This waltz was written by harpist Bonnie Epstein, at the time a resident of Greenwich NY, to be played at the wedding of a friend. She explains its origin as follows: "This tune was written on Meriden Hill in Columbia, New Hampshire, for a cousin's wedding. The wedding was held outside at his cabin in the woods, with forty people and nine very large dogs attending. As the ceremony was starting, a guest had an epileptic seizure. The paramedics arrived but refused to get out of their car until all of the dogs were put into the house. So the dogs and I went in, all vying for a spot by the window. The guest was fine and when I was given the "all clear" I opened the cabin door and out raced the dogs, like a tidal wave. The wedding on the hill continued but the tune was never played that day!"
Ref: Collected from Author
Mairi's Wedding - G MajorPolkai
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G
G
Am
AmD
G
G
CAm
D
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G
G
C
D
G
G
CAm
D
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Tune Information
Author: Traditional
Origin: Scotland - Hebrides
The tune is from the Hebrides Islands, off the north cost of Scotland. An alternate title Lewis Bridal Song refers to the Isle of Lewis, which may be its origin.
This tune was written by Cambridge NY fiddler Stephan Deibel. "It is the first tune I ever wrote, in 2008, while sitting on my back porch, which overlooks the Lovejoy Plow Factory in Cambridge NY. Starting in around 1850, this factory produced the Cambridge Steel Plow, which was significant because it opened up the thick sods in the midwest to larger-scale farming. Ultimately, this put many upstate New York farmers out of business, something that perhaps Hiram Lovejoy would have lamented later in life." It is, however, musically a waltz and not a lament.