Arran Boat Song

The tune appears in Scottish collections of the 1880s. Kerr’s Merry Melodies prints it as “The Arran Boat” in 6/8 time, and Maver’s Collection of Genuine Scottish Melodies (1885) has it as “The Highland Boat Song.” Under the Highland Boat Song title it is set in 3/4, so the same air circulates in two meters. Kerr and Gatherer’s Musical Museum set it in E Dorian, and Lerwick’s The Kilted Fiddler (1985) in E minor. It has two parts, the first repeated.

Twentieth-century fiddle collections kept it in print, including Martin’s Ceol na Fidhle (1991), Gatherer (1987) and Lerwick. On record, the brothers John and Phil Cunningham included it on Against the Storm in 1980.