Annotation:Maid that Tends the Goats (The)

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MAID THAT TENDS THE GOATS, THE (Nighean donn nan gabhar). AKA and see "Brown-haired Goatherdess," "Cliffy Rocks." Scottish, Air. A Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part: AABB (Gow/Repository, O'Farrell). Gow (1802) remarks: "Supposed very Ancient." The air was printed in 1784 by the Reverend Patrick McDonald in his collection of Scots songs, under the title of 'Nighean doun nan gabhar." Thompson, in his Scottish Airs (1805), stripped Robert Burns original tune for his song "Ca' the Yowes" and substituted instead the melody for "Maid that Tends the Goats." However, "Maid that Tends the Goats" with the "Nighean doun nan gahar" melody and Dudgeon's lyric (below) were earlier printed by Thomson in his Scots Musical Museum (vol. 1, 1787, song 40, p. 40). The melody was also printed by Glasgow publisher James Aird in his 6th collection (1803).

"The Maid That Tends the Goats" is also a poem by William Dudgeon (1753–1813) that begins:

Upamang yon cliffy rocks
Sweetly rings the rising echo
To the maid that tends the goats,
Lilting o’er her native notes.
Hark, she sings, “Young Sandy’s kind,
5 And he’s promised aye to lo’e me;
Here’s a brooch I ne’er shall tine
Till he’s fairly married to me.
Drive away, ye drone, time,
And bring about our bridal day.

Dudgeon was, according to poet Robert Burns, was 'a respectable farmer's son in Berwickshire'. The song (Dudgeon's lyric) was set by (Franz) Joseph Haydn (1732-1809).

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 129. Gow (Complete Repository), Part 2, 1802; p. 12. Johnson (The Kitchen Musician's No. 10: Airs & Melodies of Scotland's Past), 1992 (revised 2001); p. 11. O'Farrell (Pocket Companion, vol. II), c. 1806; p. 121. Patrick MacDonald, No. 138, p. 21.

Recorded sources: Green Linnet SIF 1077, Capercaillie - "Crosswinds" (1987).

See also listing at:
Hear the tune play by Sofie and Jose MacDonald on youtube.com [1]

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