Annotation:Through the Wood Laddie (1)
X:1 T:Throw the Wood Laddie [1] M:3/4 L:1/8 B:Alexander Stuart – “Musick for Allan Ramsay’s Collection part 4” B:(Edinburgh, c. 1724, pp. 90-91) F: https://digital.tcl.sc.edu/digital/collection/rbc/id/3030 Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:F V:1 FC|D2 FG G>F/G/4|A4 fc|d2 (fd)(cA)|G4 FG|A3 cAG|A2F2 FG|AGAcAG| A2F2C2|D2 FG (G>F/G/4)|A4 fg|(ag)(fd)(cA)|G3 ABc|d2 (fd)(cA)|c2 (dc)(AG)|A2 D2 E2|F4:| |:fc|d2 fg g2|a4 fg|a2 (ba)(gf)|g4 fg|a3 bag|a2f2 fg|agabag|a2f2c2| d2 fg g2|a4 fg|agfdcA|G3 ABc|d2 (fd)(cA)|c2 (dc)(AG)|A2 D2E2|F4:| V:2 clef = bass F,,2|B,,2A,,2C,2|F,F,,A,,C, A,,2|B,,2D,2F,2|CC,E,G, C,2|F,2F,,2E,2|F,2A,2C2|F,2F,,2C,2| F,E,F,G,F,E,|B,2A,2C,2|F,E,F,G,F,E,|F,E,D,B,, F,2|C,2E,2G,2|B,2B,,2F,2|A,2F,2E,2|F,2B,,2C,2|F,2F,,2:| |:F,2|B,2A,2E,2|F,F,,A,,C, F,E,|F,2F,,2C,2|CC,E,G,A,G,|F,2A,2C2|F,E,F,G,F,E,|F,2F,,2C,2|F,2A,2F,2| B,2A,2C,2|F,F,,A,,C,G,,2|F,E,D,B,, F,F,,|C,2E,2G,2|B,,2D,2F,2|A,2F,2C,2|F,2B,,2C,2|F,2F,,2:|
THROUGH THE WOOD, LADDIE [1]. AKA – “Through the Woods Lady.” Scottish, Slow Air (3/4 time). F Major: G Major (O’Farrell). Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (Kershaw): AABB (Gow, O’Farrell): AABBCCDD (Johnson). "Through the Wood Laddie" was a very popular Scottish song that was frequently issued on songsheets and in songsters of the 18th and early 19th centuries. Scottish poet Allan Ramsay wrote words to the tune which were printed in his multi-volume Tea Table Miscellany (vol. i, 1723). The melody also had a parallel life as an instrumental air and was entered twice (as "Throw the Wood Ladie") in the James Gillespie Manuscript of Perth (1768), but it was earlier published by William McGibbon (with variations) in 1742 and by Burk(e) Thumoth in the same year.
As with many popular airs, it was adapted for use as the "indicated tune" for songs in several ballad operas, including John Gay’s Polly (1729, No. 57), the followup to his immensely successful Beggar's Opera, James Ralph’s The Fashionable Lady; or Harlequin’s Opera (1730, No. 64), Henry Brooke's Jack the Gyantqueller (1749), and Thomas Hull's Spanish Lady (1765).
Robert Burns considered the tune for a song for James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum but rejected the idea, writing his publisher in September, 1793: “’Thro’ the wood, laddie.’ I am decidedly of opinion that both in this (tune) and ‘There’ll never be peace till Jamie comes hame,’ the second or high part of the tune being a repetition of the first part an octave higher, is only for instrumental music, and would be much better omitted in singing.”
In England versions were entered into the Kershaw manuscript (see below), and the melody appears in the William Tildesley manuscript (Swinton, Lancashire), from around 1860, under the title “Through the Woods Lady.” Eighteenth and early nineteenth century American musicians' manuscript collections often included "Through/Thro' the Wood, Laddie, for which see the EASMES site [1]
