Coutie's Wedding

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Theme code Index	13b53b 13b53b
Also known as	Cuttie's Wedding, Cutty's Wedding
Composer/Core Source
Region	Scotland
Genre/Style	Scottish
Meter/Rhythm	Strathspey
Key/Tonic of	A
Accidental	NONE
Mode	Aeolian (minor)
Time signature	4/4
History
Structure	AB
Editor/Compiler	Biography:Niel Gow
Book/Manuscript title	Book:First Collection of Niel Gow's Reels (The)
Tune and/or Page number	p. 11
Year of publication/Date of MS	1784
Artist	Biography:Iain McLachlan
Title of recording	Island Heritage (An)
Record label/Catalogue nr.	Springthyme Records
Year recorded
Media
Score ()

COUTIE'S WEDDING. AKA and see "Cuttie's Wedding." AKA - "Cutty's Wedding." Scottish, Strathspey. A Aeolian. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Surenne): AAB (Gow, McGlashan, Stewart-Robertson): AABB' (Kerr). Cuttie is Scots for 'shorty', supposedly the nickname of the bridegroom, a local fisherman in the parish of St. Fergus, Drumlithie, Scotland. His wedding was around the year 1770 and was a penny (or "siller") affair, and this tune was composed for it, according to collector Peter Buchan (1790-1854), writing in his Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of Scotland (1828). Words to the melody, printed by Buchan, go:

Busk and go, busk and go,
Busk and go tae Cuttie's wedding;
Fa's the lassie and the lad,
That widnae gang if they were bidden.

Cuttie he's a lang man,
o he'll tak' hissel' a wife;
Gin he tak's on tae the toonlan',
Gin she takes on her fikie-fikie.

Cuttie he cam' here yestreen,
Cuttie he fell o'er the midden;
He wat his hose an' tine his sheen,
Courtin' at a cankered maiden.

Printed sources: Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 33. Gow (First Collection of Niel Gow's Reels), 1784 (revised 1801); p. 11. Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 3; No. 143, p. 17. McGlashan (A Collection of Reels), c. 1786; pg. 22 (appears as "Cutty's Wedding"). Stewart-Robertson (The Athole Collection), 1884; p. 57. Surenne (Dance Music of Scotland), 1852; pp. 90-91.

Recorded source: Springthyme Records, Iain McLachlan - "An Island Heritage" (1998).

X:2 T:Cuttie's Wedding M:C| L:1/8 R:Strathspey B:Stewart-Robertson - The Athole Collection (1884) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:Amin A<A c2 e/d/c/B/ c2|A<A c>d e<Ac<e|A<A c2 e/d/c/B/ c2|G<G B>G d>G B<d:| c>gg>a g<c e2|c<g g>a g<ce<g|c<g g>a g<c e2|G<G B>G d>B B<d| c<g g>a g<c e2|c<g g>a g<ce<g|a>fg>e f<de<c|d<G B>G d>G B<d||

X:1
T:Coutie's Wedding 
M:C
L:1/8
R:Strathspey
S:Surenne - Dance Music of Scotland, pgs. 90-91  (1852)
Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion
K:Amin
A<A c2 (e/d/c/B/) c2 | A<Ac>d e>A(c<e) | A<A c2 (e/d/c/B/) c2 | G<GB>G d>G(B<d) | 
A<A c2 (e/d/c/B/) c2 | A<Ac>d e>A(c<e) | A<A c2 (e/d/c/B/) c2 | G<GB>G d>G(B<d) || 
(c<g)g>a g>c e2 | (c<g)g>a g>c(e<g) | (c<g)g>a (g<c) e2 | G<GB>G d>G(B<d) | 
(c<g)g>a g<c e2 | (c<g)g>a g>c(e<g) | a>fg>e f>de>c | d>Bc>A d>G(B<d) ||