BECAUSE HE/I WAS A BONNIE/BONNY LAD (she bid him aye come back). AKA and See "Boney (Bonny) Lad(s)," "Jack's Favourwright (Favorite)." Scottish, Shetland, English, Cape Breton; Country Dance (cut time) or Reel. England, Northumbria. Shetland, Whalsay. G Major (Cole, Raven): A Major (Athole, Gow, Hunter, Kerr, Skye). Standard. AB (Cole, Hunter, McGlashan): AAB (Athole, Gow, Kerr, Skye): AABB (Raven). A popular country dance dating back to at least 1752, according to Alburger (1983), when fiddler and dancing master John McGill of Girvan wrote down the instructions for his pupils. Glen finds its earliest appearence in print in Bremner's 1757 collection (pg. 14). The tune appears, however, in the somewhat earlier Drummond Castle Manuscript, which is inscribed "A Collection of Country Dances written for the use of his Grace the Duke of Perth by Dav. Young, 1734." Young's MS was in the possession of the Earl of Ancaster at Drummond Castle in the early 1970's, and hence its present-day title. It retained its popularity through that century and into the next, for the title appears in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes, which he wrote c. 1800./ The tune, attached to an alternate 'B' parts, turns up in southwestern Pa. as 1) a fife tune (4/4 time) in the repertory of Hiram Horner (1944) who had the tune from a Scots fifer, and known simply as "Old Bagpipe Air" [Bayard, 1981; No. 252, pg. 216], and 2) as a jig called "Nancy Fat" played by fifers in Greene County, Pa., and by one "crippled Jack Anderson" in particular [Bayard, 1981; No. 566, pg. 503]. Bruce & Stokoe (Northumbrian Minstrelsy), 1882; pg. 155. Cole (1001 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; pg. 46. Gow (Complete Collection), Part 1, 1799; pg. 23. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 118. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 2; No. 10, pg. 4. MacDonald (The Skye Collection), 1887; pg. 9. McGlashan (A Collection of Reels), 1786; pg. 44. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 183. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 13. Rounder 7011, "The Beatons of Mabou: Scottish Violin Musci from Cape Breton" (1978).
X:1
T:Because He Was a Bonny Lad
L:1/8
M:C|
S:Reel
B:The Athole Collection
K:A
e|c>BA>a (f/g/a (ec|d>fe>c B/B/B ~B>e|c>BA>a (f/g/a (e>c|dfec A/A/A A:|
e|cBAc defd|cAec B/B/B (Bd|cBAc defg|agac A/A/A (Ae|cAeA fA eA|
cAec B/B/B (Bg|afge efec|dfec A/A/A A||
X:2
T:Because He Was a Bonny Lad
L:1/8
M:C
S: Bruce & Stokoe - Northumbrian Minstrelsy
K:G
d|B>Agg e/f/g d>B|c>edB cAAc|B>Agg e/f/g d>B|c>edc BGG:|
|:d|BGdG eGdG|c>edB cAAc|BGdB eGdG|c>edc BGG:|
BONNIE BANKS O' LOCH LOMOND. Scottish, March or Air (4/4 time). G Major. Standard. AB (Neil): ABC (Kerr). The tune is one of the most famous of Scots airs and appears to be based melodically on "Kind Robin." It is thought to date from the year 1746, and the lyrics are supposed to refer to one of Bonnie Prince Charlie's ill-fated followers who was about to be executed for rebellion. His sweetheart had come to Carlisle, perhaps to seek his release, but he told her he would be taking the 'low road', or grave, back to Loch Lomond, where they had spent their happiest hours.
***
O, ye'll tak' the high road
And I'll tak' the low road,
And I'll be in Scotland afore ye;
But I and my true love will never meet again,
On the bonnie, bonnie, banks o' Loch Lomond.
***
Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 3; No. 407, pg. 45. Neil (The Scots Fiddle), 1991; No. 113, pg. 151.
T:The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond
B:Allan's Violin Gems
Z:Nigel Gatherer
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:G
D2|G2 GA B2 AG|A2 AG E2 D2|G2 G2 G2 Bd|e4 d2 d2|e2 ed B2 Bd|
cBAG E2 DE|G2 Bd e2 dB|A4 g2 D2|G2 GA B2 AG|ABAG E2 DE|
G2 G2 G2 Bd|e4 d2 d2|e2 ge d2 Bd|cBAG E2 DE|GGBd e2 dB|A4 G2|]
WHISTLE OVER/O'ER (THE LAVE O'T). Scottish (originally), English; Rant or Strathspey. England, Northumberland. G Major (Alburger, Glen, Gow, Hall & Stafford, Kerr, Neil, Raven): E Flat Major (Emmerson). Standard. One part (Emmerson, Hunter): AAB (Kerr, Neil): AABB (Alburger, Hall & Stafford, Raven): AABCCD (Athole), AABBCCDD (Glen, Gow, McGlashan). The tune (and song, both extent in several versions) appears to be an early 18th century set of "De'il Stick the Minister," and has often been attributed to John Bruce of Dumfries (c. 1720-1785, born in Braemar), the poet Robert Burns being the first to do so. Others (e.g. Mayne) say the air was composed long before him, and Emmerson (1971) finds in all little evidence to support claims for Bruce. A colorful character, Bruce was a Jacobite, born in Braemar between 1700 and 1720, who was imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle after the rising of 1745 and the defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie. Reportedly his skill as a fiddler helped free him and he went to Dumfries where he became acquainted with Robert Burns (who called him "an honest man, though a red wud Highlander") before passing away in 1785 (Collinson, 1966/Alburger, 1983). Flood (1906) says the tune was originally an Irish air dating back to the 17th century called "Maggie Pickens," which the Scots appropriated c. 1715-1740 and set to the song "Whistle O'er the Lave O't" (whose words were so indelicate, according to Flood, that Robert Burns had to rewrite them in 1790. The tune was a favorite march of the Irish Volunteers (1774-1784).
***
"Whistle's" first printed appearance was in 1757 in either Robert Bremner's Scots Reels (pg. 56) {as Glen, 1891, finds} or James Oswald's Caledonian Pocket Companion where it appears in rant form. Alburger searched the Blaikie Manuscript (1692), as it had been reported by James Dick to be contained there, however she could not locate it in the Wighton copy. It is one of the "missing tunes" from William Vickers' 1770 Northumbrian dance manuscript, but is contained in the 1768 Gillespie Manuscript of Perth. Today, the version that was published by James Scott Skinner (1890) is commonly associated (along with "Gin ye kiss my Wife") with the Scottish traditional dance "Sean(n) Triubhas," which is performed in tartan trousers, not kilts, though other items of Highland dress remain the same. In fact, states Emmerson (1972) "Whistle" is so intimately associated with the dance that it is now commonly known as "Seann Triubhas" (see also note for "Seann Triubhas Willighan," the original tune for the dance).
***
The song "Whistle o'er the lave o't" was written in the 17th century and contains ribald lyrics which can be found in David Herd's Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs. "One of many Scots songs with indelicate suggestions," notes Purser (1992), "'fiddling' has long been a double-entendre and whistling a way of avoiding the overexplicit." Burns' words go, in part:
***
I am a fiddler to my trade
An' a' the tunes that e'er I play'd
The sweetest still to wife or maid
Was - Whistle owre the lave o't.
***
My mother sent me to the well,
She had better gang hersell,
I got the thing I dare nae tell,
Whistle o'er the lave o't.
***
The first verse of this version first appears in the Merry Muses where it is the chorus of "Let me ryke up to dight that tear,' while the 2nd verse is from Herd's book of Scots Songs (1769), referenced above. Alburger (Scottish Fiddlers and Their Music), 1982; Ex. 87, pg. 140. Dick, No. 250. Emmerson (Rantin' Pipe and Tremblin' String), 1971; No. 36, pg. 133. Glen (The Glen Collection of Scottish Music), Vol. 1, 1891; pg. 6. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 1, 1799; pg. 12. Hall & Stafford (Charlton Memorial Tune Book), 1974; pg. 1. Hardie (Caledonian Companion), 1992; pg. 53. Henderson, Flowers of Scottish Melody, 1935. Hunter (The Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 87. Johnson, Musical Museum, 1787. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; Set 16, No. 3, pg. 11. McGlashan (Collection of Strathspey Reels), c. 1780/81; pg. 31. Neil (The Scots Fiddle), 1991; No. 96, pg. 129. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 180. Skinner, 1890 (Harp and Claymore). Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; pg. 172. "James F. Dickie's Delights" (1976). "The Fiddler's Companion" (1980).
T:Whistle O'er the Lave O't
L:1/8
M:C
R:Slow Strathspey
B:The Athole Collection
K:G
G>E E<G B>A B2|d<e B>g A>G E2|G>D E<G G>AB>g|G<G B>G A2G2:|
de/f/ g>f e>d B2| d>eB>g A>G E2|de/f/ g>f e>d B<g|G<G B>G A2 G2|
de/f/ g>f e>d B2|c>aB>g A>G E2|g>be>g d>g B<b|G<G B>G A2 G2||
|:G>BA>c B>GA>c|B>GA>F G>B, A,2|G,>B,A,>C B,>D G<B|
A>Bc>B A2 G2:|
G/A/B/c/ d<g e>cB>G|c>AB>G A>G E2|BA/B/ cB/c/ de/f/ g2|
G<G B>G A2G2|G/A/B/c/ d<g e>cB>G|ce/c/ Bd/B/ A>G E2|
g>be>g d>g B<b|G<G B>G A2 G2||