Annotation:I Wish I Were Where Helen Lies
X:1 T:I wish I wer for hellen lyes N:A version of the lament "Helen of Kirkconnell" M:3/2 L:1/8 B:Bowie Manuscript (c. 1695, f.33) N:The MS was once in the possession of George Bowie, who entered his N:name with the date 1705 in the front. It is unlikely that Bowie was the author N:of the MS., which, at any rate contains a number of known and suspected N:compositions of John McLachlan, an Edinburgh musician in the 1690's. Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:C G2|c2d2e6 (de)|(ge)(dB) A6 (GE)|G2 (AB) c6 (G/A/B)|(cA)(GE) D6 (BA/B/)| c2d2e6 de|gedB A6 (ab)|g4 e4 d3c|c8-c2:| |:d2|ef g2 c6 de|gdeB A6 GE|G2 AB c6 (G/A/B)|cGAE D6 cd| ef g2 c6 de|gedB A6 ab|g4 e4 d3c|c8- c2:|]
I WISH I WERE WHERE HELEN LIES. AKA - "Helen of Kirkconnell," "Where Helen Lies." Scottish, Slow Air or Lament (3/2 time). C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The words indicate that the place Helen lies is a grave, not a bed, and it is therefore a lament rather than a love song, states Johnson (1983). An instrumental version can be found in the George Bowie violin manuscript of c. 1695[1], which may be the work of Edinburgh musician John McLachlan, active in the city in the 1690's. It has some characteristics of the 17th century French sarabande. The tune appears in the Leyden Manuscript (c. 1695) for the lyra-viol which contains two settings for gamba, the first of which is a slow air and the second a jig. Johnson says the two appear consecutively and appear to be intended to be played one after the other in a short suite in air-jig form.
- ↑ The MS. is not thought to be the work of George Bowie, who simply possessed it, writing in the front of it: "George Bowie 1705". Many of the tune in it are the work of John McLachlan, or associated with him.