Annotation:Laggan Burn

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LAGGAN BURN. AKA and see “Lady Shaftesbury.” Scottish; Air, Polka. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Poet Robert Burns directed in Johnson's Scots Musical Museum that his song "Here's to thy health, my bonnie lass" be sung to the tune of "Laggan Burn." Actually, Burns sent two different tunes to choose from, and the music editor, Mr. Clarke, quickly rejected one of them as being "so miserably bad." He, however, liked and approved the air "Laggan Burn." The melody is very similar to Nathaniel Gow's "Lady Shaftesbury."

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: G.H. Davidson (Davidson's Gems of Scottish Melody), n.d. (c. 1830's?); p. 34. Manson (Hamilton’s Universal Tune Book vol. 1), 1853; p. 168. Miller & Perron (101 Polkas), 1978; No. 70.

Recorded sources:

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