Annotation:Auld Goodman (The)

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AULD GOODMAN, THE. English, Air (6/8 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCCDDEEFF. The song was printed in Allan Ramsay's Tea Table Miscellany. The first stanzas begin:

Late in an evening forth I went
A little before the sun gade down,
And there I chanc't, by accident,
To light on a battle new begun:
A man and his wife wer fawn in a strife,
I canna weel tell ye how it began;
But aye she wail'd her wretched life,
Cryeng, "Evir alake! mine auld goodman."

HE
"Thy auld goodman, that thou tells of,
The country kens where he was born,
Was but a silly poor vagabond,
And ilka ane leugh him to scorn:
For he did spend and make an end
Of gear 'his fathers nevir wan;
He gart the poor stand frae the door,
Sae tell nae mair of thy auld goodman."

SHE
"My heart, alake! is liken to break,
Whan I think on my winsome John,
His blinkan ee, and gait sae free,
Was naithing like thee, thou dosend drone;
Wi' his rosie face, and flaxen hair,
And skin as white as ony swan,
He was large and tall, and comely withal;
Thou'lt nevir be like mine auld goodman."

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