Annotation:When she cam ben
X:1 T:When she came ben she bobed M:6/4 L:1/8 R:Jig Q:"Brisk" S:McGibbon – Scots Tunes, Book 1 (c. 1746) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:Gmin V:1 D2 | G4 G2 B3c Bc | A2F2 FG F4F2 | G4G2 g3a ga | ^f2d2d2 d4e2 | f2B2f2 Tf3ed2 | c2f2c2{B}A3Bc2 | d4d2 d3 edc | B2G2G2 G4 :| |: (d/=e/^f) | g4 g2 g3ab2 | a2f2f2 f4 =e^f | g2B2d2g3 aga | ^f2d2d2 d4e2 | f2B2f2 Tf3ed2 | c2f2c2 TA3Bc2 | d4 d2 d3edc | B2G2G2 G4 :| |: D2 | G4G2 (BAB)cBc | A2 (GF) FG FEFGA^F | G2B2d2 g^fgbag | ^f2d2 de d4 (c/d/e) | (d/c/B) df b2 Tf3ed2 | cFAcfc {B}A3B c2 | d4 d2 dcdedc | B2G2 GA G4 :| |: (d/=e/^f) | g^fgaga bagabg | a2f2c2A2F2 (a/g/^f) | gdB GBd g^fgaga | ^f2d2A2^F2D2g2 | =fBdf b2 fgfede | cFAc f2 {B}A3Bc2 | d4 d2 dedcBA | B2 (AG)(GA) G4 :|] V:2 clef = bass z2|G,2D,2B,,2G,,4G,2|F,2 A,B,A,G, F,2C,2A,,2|B,,2G,,2A,,2 B,4 E2|D2A,2^F,2 D,4C,2| B,,4 z2 B,,2D,2B,,2|A,,6F,2A,2D,2|G,2G,,2G,2^F,2D,2F,2|G,2D,2B,,2G,,4:| |:z2|B,4 B,2 B,CB,A, G,2|F,2 CB,A,G, F,2F,,2C,2|B,,4G,,2 B,,4E,2|D,2A,2^F,2 D,4C,2| B,,4z2 B,,2D,2B,,2|F,4z2 F,2A,2D,2|G,2G,,2G,2 ^F,2D,2F,2|G,2D,2B,,2G,,4:|
WHEN SHE CAM BEN (SHE BOBBIT). AKA and see "Laird o' Cockpen.” Scottish, Air (6/8 or 6/4 time, "andante con moto" or "brisk"). D Minor (Carolan): G Minor (Johnson): G Dorian (Johnson): A Dorian (Aird). Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Carolan): ABCDEF (Johnson): AABBCCDD (Johnson). The title in English means "When she came through to the parlour, she curtseyed.” Johnson (1984) says the tune is related (through its alternating 6/4 and 3/2 rhythms) to the 16th century English coranto, and was composed in passamezzo antico form, which was an imported style of accompaniment chord progression borrowed from 16th century Italy. The original words to the tune were bawdy or risqué, but around 1810 Lady Nairne (Caroline Oliphant) wrote new words to it, and since then it has often been known as "The Laird o' Cockpen.” Her song was requested by Queen Victoria to be included in a concert programme during her 1842 visit to Taymouth Castle; John Wilson, then a famous singer of Scots songs, gave the recital.
In 1792 the Scots national poet Robert Burns (1759-1796) revised the verses. His version, printed in Johnson's Scots Musical Museum Vol. IV (Song 353, pp. 364-365) goes:
O when she cam' ben she bobbed fu' law, (x2)
And when she cam' ben, she kiss'd Cockpen,
And syne denied she did it at a'.
And was na Cockpen right saucy witha'? (x2)
In leaving the daughter of a lord,
And kissin' a collier lassie an' a'!
O never look down, my lassie, at a', (x2)
Thy lips are as sweet, and thy figure complete,
As the finest dame in castle or ha'.
Tho' thou has nae silk, and holland sae sma', (x2)'
Thy coat and thy sark are thy ain handiwark,
And lady Jean was never sae braw.
It appears in one of the earliest Scottish fiddlers MS repertory books, c. 1705, now in the private collection of Frances Collinson (1966), and in the John Leyden lyra viol MS. See also John Young's related "Buckingham House (3)."
