Annotation:Donald Couper and His Man
Tune properties and standard notation
DONALD COUPER AND HIS MAN. Scottish, Reel (2/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. Probably the same as Playford's "Donald Couper," printed in 1657. Words to the tune go:
Donald Couper and his man,
They've gane to the fair;
They've gane to coort a bonny lass,
But fint a man wis there;
But he haes gotten an auld wife,
An she's come hirplin hame;
An she's fa'n ower the buffet-stool,
An brake her rumple-bane.
Sing, hey Donald, how Donald,
Hey Donald Couper;
He's gane awa to coort a wife,
An he's come hame ifhoot her.
"That it was a Scots tune can be seen in the mention it receives in a satirical poem about the Highlanders written by a certain Colonel Cleland in 1697:
Trumpets sounded, skeens were glancing
Some were 'Donald Couper' dancing (Williamson).
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Aird (Selections of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs), vol. II, c. 1785; No. 9, p. 4. Johnson (Scots Musical Museum, vol. IV), 1792; p. 344.
Recorded sources: Flying Fish FF358, Robin Williamson - "Legacy of the Scottish Harpers, vol. 1" (1984).