The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #40279 Message #1762385
Posted By: GUEST,Jack Campin
17-Jun-06 - 04:26 PM
Thread Name: Help: American songs from Scotland?
Subject: RE: Help: American songs from Scotland?
"Rosin the Bow" is related to a tune published by James Oswald, c.1750. It isn't at all clear to me that Oswald's tune was the original, as the second parts are rather different. Maybe they both derived from a common ancestor.
"When Johnny Came Marching Home" is basically "John Anderson my Jo" in a different rhythm. That one is pretty uncontroversially Scottish, from the 17th century.
But "Turkey in the Straw"? What's that from?
And the tune for "I Gave my Love a Cherry" is not a Scottish one. The idea of that riddle is known all over Europe so there's no particular reason to suppose any aspect of the American song is Scottish.