Annotation:My Love is but a Lassie Yet (1)
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MY LOVE IS/SHE'S BUT A LASSIE YET [1]. AKA and see "Big Muddy," "Buffalo Nickel (1)," "Chinky Pin," "Chinquapin/Chinquipin," "Crumb Creek Posey," "Cumberland Square Eight," "Darling Child," "Duke of York (The)," "Farmer had a Dog," "Fourth of July," "Hair in the Butter," "I'm My Momma's Darling (Child)," "The King's Head" (floater-Pa.), "Lead Out," "Lindsay Munnell Tune" (Pa.), "Love Somebody(, Yes I Do!)," "Midnight Serenade (1)," "Miss Farquharson's Reel," "Missouri Mule," "Old Kingdom," "Richmond Blues," "Soapsuds Over the Fence (3)," "Sweet Sixteen," "Ten Nights in a Bar Room," "Too Young to Marry (1)," "Tripping on the Mountain," "Virginia Reel (4) (The)" (floater-Pa.), "The White Cockade" (floating title, Pa.), "Yellow Eyed Cat." AKA - "My Lover's but a Lady Yet." Scottish, Irish, English, American; Air, Reel, Polka (Ireland) and Country Dance Tune. USA; New England, Southwestern Pa., New York. England, Northumberland. D Major (most versions): C Major (Huntington). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Howe, Silberberg, Sweet): AABB (most versions). The title was fixed on the tune because of two songs composed to it, one by Robert Burns and the other by the "Ettrick Shepherd," James Hogg, although the tune seems to have first appeared in print in Bremner's Scots Reels of 1757 as "Miss Farqharson's Reel." It appears in James Aird's 2nd collection (Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, c. 1785), but although Samuel Bayard (1981) for some reason said he could find neither the title nor the music therein--Sara Johnson, and others who have looked find it "plain as day" in Aird, 1785, vol. 2, page 1, No. 1. The writer of Gems of Scottish Song asserts that the original title of the tune was "Lady Bodinscoth's Reel." In modern times the reel is often played in a set to accompany the country dance Dashing White Sergeant.
Although of Scottish origin it soon became a popular tune south of the Tweed, as attested to the title's appearance in Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes ("The Northern Minstrel's Budget"), which he published c. 1800. Northumbrian musician William Vickers included it in his 1770 music manuscript under the title "My Lover's Butt a Lady Yett." "My Love She's But a Lassie Yet" is also the name of a Scottish country dance, though a somewhat unusual one (Flett & Flett, 1964).
Imported to Ireland, the tune was converted to a polka and played under the titles "My Love is But a Lassie" and "Tripping on the Mountain." The last title is the name it was famously recorded as in the 78 RPM era by flute player John McKenna and fiddler James Morrison.
The melody also found currency across the ocean and Bayard deems it perhaps the most widespread instrumental folk tune in Pennsylvania tradition, and that it in fact seems mostly to have been known as an instrumental air among folk musicians in general. The tune was printed under the title "Richmond Blues" in George P. Knauff's Virginia Reels, volume II (Baltimore, 1839) and was still cited as commonly played for country dances in Orange County, New York, in the 1930's (Lettie Osborn, New York Folklore Quarterly). In the South, old-time musicians know the tune under the title "Sweet Sixteen" and "Too Young to Marry." Jim Taylor (1995) says the tune in its various titles was well-known to musicians in both North and South during the American Civil War era. See also note for "Annotation:Richmond Blues."
Source for notated version: Tony Mates [Silberberg].
Printed sources: Aird (Selections of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs), vol. II, c. 1785; No. 1, p. 1. American Veteran Fifer, 1927; No. 61, p. 31. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 323A-V, pp. 283-289. Bruce & Emmett (Drummers and Fifers Guide), 1880; p. 24. Ford (Traditional Music in America), 1940; p. 51. Gems of Scottish Song, p. 160. Gow (Vocal Melodies of Scotland), 1822, 2nd ed. p. 21. Graham, 1908; p. 32. Howe (Diamond School for the Violin), 1981; p. 60 (appears as a set of "Caledonian Quadrilles"). Howe (1000 Jigs and Reels), c. 1867; p. 123. Jarman, (Old Time Fiddlin' Tunes); No. or p. 20. Johnson (Scots Musical Museum), 1787-1803, vol. 3, No. 225, p. 234. Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book), vol. 1, 1951; No. 57, p. 28. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 1), c. 1875; No. 10, p. 22. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddlers Repertoire), 1983; No. 60. Neil (The Scots Fiddle), 1991; No. 186, p. 241. Ostling, 1939; p. 21. Riley (Flute Melodies), 1820; vol. 2, No. 22. Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 104. Smith (Scottish Minstrel), 1820-24, vol. 5, p. 106. Sweet (Fifer's Delight), 1965/1981; p. 56. Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; p. 47. Trim (Musical Heritage of Thomas Hardy), 1990; No. 20. Wilson (Companion to the Ballroom), 1840; p. 65.
Recorded sources: Cló Iar Chonnachta CICD 165, John Wynne & John McEvoy - "Pride of the West" (2007). F&W Records 1, "F&W String Band."
See also listings at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources []
Alan Ng's Irishtune.info []