Annotation:Nancy's to the Greenwood Gone
X:1 T:Nancy’s to the Green Wood gane M:C L:1/8 B:Alexander Stuart – “Musick for Allan Ramsay’s Collection” (Edinburgh, c. 1724, pp. 40-41) F: https://digital.tcl.sc.edu/digital/collection/rbc/id/2980 Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:D V:1 A3B A2 (GF)|(GF)(ED) B3d|A3B ABdF|A4 d3A| B2 (B/c/)d A2 (GF)|(GF)(ED) B3d|A3B ABAF|A4 d2:| |:AB|d2f2f2 ef|gfed B2 AB|d2 f2 (gf)(ed)|g4 a3b| a2f2f2 ef|gfed B2g2|fg a2 (AB)(AF)|A4 d2:| V:2 clef = bass D,2F,G, F,2D,2|E,D,D,B,, G,2G,,2|F,2 D,G, F,G,F,A,,|D,A,,F,,A,, D,,2 z2| G,2G,,2 F,2D,2|E,D,C,B,, G,,2G,2|F,2D,2 F,G,A,A,, |D,4 D,,2:| |:z2|D,4 D,,2A,,2|E,2A,2G,2D,2|G,2D,2E,2A,2|G,G,,B,,D, F,2 F,G,| F,2D,2D2A,2|F,D,E,F, G,2G,,2|D,E,F,D, F,G,A,A,,|D,A,,F,,A,, D,,2:|
NANCY'S TO THE GREENWOOD GANE. Scottish, Air (whole time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCCDD. The melody appears in Munro's collection of 1732, the McLean Collection published by James Johnson in Edinburgh in 1772, and Alexander Stuart/Stewart's Musick for the Tea Table Miscellany (1724, pp. 40-41). It also was used by Allan Ramsay for a song in his ballad opera The Gentle Shepherd (1725), and by Theophilus Cibber in his Scotch ballad opera Patie and Peggy; or, The Fair Foundling (1730, Air VIII). The tune is a version of a popular 16th century ballad air called variously, "Robin," "Sweet Robin," "Jolly Robin," "Bonny sweet Robin," "My Robin is the the greenwood gone," "Robin Hood is to the greenwood gone," etc., the texts of which have been lost.
English composer John Dowland made a setting for the lute. See also Wikipedia article "My Robin is to the greenwood gone."
Poet Robert Burns used the melody for his 1794 song "Farewell, Thou Stream," published in James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum.
