The Resting Chair: A Song History
"The Resting Chair" is one of the names of "Da Auld Restin' Chair," a slow air by the Shetland fiddler Tom Anderson.[1] Anderson's own note on the tune, quoted by the Traditional Tune Archive, dates it to 1968 and links it to the old chair his grandfather sat in while teaching him the fiddle, and the archive describes it as written in his grandfather's memory.[1] Anderson (1910–1991) was born on a croft at Eshaness, recorded tunes at first hand from 1945 onward, and composed more than 500 tunes of his own.[2] The Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame counts this air among his slow airs that became popular internationally.[2]
Comb-back Windsor armchair, yew and elm wood, ca. 1770. An old chair, shown for the tune's title.
The tune appears in Haand Me Doon da Fiddle (1979), by Anderson and Swing, and Anderson recorded it with Aly Bain on The Silver Bow (Topic, 1976).[1] Other recordings listed include Buddy MacMaster's Glencoe Hall.[1] An Irish tune index lists recordings from 1978 onward, among them Eugene O'Donnell's and one by Jackie Daly with Séamus and Manus McGuire, though it notes that the air belongs to Shetland music rather than the Irish tradition.[3]
Shelley Stevens's Baker's Dozen #8: Rounds And Duets, a Fingers Of Steel collection of 13 rounds and duets for two or more dulcimers in DAD tuning, includes a tune listed as "The Resting Chair."[4]
Sources
- The Traditional Tune Archive: "Auld Restin' Chair (Da)".
- Hands Up for Trad, Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame: "Dr Tom Anderson MBE".
- irishtune.info: "Da Auld Restin' Chair".
- Fingers Of Steel: "Shelley Stevens, Baker's Dozen #8: Rounds And Duets".
- Image: Comb-back Windsor armchair, yew and elm wood, ca. 1770. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.