Lyr Add: My Highland Lassie, O (Robert Burns)

Subject: Lyr Add: MY HIGHLAND LASSIE, O (Robert Burns)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 29 Sep 03 - 10:03 PM

Lyr. Add: MY HIGHLAND LASSIE, O
Robert Burns

Nae gentle dames, tho' e'er sae fair,
Shall ever be my muse's care:
Their titles a' are empty show;
Gie me my Highland Lassie, O.

Chorus:
Within the glen sae bushy, O,
Aboon the plain sae rashy, O,
I set me down wi' right guid will,
To sing my Highland lassie, O.

O were yon hills and vallies mine
Yon palace and yon gardens fine!
The world then the love should know
I bear my Highland lassie, O.

But fickle fortune frowns on me,
And I maun cross the raging sea!
But while my crimson currents flow,
I'll love my Highland lassie, O.

Altho' thro' foreign climes I range,
I know her heart will never change,
For her bosom burns with honour's glow,
My faithful Highland lassie, O.

For her I'll dare the billows roar,
For her I'll trace a distant shore,
That Indian wealth may lustre throw
Around my Highland lassie, O.

She has my heart, she has my hand,
By secret troth and honour's band!
Till the mortal stroke shall lay me low,
I'm thine, my Highland lassie, O.

Farewell the glen sae bushy, O!
Farewell the plain sae rashy, O!
To other lands I now must go,
To sing my Highland lassie, O.

Tune- The Deuks dang o'er my daddy.

Looking for lyrics about lassies, and this song by Robert Burns was the only one I found. Laddies by the bushel, but few lassies.
The song is thought to be about the Scots who went to the West Indies. Speculation also about the attachment to Highland Mary.

Five or so years ago, someone asked for a song about a Highland lassie from auld Aberdeen, but such has not been found. One of the Highland Laddie songs mentions a girl in Aberdeen, but no song about the lassie herself.

Subject: Tune Add: HIGHLAND LASSIE O
From: masato sakurai
Date: 30 Sep 03 - 06:05 AM

Tune from James Kinsley's The Poems and Songs of Robert Burns, vol. I (Oxford, 1968, p. 252):

X:1
T:HIGHLAND LASSIE O--
M:C
L:1/8
N:McLauchlin's Scots Measure
K:C
"Slowish"(ED)|C3 E (DC) (DE)|G2 D2 D2 (ED)|C3 E (DC) (DE)|
(GE) (DC)c3 d|(ed) (ce) (dcA) d|cA GE D3 E|
C3/2D/E F (GAc) G|E2 C3/2D/ C2||(ed)|c2 f2 (efg) e|
a2 (d3/2e/)d2 (ed)|c2 g2 (efg) a|(gf) (ed)c3 d|(edc) e
dcA c|(A3/2G/)F E D3 E|(CDE) F GAc G|E2 C3/2D/ C2|]

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: MY HIGHLAND LASSIE, O
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 30 Sep 03 - 09:31 AM

Thank you both!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: MY HIGHLAND LASSIE, O
From: masato sakurai
Date: 30 Sep 03 - 12:48 PM

Notes to "Nae gentle dames, tho' ne'er sae fair" from James C. Dick, The Songs of Robert Burns (1903; Folklore Associates, 1962, pp. 61 & 372):

Tune: McLauchlin's Scots-measure.   Scots Musical Museum, 1788, No. 117.

The tune, McLauchlin's Scots Measure, is in Original Scotch Tunes, 1700, and is unsuitable for Burns's gay song from its extended compass, which no ordinary voice can reach, and its skipping intervals. Another copy of the music is in the Caledonian Pocket Companion, 1754, vi. 28, entitled The Inverness Scots Measure, and in Aird's Airs, 1782, ii, No. 95.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: MY HIGHLAND LASSIE, O
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 30 Sep 03 - 04:12 PM

"The Deuks Dang O'er My Daddy O" is listed in Olson. SMM # 396. Glen, ESM p. 184 notes English title "The Buff Coat Has No Fellow."
Scots Tunes
Scroll down. Other notes. This may help a better man than me to find the tune. Deuks = ducks.

Subject: Tune Add: THE DEUKS DANG O'ER MY DADDIE
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 30 Sep 03 - 05:59 PM

Well, this is the tune from SMM:

X:1
T:The Deuks dang o'er my daddie
B:Scots Musical Museum IV 1792 no.396 p.409
L:1/8
Q:1/4=100
M:6/8
K:C
"Lively"(e/d/)|c2 G E D C|DE D B2 (A/B/)|c2 G
E2 D| E C2 C2 e/d/|c2 G E D C|DE D B2 A/B/|
c c G {F}E2 D|E C2 C2 G|cB c A B c|de c B A G|
cB c de f|(ec) c c2 e|f e f A B c|
d e c B3/2 A/ B|c c G E E D|(EC) C C2|]

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: MY HIGHLAND LASSIE, O
From: masato sakurai
Date: 30 Sep 03 - 07:11 PM

"The Deuks Dang o'er My Daddie" from The Athole Collection is at JC's ABC tune finder. There's a sound clip from Auld Scottish Sangs, Scots songs collected by Robert Burns.