Annotation:Bonnie Lass o' Bekkahill (Da)

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BONNIE LASS O' BEKKAHILL, DA. AKA - "Da Boannie Lass O Bekkahill." Shetland, Reel. Shetland, West side. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. A traditional slow reel from the West side of the Shetlands, note Anderson & Georgeson, who give these words set to the tune:

If I had anidder sixpence
I wid buy anidder gill
I wid aks da fiddler ta play
Da Boannie Lass o Bekkahill.

Anderson (1979) remarked:

Dis is a tun fae da Wast Side o' Shetland. I got him fae Peter Fraser o' Finnigirt an he aye played him a peerie bit slower dan da usual Shetlan' reel.

Cooke (1986) prints a similar text to this dance tune, which he remarks was in oral tradition in the Shetlands in the 1970's:

If I had another tuppence I would buy another gill
I would let the fiddler play the boanie lass o' Bekkahill.

Similar words and a version of the tune can be found in many folk-song collections as "The Bonnie Lads of Byker Hill" or "Byker Hill," whose refrain goes:

Byker Hill and Walker Shore
Collier lads for ever-more (x2)

Source for notated version: fiddler Peter Fraser (Shetland) [Anderson & Georgeson]. Fraser was a founding member (along with Anderson and Georgeson) of the Shetland Folk Lore Society, founded in May, 1945.

Printed sources: Anderson (Haand Me Doon da Fiddle), 1979; No. 48. Anderson & Georgeson (Da Mirrie Dancers), 1970; p. 21. Bain (50 Fiddle Solos), 1989; p. 34.

Recorded sources:

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