"The Bonnie Lass o' Bon-Accord" is a Scottish air or march in 4/4 time and A Major. The parts are played AAB. Of the 600 tunes composed by J. Scott Skinner (1843-1927), this is one of his best and most famous, composed in 1884 and still popular today. 'Bon Accord' is an affectionate name for the city of Aberdeen, Scotland and is ensconsed over the arms of the city - it means "happy to meet, sorry to part, happy to meet again". The nick-name's origins are thought to date to 1308, when it was a watchword of the burghers of the town who at that time overcame the English garrisoning the town. The opening bars of the tune were inscribed on Skinner's gravestone in Aberdeen's Allenvale cemetary. It was first published in Skinner's Logie Collection. The tune follows the same formal pattern as Niel Gow's "Lament for the Death of His Second Wife," repeating its second strain three times in slightly different versions. It was printed in Alburger's Scottish Fiddlers and Their Music (1983), Brody's Fiddler's Fakebook (1983), Hardie's Caledonian Companion (1992), Hunter's The Fiddle Music of Scotland (1988), Johnson's A Twenty Year Anniversary Collection (2003), MacDonald's The Skye Collection (1887), Moffat's Dance Music of the North (1908), Neil's The Scots Fiddle (1991), Skinner's Harp and Claymore (1904) and Skinner's The Scottish Violinist (1900). It was recorded by Eugene O'Donnell on Slow Airs and Set Dances, Boys of the Lough on Good Friends, Good Music (1977), Joseph Cormier on Scottish Violin Music of Cape Breton (1974) and J. Scott Skinner on The Strathspey King.