Annotation:O Whistle and I'll Come to Ye My Lad

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O WHISTLE AND I'LL COME TO YOU/YE MY LOVE/LAD. AKA and see "Days of 'Lang Syne'," "Toddlin' Hame," "Todlin' Hame." Scottish, Jig and Air. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. The title comes from Robert Burns's (1759-1796) lyric to an air by fiddler John Bruce (1720-1785), the 'red-wed Highlander', originally from Braemar, who later settled in Dumfries. Bruce spent some time as a prisoner in Edinburgh Castle for his adherence to the cause of Bonnie Prince Charlie during the rising of 1745. The song was published around the year 1790 in Burns's Songs, and begins:

Aye vow and protest that ye care na for me,
And whiles ye may lightly my beauty a-wee;
But court na anither, tho' jokin ye be,
For fear that she wile your fancy frae me,
For fear that she wile your fancy frae me.
O whistle an' I'll come to ye, my lad,
O whistle an' I'll come to ye, my lad,
Tho' father an' mother an' a' should gae mad,
O whistle an' I'll come to ye, my lad.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Howe (1000 Jigs and Reels), c. 1867; p. 125. Kerr (Merry Melodies, vol. 1), c. 1880’s; No. 30, p. 33.

Recorded sources:

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