Annotation:O'er Bogie

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O'ER BOGIE (WI' MY LOVE). Scottish, English; Reel. England, Northumberland. C Major (most versions): D Major (O'Farrell). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Kerr, Little, Plain Brown): AAB (Gow): ABB (Cranford/Holland): AABB (Bremner, O'Farrell). The Bogie is a tributary of the River Deveron, which it joins near Huntly in Aberdeenshire, and the surrounding area is called Strathbogie (also the setting for the song "Bogie's Bonnie Belle").

"O'er Bogie" is dated to c. 1710 in Doyle's Plain Brown Tune Book, with the suggestion that it was composed in London in response to and imitation of the then-current vogue for Scottish and North Country tunes, later being absorbed into tradition in northern Britain. John Glen, in his Early Scottish Melodies (1900), dates the "quaint old melody" to 1709 when it appeared in Mrs. Crockat's Music Book. Early printings of the melody appear as air and country dance settings in in John Watts' The Musical Miscellany, vol. 5 [1] (London, 1731, pp. 60-62), William Thomson's 'Orpheus Caledonius, 2nd Edition, vol. 1" (1725, Song 47), and the Drummond Castle Manuscript (in the possession of the Earl of Ancaster at Drummond Castle), inscribed "A Collection of Country Dances written for the use of his Grace the Duke of Perth by Dav. Young, 1734." The air can be heard in ballad operas by John Gay Achilles (1733), John Watts' Highland Fair (1733), and Allan Ramsay's The Devil of a Duke, or Trapolin's Vagaries (1733) and Gentle Shepherd (1753). Country dance versions can be found in several of the volumes by London publisher John Walsh, including The Third Book of the Compleat Country Dancing-Master (1735) and The Compleat Country Dancing-Master. Volume the Third (1749), and John Johnson's issue of dancing master Daniel Wright's Wright's Compleat Collection of Celebrated Country Dances (1740).

Reel versions of the tune "have long been played," states John Glen (1900), and appear in print from the middle of the 18th century. "O'er Bogie" was printed by Robert Bremner in Scots Reels (1757) and by Neil Stewart in his Collection of the Newest and Best Reels or Country Dances(1761, p. 16).

Scots poet Allan Ramsay gave famous lyrics for "O'er Bogie" which appear in his Tea Table Miscellany (1724) {the tune was later published in Alexander Stewart’s Musick for Allan Ramsey's Collection, 1728}.

John Glen credits Ramsey with writing the song--although Stenhouse maintained the lyrics predated Ramsay. They tell of an elopement, with "O'er Bogie" referring to the leaving of the area for marriage and the world beyond. Ramsey's chorus goes:

I will awa' wi' my love,
I will awa' wi' her,
Tho' a' my kin had sworn and said
I'll o'er Bogie wi' her.

Thomson's (Orpheus Caledonius) lyric begins:

I will awa' wi' my love,
I will awa' wi' her,
Tho' a my kin had sword and said,
I will awa' wi' her.

Chorus:
I'll o'er Bogie, o'er Scrogie,
O'er Bogie wi' her,
Tho' a my kin had sworn and said,
I will awa' wi' her.

If I can get but her consent,
I dinna care a strae,
Tho' ilka ane be discontent,
Awa' wi' her I'll gae.

For now she's mistress of my heart,
And wordy of my hand,
And well I wat we shanna' part,
For siller of for land. .... etc.

Scots poet James Hogg employed the melody for his song "The Appearance of Cromwell's Ghost on the Eve of the Battle of Culloden" in Jacobite Relics, vol. II (Song 12, p. 412). As with many Scottish songs, the title appears in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes ("The Northern Minstrel's Budget"), which he published c. 1800. The melody is also known throughout the Shetlands as "Ower Bogie."

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Bremner (Scots Reels), c. 1757; p. 90. Carlin (Gow Collection), 1986; No. 473. Cranford (Jerry Holland: The Second Collection), 2000; No. 78, p. 31 (learned from Cape Breton pianist Mary Jessie Gillis). Doyle (Plain Brown Tune Book), 1997; p. 4. Gow (Complete Repository, Part 2), 1802; p. 21. Gow (The Vocal Melodies of Scotland). Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 2), c. 1880's; No. 83, p. 11. Little (Scottish and Cape Breton Fiddle Music in New Hampshire), 1984; p. 3. O'Farrell (Pocket Companion, vol. III), c. 1808; p. 62. MacDonald (Athole Collection), 1884. Wright (Wright's Compleat Collection of Celebrated Country Dances), 1740; p. 55.

Recorded sources: Green Linnet SIF-1094, Capercaillie - "Sidewaulk" (1989). Wildcat Records WILDCD 101, Ronan Martin - "Ronan Martin" (2008. Learned from Amy Geddes).

See also listings at:
Alan Snyder's Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [2]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources []

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