Annotation:My Bonny Laddie has my heart
X:1
T:My Bonny Laddie has my heart
C:”Old”
N:Christie was a dancing master, fiddler
N:and composer from Cuminestown, Aberdeenshire.
M:3/4
L:1/8
R:Air
Q:"Slow and Tender"
B:Christie - Collection of Strathspeys, Reels, Hornpipes,
B:Waltzes &c. (Edinburgh, 1820, p. 16)
Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion
K:Emin
B,|E>F B2 (E>F)|{F}A(F {F}E2)D2|E>F B2 (A>B)|d(f {f}e2) (e>f)|
{ef}g>f e2 (dB)|B<d {D}F2 ED|E>F {F}d2 {c}B2|{B}A~F E2:|
|:(e>f)|{ef}g>f e2 (dB)|B<d {DE}F2 ED|{f}g>f e2 (dB)|d(f {f}e2) (~g>a)|
{g}b>a {a}g2 (fe)|dD {DE}F2 ED|E>F {F}d2 {c}B2|{B}A~F E2:|]
MY BONNY LADDIE HAS MY HEART. Scottish, Air (3/4 time). E Minor (Christie Sr.): C Minor (Christie Jr.). Standard tuning (fiddle). n AB (Christie Jr.): AABB (Christie Sr.). William Christie Jr., in his note with the song, says the melody was arranged by his father from the singing of his mother: "The Editor's mother had the Air and song from her grandmother, who died in 1838 at the age of 98. She distinctly remembered seeing the Duke of Cumberland and his army pass through Old Cullen, her native place, on their way to Culloden." Unfortunately, Christie Jr., an Episcopal cleric as well as a song collector, omitted two stanzas as they were "not suited for this work", which probably meant they did not meet with his moral approval. The lines he did print (admittedly with the potential to go to darker places) go:
The brave young sodgers at Edinboro;
As all in rank there they did stan;
Their Captain saw a bonny lassie,
And wish'd that she was a' his ain.
The Captain said, "I would gi'e guineas,
I would gi'e guineas and pints o' wine;
I would gi'e wine and red goud guineas
To ane wha'd try to mak' her mine.
