Key signature: Ddorian
Submitted on March 9th 2002 by bd.
This tune has been added to 102 tunebooks.
Also known as The Graf Spay, Graf Spee, Graf Spey, The Graf Spey, The Graff Spey, The Grand Spy, Grant's Strathspey, The Rothiemurchus Rant, The Western Lassies, Winnie Green's.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Graf Spee, The
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Ddor
|:E2CD E~G3|AGcG AGcG|EDCD E~G3|AGcG EDD2:|
|efed cBcA|G~E3 GAcd|efed cBcA|GECD EDD2|
efed cBcA|G~E3 GAcd|eaag efed|cAGE EDD2|
|:eggf gedg|eaag a3g|efed cBcd|edge edd2:|
|:ec (3ccc cAGE|GAcd cAGE|GAcd ecdc|cAGE EDD2:|
|(3efg cg (3efg cg|(3fga da (3fga da|(3efg cg (3efg cg|ABcd edde|
g2af gefd|ecdB cAGE|GAcd ecdB|cAGE EDD2||
An old tune, but I don't know any background to it. I think I heard it first in a recording by Bobby Casey.
# Posted on March 9th 2002 by bd
Graf Spee
This reel was originally a Scottish strathspey called "The Rothiemurchus Rant", and was reputedly the favourite strathspey of our national poet Robert Burns, who was also a fiddler, (but we don't know if he was any good). It is obvious that the "folk process" has been at work here: "Strathspey" becomes "Graf Spee". The Irish reel version has acquired another part somewhere along the line.
It - the reel - has been recorded by Molloy,Peoples & Brady, Kevin Burke & Jacky Daly, and "Dervish". It is also played in "D" as well as "C".
# Posted on March 10th 2002 by Kenny
I always thought this tune was named after The famous German Battleship "The Graf Spee" http://www.grafspee.com/ .
From what I've read a "rant" is the Scottish/British name for a single reel.
# Posted on March 10th 2002 by Mad Baloney
Graf spee
"The Rothiemurchus Rant" was printed in "The Athole Collection of Scottish Dance Music", published in 1884. The "Graf Spee" battleship was commissioned in 1936 - a difference of over 50 years.
A quote from "Bowing Styles In Irish Fiddle Playing - Vol 2" by David Lyth - Page 21 -
"the title of the tune known as the Graf Spee, which refers to a World War 1(sic) battleship,is undoubtedly a corruption of an original title that referred to a Strathspey in Scotland.(In one collection it is called the Grants of Strathspey)".
This is by no means the first irish reel to have its roots in Scotland - eg Bonny Kate, Boyne Hunt, Lads Of Laois, Farewell To Ireland..etc
# Posted on March 16th 2002 by Kenny
Graf spee
"The Rothiemurchus Rant" was printed in "The Athole Collection of Scottish Dance Music", published in 1884. The "Graf Spee" battleship was commissioned in 1936 - a difference of over 50 years.
A quote from "Bowing Styles In Irish Fiddle Playing - Vol 2" by David Lyth - Page 21 -
"the title of the tune known as the Graf Spee, which refers to a World War 1(sic) battleship,is undoubtedly a corruption of an original title that referred to a Strathspey in Scotland.(In one collection it is called the Grants of Strathspey)".
This is by no means the first irish reel to have its roots in Scotland - eg Bonny Kate, Boyne Hunt, Lads Of Laois, Farewell To Ireland..etc
# Posted on March 16th 2002 by Kenny
So that's how it happened, thanks for that quote.
# Posted on March 17th 2002 by Mad Baloney
I always thought it was a corruption of "Grand Spey", as in the river.
# Posted on August 4th 2004 by Dow
Graf Spee
The tune is a lot older than the Athole Collection. It is in Vickers' ms (1770) as The Grants of Strathspey and in many Scottish books of the 18th C as Rothemurchus's Rant, with many spellings. Rant is often used for strathspey titles, while it has a more specific meaning in NE England, meaning a tune which fits a particular dance step, e.g Morpeth Rant.
# Posted on November 23rd 2004 by Matt Seattle
i like the verve in McGoldrick/McSherry's version, which deviates from this one. anyone help me/us out w/a transcription?
# Posted on January 27th 2005 by JHowley
I notice a three part version is on Siobhan Peoples and Murty Ryan album 'Time on our Hands' under the title 'The Western Lassies'
# Posted on July 15th 2005 by prouse
Martin Hayes does a great version with brilliant accompaniment by Steve Cooney on 'Under The Moon'. it is a little different than this version, but it is in C.
# Posted on July 26th 2005 by !@£$%^&*()
Apparently there's a Fermanagh coruption of the Grants of Strathspey which might be the missing link - The Grand Spy!
# Posted on February 15th 2006 by Conán McDonnell