Annotation:Braes of Branksom (The)

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BRAES OF BRANKSOM. AKA - "Braes of Branksome." English, Scottish; Air (whole time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABBCCDD. The song was traditionally said to have been written by 'Auld Hobbie o' Skelfhill', and was published in William Thomson's Orpheus Caledonius (1733). However, it had earlier appeared as a song in Allan Ramsey's stage production, The Gentle Shepherd (1686-1757) under the title "The Generous Gentleman." 'Branksom' refers to Branxholme in Hawick Parish, Roxburghshire, on the Teviot, seat of the Scotts of Buccleuch. A broadside version, rather more coarse than Ramsay's verses, begins:

As I came in by Tiviot side and by the braes of Branksome,
There met I with a pretty Lass that was both neat and handsome:
If that her mother say me nay, then with the Daughter will I play,
Whether that she will or nay, have at the bonny Lassie.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Oswald (Caledonian Pocket Companion, Book 6), 1760; p. 7.

Recorded sources:

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