The Honest Dog

by Seán Gray & Andrew Finn Magill

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about

This song originated as a poem written by Scottish Jacobite poet William Hamilton of Bangour (1704 -54) called “Inscription on a Dog."

Seán added the melody and created a refrain from the first two lines.

We arranged most of the music for this piece in the afternoons of the week we spent teaching at the Fèis Rois in Ullapool, Scotland in April 2019.

lyrics

I’m calm though not mean,
courageous without rage,
Serious not dull, without thinking sage;
I’m calm though not mean.

I’m pleased at the lot that nature has assigned,
I snarl as I list, and freely bark my mind,
As churchman wrangle not with jarring spite,
Nor statesman-like caressing whom I bite.
I view all canine kind with equal eyes,
I dread no mastiff, and no cur despise.

I’m true from the first, and faithful to the end,
I balk no mistress, forsake no friend.
My days and nights one equal tenor keep,
Fast but to eat, and only wake to sleep.
Thus stealing along life I live incog.,
A very plain and downright honest dog

credits

released June 12, 2020
Lyrics by William Hamilton
Music composed by Andrew Finn Magill & Seán Gray

Andrew Finn Magill: fiddle
Seán Gray: electric guitar, effects
Recording & mixing engineer: Mike Vass at GloWorm Recording Glasgow, UK
Mastering engineer: Chris Waite

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about

Andrew Finn Magill Asheville, North Carolina

For twenty years violinist/fiddler and composer Andrew Finn Magill has been pursuing parallel careers in traditional Irish music, Brazilian choro, jazz and American fiddle and he has performed with everyone from grammy-nominees Trio Brasileiro to Rising Appalachia. ... more

andrewfinnmagill.com

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