Annotation:Sweet Annie
X:1 T:Sweet Annie fra the Sea Beach came M:C L:1/8 R:Air Q:"Tender" B:Oswald – Caledonian Pocket Companion, Book 6 (1760, p. 6-7) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Gmin D|G2 (B>c) d3g|(d<B) (A<G) (BA)(G^F)|G2 (B>c) d3g|(d<B) (A<G) G3:| |:A|B2 (d<B) (f<d) (c<B)|(c<A) (G<F) {AB}c2 (BA)|(B<G)(B<G) (d2 c)B| (AG)(^F=E) D3D|(G>A)(BG) (AF)(=ED)|(AB)(cA) (BA)(G^F)|G2 (B<d) (g<e) (d<c)| (d<B) (AG) G3::D|GB (A/4B/2<c) Bd (c/4d/2<e)|d(c/B/) AG (BA)(G^F)| Gg(fe) d(cB) AG|(Aed)^F {F}G3::A|B2 (d/4c/2<B) f(e/d/) cB| (AB)(cd) c2 T(BA)|(B/4A/2<G) (B/4A/2<G) (ed)(cB)|(AG)(^F=E) D3D|(G/4/A/2<B) GB| A(G/F/) =ED| (A/4B/2<c) (A/4B/2<c) (BA)(G^F)|(GB)(d^f) (g<e) (dc)|.d/(B/A/G/) c./(A/G/^F/) {F}G3:|]
SWEET ANNIE. AKA - "Sweet Annie frae the Sea Beach came." English, Scottish; Air (whole time). G Minor (Davie, Mulhollan): A Minor (Gow). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Davie, Mulhollan): AABB (Gow). "Sweet Annie frae the Sea Beach came" was one of the songs that received a setting by the Classical composer Franz Joseph Haydn (Hob. Xxxia:261). The words by Dr. John Hoadley, set to music by Dr. Green(e), begin:
Sweet Annie frae the sea—beach came,
Where Jockey’s climbed the vessel’s side:
Ah! wha can keep her heart at hame,
When Jockey’s tossed aboon the tide?
Far off 'till distant realms he gangs,
But I’se be true, as he ha’ been;
And when ilk lass around him thrangs,
He’ll think on Annie’s faithful een.
Hoadley's song "simulated a Scotch song but gloriously failed," opined Frank Kidson in 1915 ["A Study of Old English Song and Popular Melody prior to the 19th Century", The Musical Quarterly), "and was in consequence all the better and more truly English." Greene was chiefly involved in church music, but wrote the music for a few excellent secular songs (see also his "Busy, curious, thirsty fly").