Coutie's Wedding

COUTIE'S WEDDING. AKA - "Cutty's Wedding." AKA and see "Cuttie'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) ||