According to the <<https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Barren_Rocks_of_Aden_(The)|Traditional Tune Archive>>, the actual composer of this tune is in dispute. There is some evidence that it was actually composed by James Mauchline, who in the mid-19th century was with a detachment of the 78th Seaforth Highlanders that was sent to garrison Aden (in Yemen), but that Alexander McKellar – the pipe major of the Seaforths at the time – arranged it and gave it its name. McKellar, though, was apparently quite adamant that it was his own tune.