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TOCHER, THE A cow and a calf, An ox and a half, And forty guid shillin's and three, Is not that enough tocher For Alastair's dochter, The lass wi' a bonnie black e'e? ________________________________________________________ Moffat 50 TSNR (1933), 20, with music; M. notes that the last line is sometimes sung "The lass wi' a lang pedigree" [probably a theft from Lady Nairne's song "The Laird o' Cockpen"]. This is a version of the 2nd stanza of a song ("Jumping John") contributed to the Scots Musical Museum (II, 1788, 145, no. 138) by Burns, said by Stenhouse (Illus. 129) to be "a fragment of the old humorous ballad [about JJ], with some verbal corrections", which ballad has not been identified. Kinsley (Burns III.1263) finds this 2nd st. to have the air of a traditional fragment, and the first ("Her daddie forbad" etc.) to be by the bard, based on a song in Herd (II.68-9). The Museum tune is the English Joan's Placket, an antecedent of the pipe tune Cock o' the North [see note to "Auntie Mary"], but Moffat's is entirely different, and may come from his mysterious MS. collection mentioned in his preface. @Scottish @kids filename[ TOCHER MS APR99 |
The Tocher (Tune is the English Joan's Placket as used by Burns for the chorus of a song, Jumpin John, contributed to the Scots Musical Museum vol.II (1788). Midi made from notation in Kinsley's Burns: Poems and Songs (OUP, 1969)) |
