Annotation:Logie of Buchan (1)
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LOGIE O' BUCHAN [1]. AKA and see "March of the Corporation of Tailors (The)." Scottish, Air or Country Dance (3/4 time). C Major (Neil): D Major (O'Farrell). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. This version of the air (there are several) is attributed to Napier (1792). It was derived from "The March of the Corporation of Tailors" or "The Tailor's March," a guild tune usually played at the annual meeting when they chose their deacons (Neil, 1991). The words to the ballad were written by George Halket, a schoolmaster at Rathen and an ardent Jacobite (for another song he wrote describing king George II in league with the devil, the Duke of Cumberland offered a reward of 100 pounds for his head). "Logie O' Buchan" is the tale of love and longing for Jamie (James Robertson, in real life a gardener at the mansion-house of Logie, in the parish of Crimond, belonging to Gordon of Logie and near Halket's home), despite the lure of rich Sandie. The heroine was Isobel Keith, who died in 1826 at the age of 89.
O Logie O' Buchan, O Logie the laird,
They hae ta'en awa Jamie, that delved in the yaird,
Wha play'd on the pipe, an' the viol sae sina'
They ha'e ta'in awa' Jamie, the flow'r o' them a',
He said 'Think na lang, lassie, th' I gan awa',
For I'll come and see thee in spite o' tham a'.
Though Sandie has owsen, has gear and has kye,
A house, an' a' hadden, and siller forbye,
Yet I'd tak' my ain lad, wi' his staff in his hand,
Before I'd ha'e him, wi' his houses and land,
But simmer is comin', cauld winter's awa
And he'll come and see me in spite o' them a'.
A more "earthy" lyric set to the tune is the song "The Tailor Fell Through the Bed."
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Aird (Selections of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol. 4), 1796, p. 19. Neil (The Scots Fiddle), 1991; No. 81, p. 109. O'Farrell (Pocket Companion, vol. 1), c. 1805; p. 37. Riley (Flute Melodies, vol. 1), 1814; p. 10. Sime (Edinburgh Musical Miscellany), 1793; pp. 364-366.
Recorded sources:
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