Annotation:Bonny Young Lad is My Jockey (A)
X:1 T:Bonny young Lad is my Jockey, A M:3/4 L:1/8 R:Air Q:"Slow" B:James Oswald – Caledonian Pocket Companion Book 9 (1760, p. 22) F: https://digital.nls.uk/special-collections-of-printed-music/archive/94600092?mode=transcription Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:G G>A|B2B2 (AG)|d2d2 T(cB)|(ed)(cB)(A^G)|A4 c2|(B/c/d) TB2A2| (G/A/B)G2 g2|T(fe)T(dc)T(BA)|G4::B>d|e2e2 (e/f/g)|B3d ^c2| d2d2 (d/e/f)|A4 A2|(d<B) B3d|(=cA) A2|dB (G2g2)|{g}f4 T(ed)| g2 BcdB|G3A G2|g2G2 gg|a2 ABcA|(Be)(dc)(BA)|G2 g2::(G>A)| (BG)(dB) (g/f/)e|Td3c B2|(cd)(ef) gB|{B}A4 c2|(B/d/g) b2a2| (g<e)(g<e) (d<B)|(d<B)(d<B) TB2|(c<A)(c<A) TA2|(B<G) d<B (b<g)|{g}f4 ed| (gb)(eg) (de)|G3B A2|B2b2a2|(b/a/g) (a/g/e) (g/e/d)|(eg) (d<B)(c<A)|G2g2:|]
BONNY YOUNG LAD IS MY JOCKEY, A. Scottish, Air (3/4 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. A ballad issued on song-sheets and published in the periodical The Gentleman’s and London Magazine; Or, Monthly Chronologer (Sept., 1750, p. 482), where it was noted that it was a 'favourite song' and was sung by "Miss Stevenson at Vauxhall" (Gardens). The melody was much later entered into the large 1840 music manuscript collection of multi-instrumentalist John Rook, of Waverton, near Wigton, Cumbria. The first two stanzas go:
I’ll sing of my lover all night and all day,
He’s ever good-natur’d and playsome and gay;
His voice is as sweet as the nightingale’s lay,
And well on his bagpipe my shepherd can play.
And a bonny young lad is my Jocky
He tells me he loves me, I’m witty and fair,
He praises my lips, my eyes and my hair;
Roses, violents, nor lilies, with me can compare,
If this be to flatter, ‘tis pretty I swear.
And a bonny young lad is my Jocky.
