Annotation:Leezie Lindsay

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LEEZIE LINDSAY. Scottish, Waltz. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA. The song was first published in Johnson's Scots Musical Museum, based on an older song (and air) to which poet Robert Burns contributed four lines, evidently intending to write more [Graham, Popular Songs, 1887, p. 265). The greater part of the whole older ballad was published by Jamieson in his Popular Ballads (1806). It relates the tale of Ronald MacDonald, the heir of Kingcausie, who went to Edinburgh to seek a wife. He first had to seek permission of his mother, who consented if only he went clothed as a poor man.

Will ye gang wi' me Leezie Lindsay
Will ye gang to the Highlands wi' me?
Will ye gang wi' me Leezie Lindsay
My bride and darling to be?
To gang to the Highlands wi' you, sir
I dinna ken how that may be,
For I ken nae the land that you live in,
Nor ken I the lad I'm gaun wi'.
O Leezie, lass, ye maun ken little
If sae ye dinna ken me;
For my name is Lord Ronald MacDonald,
A chieftan o' high degree.
She has kilted her cots o' green satin,
She has kilted them up to the knee
And she's off wi' Lord Ronald MacDonald
The bride and darling to be.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Johnson (Scots Musical Museum, vol. 5), 1797; p. 446. Neil (The Scots Fiddle), 1991; No. 185, p. 241.

Recorded sources:

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