Annotation:Lassie wi' the Yellow Coatie

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LASSIE WI' THE YELLOW COATIE. AKA – "Lass with the Yellow Coatte/Cottie," "Yellow Cottie (The)." Scottish (originally), Canadian, English; Air, Reel or Strathspey. Canada; Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton. England, Northumberland. G Major (most versions): G Mixolydian (Young): A Major (Oswald): D Major (Gow, McGlashan). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Cole, White): AAB (Athole, Gow/Repository): ABB (Cranford): AABB (Bremner, Carlin, Mulhollan, Perlman, Vickers): ABCDE (McGlashan): AABBCCDDEEFFGGHH (Dixon): AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKK (Oswald). John Glen (1891) finds the earliest appearance of the tune in print in Robert Bremner's 1757 collection. However, The air appears earlier in the Drummond Castle Manuscript (in the possession of the Earl of Ancaster at Drummond Castle), inscribed "A Collection of Country Dances written for the use of his Grace the Duke of Perth by Dav. Young, 1734." Verses to the tune were written much later by gardener-poet James Duff, known as 'The Methven Poet', in the early years of the 19th century. The first few stanzas of his song begins:

Chorus:
Lassie wi' the yellow coatie,
Will ye wed a muirlan' Jockie?
Laddie wi' the yellow coatie
Will ye busk an' gang wi' me?

I hae meal and mild in plenty,
I hae kail an' cakes fu' dainty;
I've a but an' ben fu' genty,
But I want a wife like thee.

Wi' my lassie an' my doggie,
O'er the lea an' through the boggie,
Nane on earth was e'er sae vogie,
Or as blythe as we will be.

The melody was recorded on a 78 RPM by Cape Breton fiddler Bill Lamey. Dixon (1995) prints the tune with several variation sets by Robert Whinham (1814–1893), a musician, teacher, composer, dancing master and fiddler originally from Morpeth, Northumberland.

Additional notes
Source for notated version : - learned by fiddler Jerry Holland (Inverness, Cape Breton) from a home recording of fiddler Cameron Chisholm (Margaree, Cape Breton) [Cranford]; Peter Chaisson, Jr. (b. 1942, Bear River, North-East Kings County, Prince Edward Island) [Perlman]; T. Matheson of Morpeth's manuscript dated 1859, in the Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum [Dixon]; Joseph Barnes music manuscript collection (Carlisle, Cumbria, 1762) [Offord]; William Vickers 1770 Northumbrian tune manuscript [Seatttle].

Printed sources : - Aird (Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 1), 1782; No. 195, p. 68. Bremner (Scots Reels), 1757; p. 76. Carlin (Master Collection), 1987; No. 154, p. 92 (appears as "Yellow Cottie"). Cole (1000 Fiddle Tunes), 1940; p. 126. Cranford (Jerry Holland's Collection of Fiddle Tunes), 1995; No. 179, p. 50. Dixon (Remember Me), 1995; p. 61. Gow (Complete Repository, Part 1), 1799; p. 7. Howe (The Musician's Companion, vol. 2), Boston, 1843/1850; p. 9. Joseph Lowe (Lowe's Collection of Reels, Strathspeys and Jigs, book 4), 1844–1845; p. 13. McGlashan (A Collection of Reels), c. 1786; p. 34. Mulhollan (Selection of Irish and Scots Tunes), Edinburgh, 1804; pp. 31–32. John Offord (Bonny Cumberland), 2018; p. 3. Oswald (Caledonian Pocket Companion, vol. 8), 1760; p. 13. Perlman (The Fiddle Music of Prince Edward Island), 1996; p. 187 (strathspey setting). Edward Riley (Riley's Flute Melodies vol. 1), New York, 1814; No. 320, p. 89. Ryan's Mammoth Collection, 1883; p. 166. Seattle/Vickers (Great Northern Tune Book, part 3), 1987; No. 515. Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; p. 172. White's Unique Collection, 1896; No. 166, p. 31. David Young (Drummond Castle/Duke of Perth Manuscript), 1734; No. 37.

Recorded sources : - Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recordings Index [1]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]

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