Birks of Invermay (The)

X:1
T:Birks of Envermay
M:C
L:1/8
R:Air
N:"Slow"
S:McGibbon - Scots Tunes, book II, pg. 36 (c. 1746)
Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion
K:Bb
(B/c/d/e/) | f3g (fd)!trill!(c>B) | (cB)(cd) G3B|F>GFD F2 B>F|D2(FG) (B/c/d/e/)| 
f3g (fd)!trill!(cB)|!trill!(c>Bc)d G2 ({B/c/}d)c|(BG)(FD) (FG)(Bc)|(B/c/d) !trill!(c>B) B2:|
|:(F>E)|D3F (G>F)GB|!trill!(cBc)dG3g|f>gfd (ed)!trill!(cB)|({c/d/}e2) !trill!d>c c2 fe| 
d2(f/g/a) b2 !trill!(ag)|(fd)!trill!(cB) G2 !trill!d>c|(BG)(FD) (FG)(Bc)|({B/c/}d2) !trill!(c>B) B2:||

X:2
T:The Birks of Invermay.
M:C
L:1/8
B:Complete Tutor Violin  (c. 1815)
Z:Dr. Evan Jones [Ed.]
K:G
U:T=!trill!
N:Printed with :||: at the end replaced with :|]
%%graceslurs false
N:Also published in William Thomson's Orpheus Caledonius (1733). 
N:See  http://www.silverwhistle.co.uk/songs/birks.html
(Bc) | d3 e (d>B) (AG) | (TA>GA)B E3 G | (D>ED)B, D2 (GD) | B,2 (D>E) D2 (G/A/B/c/) | d3 e ({fg})(dBA) G |
(cB) (AG) E2 (B>A) | (GE) DB, D2 (G>A) | B2 (A>G) G2 :||: (DC) |
B,3 D (E>DE)G | (A>GA)B E3 e | (d>ed)B (cB) (AG) | (c>d) (e/d/)(c/B/) A2 (d>c) |
(Bd) (ef) g3 ({f/}e) | (dB) (AG) E2 (B>A)|(GE) (DB,) D2 (G>A)|B2 (TA>G) G2 :|]

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BIRKS OF INVERMAY. AKA - "Birks of Endermay," "Birks of Envermay," "Scotland's First James." Scottish, Air (4/4 time). B Flat Major (McGibbon): G Major (Jones). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The air to the very popular song of the same name was first published in William Thompson's Orpheus Caledoneus, vol. 2 (2nd edition, London, 1733), and subsequently appeared in many songsters and numerous song sheets. The melody appears in the McLean Collection, published by James Johnson in Edinburgh, 1772, ascribed posthumously to Mr. Charles McLean (though at strain 11 the gigue is credited to Robert McIntosh). It also appears in the McFarlane Manuscript (1740) without McIntosh's two strains, and in the "drawing room" style (Emmerson). In America, the melody was entered into numerous musicians' manuscripts, including the 1782 music copybook of Jeremiah Brown (Seabrook, New Hampshire), flute player Henry Beck's 1786 ms., among others.
"Birks of Invermay" was the favourite song of Edinburgh poet Robert Fergusson (1750-74), reputedly sung by him as he was dying in the Edinburgh madhouse at the age of 24, from a head injury. Although several sets of words were set to the tune, the original lyric in Orpheus Caledoneus was by William Malloch (or Mallet), and begins:

The smiling Morn, the breathing Spring,
Invite the tuneful Birds to sing:
And while they warble from each Spray,
Love melts the universal Lay.
Let us, Amanda, timely wise,
Like them improve the Hour that flies;
And in soft Raptures waste the day,
Among the Birks of Endermay.

Printed sources: Johnson (A Further Collection of Dances, Marches, Minuetts and Duetts of the Latter 18th Century), 1998; p. 13. Jones [Ed.] (Complete Tutor Violin), c. 1815; p. 5. McGibbon (Scots Tunes, Book II), c. 1746; p. 36. O'Farrell (Collection of National Irish Music for the Union Pipes), 1797; p. 52.

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