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My relationship with traditional folk music has always been ambivalent. This is due to me being called a “contemporary” folk musician and being in competition with “traditional” folk musicians for the affection of fans of acoustic music. The fact that each feeds off the other seems to escape the notice of those who align themselves under the banner of either one. Such is the nature of human tribalism. This song is my attempt at an ironic response to traditionalism. A phenomenon which now extends even to the invention of the spurious term “Celtic” being applied to certain traditional music (I am Scottish, not Celtic). The fiddler in this piece is not a real person but the embodiment of acoustic music held hostage by traditionalists.
Downloads:
mp3: Celtic Airs And Graces (504)
Tab / Notation: Celtic Airs And Graces (239)
Celtic Airs And Graces
Misty-eyed and moody
A true Celt for sure
Bellicose and broody
Genetically pure
She can play the fiddle
Like you’ve never heard before
Hey, diddle-diddle,
Play for me some more
She is sponsored by the
Secretary of State
A guardian of my culture
Isn’t that just great?
She’s talking Gaelic to the Tourists
Over in Portree
But you can catch her at the ceilidh
In deepest Dundee
I’m told she is living
Out upon some rock
Holding back the ocean
And turning back the clock
I hear she comes here
From time to time
If our paths should ever cross
I’ll try to make her mine
© 2009 Dave Keir
Further references regarding my indifference to “Celtic” music and traditionalism:
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