Annotation:Stu mo run

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STU MO RUN (Joy of My Heart). AKA - "Red, red is the path to glory." Scottish, Air (4/4 time). A Minor (Manson): D Minor (Martin). Standard tuning (fiddle). ABB. Various sets of words have been set to the tune, including hymns. The first two stanzas of the much anthologized song written in 1799 by Dr. Robert Couper (1750-1818) of Fochabers, set to an "Old Highland Melody," go:

Red, red is the path to glory,
Thick yon banners meet the sky,
O my Geordie, death's before ye,
Turn and hear my boding cry.
Joy of my heart, Geordie agam,
Joy of my heart, 'stu mo run.

Turn and see thy tartan plaidie
Rising o'er my broken heart,
O my bonnie Highland laddie
Sad am I with thee to part.
Joy of my heart, Geordie agam,
Joy of my heart, 'stu mo run.

According to Alfred Moffat, Couper's words were written "while his friend, the Marquis of Huntly, was lying wounded in Holland in 1799." The "very fine and characteristic Highland" air was obtained by Lady G. Gordon, and, at her request, Dr. Couper wrote the words.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Campbell (Albyn's Anthology, vol. 2), 1818; pp. 22-23. Graham (The Songs of Scotland, Adapted the Their Appropriate Melodies, vol. 3), 1846; pp. 142-143. MacLeod & Boulton (Songs of the North), No, 2, p. 6. Manson (Hamilton’s Universal Tune Book, vol. 2), 1846; p. 16. Martin (Taigh na Teud), 1990; p. 9. Moffat (Characteristic Songs and Dances of All Nations), 1901; pp. 30-31. R.A. Smith (Scotish Minstrel, vol. 5), 1823; p. 84.

Recorded sources: