Annotation:My Minnie's Aye Glowren O'er Me
X:2 T:My Mother's ay glowring o'er me M:6/4 L:1/8 R:Air S:McGibbon - Scots Tunes, book III, pp. 62-63 (1762) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:Gmin D2 | G3A G2 {G}T^F4D2 | B3c B2A2B2c2 | d3ed2Tc4B2 | f6d4g2 | f2d2B2B2f2d2 | c3 BAG F2d2c2 | TB3AG2 A2^F2D2 | TB6A4 :||: d2 | g3a g2 {ga}Tf4d2 | g2a2b2 {b}Ta4g2 | f2d2b2 Tc4B2 | f6g2a2b2 | f2d2B2 B2f2d2 | c2A2F2F2d2c2 | B3AG2A2^F2D2 |TB6A4 :: D2 | G3 AGA {G}T^F4D2 | BABdcB cBAGAF | BABcde Tc4B2 | f6d4g2 | fedc B2 B2 defd | cdcBAG F2ed2c2 | BcBABG A2^F2D2 | TB6A4 :: d2 | g^fga g2 {g}Tf4d2 | (gab)gab Ta4g2 | f2 ga b2 Tc4B2 | f4gabgab | fedc B2B2 defd | cBABcA F2d2c2 | BcBA G2A2^F2D2 |TB6A4 :|]
MY MITHER/MINNIE IS AYE GLOWREN O'ER/OWER ME. AKA - "My Mother's Eye Glowering O'er Me." AKA and see "Auld Maid Wad be Married," "Kate's/Katy's Answer," "I Lost My Love." Scottish, Jig (6/8 time); Irish, Air. G Minor (Bremner, Davie, Gow, McGlashan): E Minor (Kerr, O'Neill, Sweet): A Minor (S. Johnson). Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (Gow): AABB (Bremner, S. Johnson, Kerr, O'Neill, Sweet): AABB' (Davie) The title means 'my mother is always watching over me.' Chappell (1859) asserts the melody for this tune was appropriated from the English country dance tune "Health to Betty (A)." The melody appears in the 1768 Gillespie Manuscript of Perth, although John Glen (1891) finds the earliest appearance of the tune in print in Robert Bremner's 1757 collection. Boston publisher Elias Howe (c. 1867) notes: "Burn's song 'Louis, what reck I by thee' is sung to this tune."
Poet Alan Ramsay's words were said by him to be "in answer to the young Laird and Edinburgh Katy." The song appears as "Kate's Answer" in Chambers Songs of Scotland Prior to Robert Burns (1880).
My mither's aye glowrin' owre me,
Tho' she did the same before me,
I canna get leave
To look to my love,
Or else she'll be like to devour me.
Right fain wad I tak your offer,
Sweet sir, but I'll tine my tohcer,
Then, Sandy, ye'll fret,
And wyte your poor Kate,
Whene'er ye keek in your toom coffer.
Robert Burns wrote a bawdy song to the tune called "Come cow me, minnie, come cowe me" for his Merry Muses of Caledonia. The song "Katy's Answer", a sequel to "Edinburgh Kate AKA "The Young Laird and Edinburgh Kate," uses the melody as the indicated tune.
