available at my site in 3 speeds :

http://www.asmy93.dsl.pipex.com/mp3/flowers1.mp3

http://www.asmy93.dsl.pipex.com/mp3/flowers2.mp3

http://www.asmy93.dsl.pipex.com/mp3/flowers3.mp3

Jim

# Posted on October 12th 2004 by Worldfiddler

Flowers of Edinburgh

This is a Scottish Measure - as are several other Scottish tunes used for Morris Dancing eg. Corn Rigs. The Measure is a slowish reel with a very strong beat at the beginning of each bar.

My late aunt Alexandra Walker (nee Stewart) learnt the fiddle in Glen Lyon in Perthshire before 1910. Her firs set was The Flowers of Edinburgh/The Soldier's Joy/The Muckin' o' Geordie's Byre.

# Posted on May 12th 2005 by LowProfile

James Scott Skinner composition?

Well, as it mentioned in the link to the thread above, John Doherty told a story of this tune; he said James Scott Skinner wrote the tune for a Miss Flowers who besotted him at the time.

Although this may not be accurate, according to the sleeve notes on "The Floating Bow", is it the fact that Skinner wrote it or the reason he wrote it?

# Posted on December 21st 2006 by PaddyCmusic

The Flowers...

I didn't like this tune while learning Scots music on the penny whistle in Edinburgh, but it has grown on me after I started playing Irish music on the flute. I've never heard it played on the flute, so tried playing it myself: http://slainte.web.infoseek.co.jp/edinburgh.mp3 The late Josie McDermott would have played it much better though.

# Posted on June 17th 2007 by slainte

"How would you dance to the Scottish reel "The Flowers of Edinburgh"?"

Discussion: Question for dancers
# Posted on December 15th 2007 by TheMuse
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/16108

# Posted on December 16th 2007 by ceolachan

"The Flowers of Edinburgh" ~ another take

# Posted on December 16th 2007 by ceolachan

The Flowers of Edinburgh

Following on from the discussion in http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display/16108 this tune comes in three slightly different versions in Lionel Bacon's "Handbook of Morris Dances". The differences arise out of the fact that in morris the details of a tune are usually specific to the movements of the particular dance it is associated with, unlike Irish set dancing where there is a choice of literally hundreds of tunes for a set dance figure.

# Posted on December 16th 2007 by lazyhound

"The Flowers of Edinburgh" ~ Bampton Morris, etc...

Bampton Morris
http://www.bamptonmorris.co.uk/

The Bassett Street Hounds Mixed Border Morris Team, New York
http://bassett-street-hounds.org/
http://tomkeays.com/morris/tunes/
http://tomkeays.com/morris/tunes/bampton/the_flowers_of_edinburgh.html

http://bassett-street-hounds.org/dances/flowers_of_edinburgh.php

# Posted on December 16th 2007 by ceolachan

MOTley Morris, mixed Border Morris dance team, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

http://www.mit.edu/~jcb/MOTley/
http://www.mit.edu/~jcb/MOTley/dances/flowers-of-edinburgh-tune.shtml

~ who also dance the Weobley Hanky Dance to the same tune given previously...

# Posted on December 16th 2007 by ceolachan

"The Flowers of Edinburgh Jig" ~ another Bampton Morris take

X: 6
T: The Flowers of Edinburgh Jig
T: Knuckle Down
S: Bacon (RD from Arnold Woodley)
A: Bampton
O: English
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: Reel
K: G Major
P: A
DEFD G2 GA | B2 B2 BdcB | AGFG EFGA | B2 E2 E2 GE |
DEFD G2 A2 | B2 B2 Bgfe | dcBA GFGA | B2 G2 G4 |]
P: B
{ef}g6 ag | f8 | edef gfed | B2 e2 e2 ge |
dBGB d2 dd | edef g2 fe | dcBA GFGA | B2 G2 G2 e<f |
g2 g2 gbag | f2 f2 fagf | e2 ef gfed | B2 e2 e2 ge |
dBGB d2 dd | edef g2 fe | dcBA GFGA | B2 G2 G4 |]
P: C
E4 | D2 E2 F2 D2 | G4 A4 | B4 B4 | (B d3) c2 B2 |
A2 G2 F2 G2 | E2 F2 G2 A2 | B4 E4 | E6 GE |
DEFD G2 A2 | B2 B2 Bgfe | dcBA GFGA | B2 G2 G2 |]

# Posted on December 16th 2007 by ceolachan

"The Flowers of Edinburgh" ~ Morris again, this time Bledington

# Posted on December 16th 2007 by ceolachan

"Flowers of Edinburgh" ~ Athole & Skye Collections, Scotland, no differences

"The Athole Collection of Scottish Dance Music"
James Stewart Robertson, 1884, page 144

"The Skye Collection of the Best Reels & Strathspeys"
Keith Norman MacDonald, 1887
Country Dances, page 170: "Flowers of Edinburgh" Country Dance

Here are the few differences found in the Nottingham Music Database notations, with the B-part, first the lead-in is notated as ~

# Posted on December 16th 2007 by ceolachan

"The Flowers of Edinburgh" ~ the Allegheny and Potomac Highlands of the U.S.A.

Ok Ive been spending les stime at the PC and more at other things, but Ive been sucked in by the allure and temptations of bright mustards and the chaos and madness of traditional melodies and the strange comfort they bring to me...

The Flowers of Edinburgh is one of the old tunes still traditionally played in the Allegheny and Potomac Highlands of the USA and although its been standardized and played currently as posted here already, at one time (pre 1900 to 1960s probably ) it was a tune of great variation to the players of the afore mentioned region.

Samuel Bayard collected many versions between the 1930s and 60s from "ear" players and almost all of them would be considered "crooked" meaning they had measures of 6/4. These crooked tunes are very prominent in West Virginia as well.

However, not all versions were "crooked" but each player had a version all his own in keeping with the oldest standards and characteristics of the central/mid Appalachian tradition.
"c" emailed me and got me into this and its interesting that I play a unique version of this tune that I picked up somewhere. It is not "crooked" (I personally don't prefer crooked tunes.)

This version is not one you'd here in the jams around WV, MD and PA these days, but it is mine (and I really enjoy my personal setting of the tune )... As far as the category of reel/hornpipe? In the past it was really up to the player and how he laid it down... Currently, it is a tune that goes at a pretty brisk pace and Id say it wouldnt be called a hornpipe.

So from the hands of the merry-hielander...

# Posted on December 16th 2007 by Merry-Hielander

# Posted on December 16th 2007 by ceolachan

Nice

All nice settings "c"

I love to see all the variations on a great tune...

Thanks for moving my comments over, I meant to do that but got distracted.

# Posted on December 16th 2007 by Sean MacOda Criobhan

"The Flowers / Flower of Edinburgh" ~ more history

The Fiddler's Companion ~ Andrew Kuntz
http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/index.html

http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/FLOW_FLYN.htm#FLOWERS_OF_EDINBURGH_[1]

Scottish (originally), Shetland, Canadian, American; Scots Measure, Country Dance Tune or Reel: English, Reel, Country or Morris Dance Tune (4/4, cut or 2/2 time); Irish, Reel or Hornpipe...

X: 11
T: Flower of Edinburgh
S: "John Johnson's Twelve Country Dances for the Harpsichord", 1749.
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
Q: 60
K: G Major
(3GFE |\
D3 E G3 A | BGBd B2 AG | F3 E DEFG | AFdF E2 FE |
DEFD G3 A | (3BAG (3Bcd e3 g | dBAG E2 GA | B2 GA G2 ||
d2 |\
gfg>a f/a/b ag | fef>g f/g/a gf | edef gfed | B2 e2 e3 g/4f/4e/ |
dBAG d2 cB | edef g3 g/4a/4b/ | cBAG E2 GA | B2 G2 G2 |]

# Posted on December 17th 2007 by ceolachan

Flowers of Edinburgh - A Jig Version

There are a couple of tunes which I believe are related to "Flowers of Edinburgh", although not extremely closely. The first is from Rutherford's Collection (c1750):

Next is an English variant:

# Posted on December 17th 2007 by nigelg

Flowers of Edinburgh

J Murdoch Henderson, in his "Flowers of Scottish Melody" (1930) suggests that the "flowers" are actually the magistrates of Edinburgh, but doesn't elaborate. He also gives alternative titles of "Earl of Hopetoun's Reel" and the 'crude song version' "My Love's Bonny When he Smiles On Me" from Oswald's "Curious Collection of Scots Tunes" (1742). The tune first appeared under the "Flowers of Edinburgh" title in 1752, in Oswald's "Caledonian Pocket Companion" Book 3.

# Posted on December 17th 2007 by nigelg

Nigelg ~ how nice to see you...

Of the several folks that came to mind as I rooted through versions of this, and considered transcriptions, Irish, North American and from elsewhere, you were there at the top... I was ready to post an email to you. We still have a certain composer we were considering awhile back, but maybe in the New Year... Thanks for this, great stuff always... :-)

# Posted on December 17th 2007 by ceolachan

http://www.nigelgatherer.com/

# Posted on December 17th 2007 by ceolachan