Annotation:Lass if I Come Near You
X:1 T:Lass if I come near you M:C L:1/8 R:Air B:Aird – Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 1 (1782, No. 183, p. 63) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Ador ABcd B2 GB|ABcA a2 ef|gage (d/c/B/A/) GB|Aedc B2A2:| |:e2 ce d2 Bd|e2 ce a2 ef|gage (d/c/B/A/) GB|ABcd B2A2:|]
LASS IF I COME NEAR YOU. AKA - "Lass if I come nigh thee." Scottish, Air (whole time). A Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). Bayard (1981) calls this tune a "special development" of one of his seminal melodies, "Boyne Water (1)." Poet Robert Burns adapted the air for his song "Wha is that at my Bower Door," printed in Johnson's Scots Musical Museum (1792, Song 337). A very distanced version of the melody was entered into the large 1770 music manuscript of Northumbrian musician William Vickers (p. 13[1]). It is quite different from the versions printed by Aird and Gow, and is in a major key; Matt Seattle calls Vicker's transcription "dubious".
