Annotation:Donald of Dundee

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DONALD OF DUNDEE. AKA - "Young Donald is the blithest lad." Scottish, Air (2/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. A favorite broadside ballad written by poet David Vedder (1789-1854), dating to the second decade of the 19th century. There is an interesting extended biographical sketch [1] of him from George Gilfillan's Memoir in Vedder, Poems, Lyrics, and Sketches (1855), appearing in English Poetry 1579-1830: Spenser and the Tradition. "Donald of Dundee" was published on single-sheets and in song collections such as The Universal Songster; or, Museum of Mirth (1834) and The Pocket Encyclopedia of Scottish, English, and Irish songs (1816). The melody appears in some 19th century musicians' manuscripts, including those of William Mittel (1799, Kent) and John Rook (1840, Cumbria). The song begins:

Young Donald is the blythest lad
That e'er made love to me;
Whene'er he's by my heart is glad,
He's aye so kind and free;
l Then on his pipe he plays so sweet,
And in his plaid he looks sae neat,
It cheers my heart at eve to meet
Young Donald of Dundee.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Aird (Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 5), Glasgow, 1797; No. 50, p. 20.

Recorded sources:

See also listing at:
The Ballad Index [2]

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