GENERAL BURGOINE'S MINUET. AKA and see "Mrs. Grant of Arndilly's Minuet." Scottish. Dedicated to two people: originally to Mrs. Grant, chatelaine of Arndilly House on northern Scotland's River Findhorn, c. 1767, and then General John ("Gentleman Johnny") Burgoine (or Burgoyne), the army general who later surrendered to the Americans at Saratoga, 1777. The dedication to Burgoyne came about in 1774 when he was one of the principal guests in the wedding of Lord Stanley and Lady Betty Hamilton in Surrey in that year. Thomas Erskine, Earl of Kelly (b. Fife, 1732), had been commissioned to write a new set of minuets for the bride and groom and some honored guests, but he was "thoroughly bored" with the style and tried to revamp or retitle some old minuets, hoping no one would notice.
LADY ANN ERSKIN. Scottish, Minuet. John Glen (1891) finds the earliest appearance of this tune in print in Robert Bremner's 1757 collection (pg. 86). The tune was written by Thomas Alexander Erskine, Viscount Fenton, Sixth Earl of Kelly, born at Kellie Castle in Fife in 1732 and familiarly known as "Fiddler Tam". Lady Ann was his sister.
LADY BELLY(?) ERSKINE'S MINUET. Scottish, Minuet. The melody appears in the Gillespie Manuscript of Perth (1768).
LADY BETTY STANLEY'S MINUET. The tune was written by Thomas Alexander Erskine, Viscount Fenton, Sixth Earl of Kelly, born at Kellie Castle in Fife in 1732 and familiarly known as "Fiddler Tam". It honors the wife of Lord Stanley, a twenty-two year old aristocrat given to horse-racing and cock-fighting, and, like Kelly, fond of his pleasures.
LADY ERSKINE. Scottish, Reel. A Dorian. Standard. AAB. Glen attributes the tune to "J. Walker." Source for notated version: Kenny Chaisson(b. 1947, Bear River, North-East Kings County, Prince Edward Island; now resident of Rollo Bay) [Perlman]. Glen (The Glen Collection of Scottish Dance Music), Vol. 2, 1895; pg. 44. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; pg. 104.
LADY FANEY ERSKINE'S MINUET. Scottish, Minuet. The melody appears in the Gillespie Manuscript of Perth (1768).
O WALY WALY. Scottish, Air (3/4 time). D Major/Mixolydian. Standard. AABB. This very old tune can be found in William McGibbon's collection of 1762 among others, although the first printed version appeared in 1725. Neil (1991) remarks that the origins of the ballad are obscure, but probably relate to some amorous incident in the life of Mary, Queen of Scots, or one of her courtiers. The song references Lady Barbara Erskine, daughter of the 9th Earl of Mar, who married James, second Marquis of Douglas, in 1670 and tells of her ruin after being falsely accused of adultery.
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O waly, waly, up the bank,
And way, waly, down the brae,
And waly, waly, yon burnside,
Where I and my love want to go!
I lean'd my back into an aik,
I thocht it was a trusty tree,
But first it bow'd and syne it brak
And sae did my true love to me.
***
The melody was transformed in America into the hymn tune "The Water is Wide." Neil (The Scots Fiddle), 1991; No. 11, pg. 13. June Tabor - "Airs and Graces."