> Brass Monkey > Songs > Da Floo’er o’ Taft / The Lass o’ Paties Mill

Da Floo’er o’ Taft / The Lass o’ Paties Mill

[trad. arr. Brass Monkey]

These tunes were played by Brass Monkey on their 1986 album See How It Runs. This LP was re-released in 1993 as second half of the CD The Complete Brass Monkey. Its sleeve notes commented:

Da Floo’er o’ Taft and Trowie Burn are two tunes collected by Patrick Shuldham-Shaw from the extraordinary Shetland musician and singer John Stickle in 1947. As well as having what might be described as the standard Shetland repertoire of dance music he had many songs and a repertoire of tunes from his family. His grandfather, Friedmann Stickle, was German and a merchant seaman who was shipwrecked on Shetland and stayed. The family story was that he was thrown overboard with his fiddle by the rest of the crew who were fed up with his constant playing or who, on the other hand, just didn’t like him. The German Merchant Marine’s loss was Shetland’s and our gain.

Da Floo’er o’ Taft is spectacularly like a German dance tune still current, The Seven Steps.

The Lass o’ Paties Mill - originally a song by Allan Ramsay, the tune was known for dancing by poet / fiddler John Clare. This version comes from Kerr’s First Collection of Merry Melodies.