Annotation:Newburn Lads

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NEWBURN LADS. AKA and see "Bob of Fettercairn (The)," "Come Kiss With Me (Come Clap with Me)," "Cow the Lassies Bare Man," "I'll Kiss the Lass She Bad Me," "Braw Lads of Jedburgh (The)," "Braw Lads of Jeddart," "Braw Lads of Jethart," "Had I the Wight," "Had I the Wyte," "Mrs. Reneau's Reel." English, Scottish; Reel. England, Northumberland. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The melody is a double-tonic Northumbrian version of the popular Scots reel most frequently called "Bob of Fettercairn (The)," embroidered with arpeggi for the Northumbrian small-pipe repertory. Matt Seattle (1987) points out "versions disagree as to whether the 'A' chord is major or minor; Scottish versions favour the major, Northumbrian ones the minor, as one would expect from the respective bagpipe scales." Subsequently, Seattle wrote [1] that he thought the key in the Northumbrian versions was "probably a mistake, as early and authoritative fiddle texts give 2 sharps, also suitable for a 9-note changer."

The tune is often found printed under the title of 'The Braw Lads o Jethart'." Jedburgh (Jethart) is a town in lowlands Scotland, while Newburn is one in Northumberland--although Seattle finds Jedburgh is mentioned only in Northumbrian versions and not Scottish ones. Bruce & Stokoe (Northumbrian Minstrelsy (1882), write: "The late Mr. Thomas Doubleday, in a communication to the Antiquarian Society, writes:--'Burns wrote a splendid song to this tune, beginning 'Had I the wyte,'...and I guessed it belongs to the English side of the Border.'

Source for notated version: William Vickers' 1770 music manuscript collection [2] (Northumberland) [Seattle].

Printed sources: Bruce & Stokoe (Northumbrian Minstrelsy), 1882; p. 156. Seattle (Great Northern/William Vickers), 1987, Part 2; No. 258.

Recorded sources:

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