Annotation:My Minnie's Aye Glowren O'er Me

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MY MITHER/MINNIE IS AYE GLOWREN O'ER/OWER ME. AKA - "My Mother's Eye Glowering O'er Me." AKA and see "Auld Maid Wad be Married," "Kate's/Katy's Answer." Scottish, Jig (6/8 time); Irish, Air. G Minor (Bremner, Davie, Gow, McGlashan): E Minor (Kerr, O'Neill, Sweet): A Minor (S. Johnson). Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (Gow): AABB (Bremner, S. Johnson, Kerr, O'Neill, Sweet): AABB' (Davie) The title means 'my mother is always watching over me.' Chappell (1859) asserts the melody for this tune was appropriated from the English country dance tune "Health to Betty (A)." The melody appears in the 1768 Gillespie Manuscript of Perth, although John Glen (1891) finds the earliest appearance of the tune in print in Robert Bremner's 1757 collection. Boston publisher Elias Howe (c. 1867) notes: "Burn's song 'Louis, what reck I by thee' is sung to this tune."

Poet Alan Ramsay's words were said by him to be "in answer to the young Laird and Edinburgh Katy." The song appears as "Kate's Answer" in Chambers Songs of Scotland Prior to Robert Burns (1880).

My mither's aye glowrin' owre me,
Tho' she did the same before me,
I canna get leave
To look to my love,
Or else she'll be like to devour me.

Right fain wad I tak your offer,
Sweet sir, but I'll tine my tohcer,
Then, Sandy, ye'll fret,
And wyte your poor Kate,
Whene'er ye keek in your toom coffer.

Robert Burns wrote a bawdy song to the tune called "Come cow me, minnie, come cowe me" for his Merry Muses of Caledonia. The song "Katy's Answer", a sequel to "Edinburgh Kate AKA "The Young Laird and Edinburgh Kate," uses the melody as the indicated tune.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Aird (Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 1), 1782; No. 63, p. 22. Anonymous (A Companion to the reticule), 1833; p. 4. Bremner (Scots Reels), c. 1757; p. 87 (appears as "My Mither's ay glowran o'er me"). Carlin (Gow Collection), 1986; No. 450. Davie (Davies Caledonian Repository), Aberdeen, 1829-30; p. 15. Gow (Complete Repository, Part 2), 1802; p. 14. S. Johnson (The Kitchen Musician No. 6: Jigs), 1982 (revised 1989, 2001); p. 14. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 3), c. 1880's; No. 296, p. 32. McGibbon (Scots Tunes, vol. III), 1762; pp. 62-63. McGlashan (Collection of Scots Measures), 177?; p. 8. O'Neill (O'Neill's Irish Music), 1915; No. 77, p. 46 (appears as "My Mother's Eye Glowering o'er Me"). Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1965/1981; p. 25.

Recorded sources: Acoustic Music Records 319.1249.242, Ian Melrose - "Scottish Legacy" (2004).

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