"Keel Row Reel"
(The Boatie Rows, (The) Cat's Got The Measles, The Devil's Fling, Drops of Brandy, Jennie's Frolics, Johnny When You Die, (The/Weel May The) Keel Row (Fling/Highland), Keelrow, The Keelrow, Kielrow, Lady Handwick's Reel, Lake St. Jean Gallope, Michael's Reel, Smiling Polly, Some Say The Devil Is Dead, Twin Sisters, Well May The World Go, (The) Yorkshire Lad.)
![[image of music]](FFsniply-Keel Row Reel.png)
Reel, G, ABAB.
| FF Type | Tune Type | Var ABC file | FF ABC file | FF .ly file |
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| Standards | tune |
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MIDI
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| Orig | History | VarABCs | FF_ABC | FF_Lilypond | FF_Snippet |
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Playing or Personal Notes:
Played as a strathspey, followed by "All Aboard", then "Yellow Hair\'d Laddie" then finally as a reel, in the Keel Row set.
History
This is one of those old tunes that has a disputed heritage. According to one contributor on The Session - "Despite that Scottish feel, and it being known as a Highland/Fling/Highland Fling in Eire, it is claimed by Northumberland and the Tyneside (the song)." The Fiddler's Companion tends to agree;
Stokoe and Bruce (1882) devote a note to the tune claiming Northumbrian authorship for "The Keel Row," an extremely popular tune in its time (in both Scotland and Northumberland) and "the best known and most popular of all Northumbrian lyrics." He refutes assertions that the tune is Scotch (to whom it is often credited), citing the following: 1) the 'keel' is a vessel which is only known on the rivers Tyne and Wear
... but goes on to show the difficulty in musical attibution, especially for a tune so wide-spread as this one.
On the Web:
| the Session | Fiddler's Companion | Cape Breton Fiddler | IrishTune |
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