> I was going through McGibbon's "Scots Tunes" (1762, according to Glen) > and found a tune called "An the Kirk wad let me be".� I thought also > of the title "De'il Stick the Minister", also from the mid-18th century, > and wondered if there was a connection.
They're completely different tunes. There are words known for "An the kirk wad let me be" - it's much older than 1762 - but none I've ever heard of for "Deil stick the minister". (There is a Shetland tune of the latter title, totally unrelated to the 18th century one). > Perhaps some kind of reaction to the Scottish Kirk at that time? Was > there some kind of anti-clerical feeling in Scotland in the mid-18th > century, and was this an influence or a reaction to the politics of > the time? How many books do you have time to read? Scottish religious politics has always been immensely complicated, and you don't have a prayer of interpreting a polemic against ministers unless you know exactly who wrote it and when. There are some 18th century polemics related to patronage disputes in which I can work out absolutely *nothing* of the author's intention, or who his target was, except that he was mightily pissed off about something. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jack Campin: 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU; 0131 6604760 <http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/> * homepage for my CD-ROMs of Scottish traditional music; free stuff on food intolerance, music and Mac logic fonts. Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
