Give Me a Lass with a Lump of Land
X:1 T:Lass with a Lump of Land, A M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Air B:William Thomson - Orpheus Caledonius, vol. 2 (1733, No. 12, p. 45) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:F f>gf f e d |e2f g2g|f>g f fe d|cd/e/ f c A F| f>g f fe d|f e f g2g|f>g f fe d|cd/e/ f c A F| G>A G d2G|e e G d2G|G>A G d2G|e e G c A F | G>A G d2G|e2G d2G|G>A G d2G|e e G cA F||
GIVE ME A LASS WITH A LUMP OF LAND. AKA and see "My lame leg has kept me behind," "Top of the Hill (The)." English, Irish; Air and Jig (6/8 time). F Major (Thomson): G Major (Aird): D Major (Manson). Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Thomson): AABB. See the related "Butcher's March (2) (The)." The air "Give Me a Lass with a Lump of Land" appears in J. Mitchell's stage production The Highland Fair, or the Union of the Clans (1731), and in the opera Calista (1731), a scandalous expose of the illicit affair of Lady Catherine, penned by an anonymous author. "Give Me a Lass with a Lump of Land" was printed in vol. 6 of John Watts' Musical Miscellany the same year, followed by William Thomson's Orpheus Caledonius, vol. 2 (1733). The version printed in Hamilton's Universal Tune Book, vol. 2 (1846) has parts reversed from the version published by James Aird, and is somewhat distanced.
Words to the song were printed by Thomson. The first stanza begins:
Gi’e me a Lass with a lump of Land,
And we for Life shall gang the gather;
Tho daft or wife, I’ll never demand,
Or Black or Fair it maks na whether.
I’m aff with witt, and Beauty will fade,
And Blood alane is no worth a shilling,
But she that’s Rich, her Market’s made,
For Ilka, Charm about her is Killing.
See also the Scottish derivative "My lame leg has kept me behind" (Se mo chas chrùbach) (parts reversed from "Give Me a Lass...."), and O'Neill's "Top of the Hill (The)."
