Cape Breton's Magazine

here between 9 and 9:30--and keep straight to Northeast Margaree and play. And come back, ar]Ld do the same thing Saturday night, and then head back for the Valley Sunday. You had to be kind of half iron to do it, but I managed it, as long as I wasn't drinking. And I wasn't drinking. (You kept on being a fiddler for dances for many years,) Up until three years ago. Tendonitis. That's why I stopped. I was never a real good player at all. And I was never satisfied with what I played, myself. I was just what you'd call a fair fiddler, for a square set or for playing a Scottish strathspey or something like that. But the finer art of playing, I couldn't do. (But I'm told a good dance fiddler is a great thing to have.) I was considered fairly good. (Was there a lot of music in your home?) There was not so much music in our home un? til lately. But there was always singing, and there were always these old tunes and old Scottish ballads and Gaelic ballads. My mother would sing Gaelic by the hour. I could quote you dozens of Gaelic songs that are played now as music, that she'd know verses to them. Fiddle tunes. That's what we play now. (Whistles tune.) '"S iom- adh ceum crubach a chum air deireadh mi"-- "It was my lame foot that kept me behind the rest." That was commonly known. It's called "Miss Drummond of Perth" in the mu? sic books, and everybody calls it now, but the older people down the North Shore, you ask them, and they'd call it "Calum Cru- bach"--"Lame Malcolm." And there were verses to that. And that famous piece, "Tulloch Gorm"--one of the original stan? zas to that is in mockery of the classical fiddlers. And it's, "Fiddlers pins in tem? pers fix, and rosin well your fiddle? sticks,/ And banish all Italian tricks from out your variorum./ They're duff and Gome for the summer, stay for the fall colours- you are welcome to VICTORIA COUNTY St. Lawr?nce Bay ClAD MILE FAILTE II One Hundred Thousand Welcomes VICTORIA COUNTY 'o. The Warden, Councilors and Residents Take time to meet the people of Victoria County. And Plan to Return for Winter 1987H Jeux Canada Games BZ February 14 to February 28,1987 ; Du 14 fevrier au 28 fevrier; 1987 Ieux Canada Games 87''1'/SS Victoria County is a host county for the Winter Games-- ALPINE SKIING and CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING competitions. This is your invitation to return to Victoria County to see the Games, enjoy the hospitality, and share the excitement! Enjoy Winter in Victoria County • We Do!