Annotation:Carle He Came O'er the Craft (The)
Tune properties and standard notation
CARLE HE CAME O'ER THE CRAFT, THE. AKA and see "Port a Bhodich." Scottish; Air, Reel or Strathspey. A Mixolydian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (Gow): AABB' (Athole). A 'carle' in Scottish usage is a 'bloke' or common man. Early versions of the melody appear in John Watts' Musical Miscellany, vol 3 (London, 1730, p. 110) and William Thomson's Orpheus Caledonius, vol. 1 (London, 1733). Dance settings of the tune appear in Neil Stewart's Collection of the Newest and Best Reels or Country Dances (Edinburgh, 1775), James Aird's Selection of Scotch, English, Irish, and Foreign Airs, vol 1 (Glasgow, 1782), and Wilson's Companion to the Ball Room (1816). Lyrics to the song version begin:
The carle he came o'er the croft,
And his beard new shav'n,
He look'd at me, as he been daft,
The carle trows that I wad hae him.
Hout awa' I winna hae him!
Na, forsooth, I winna hae him!
For a' his beard new shav'n,
Ne'er a bit will I hae him. (Cunningham, Songs of Scotland, 1825)
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