Annotation:There was a Lad was born in Kyle

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X: 1 T:There was a Lad was Born In Kyle C:Joe Buchanan's Scottish Tome - Page 211.2 I:211 2 Z:Carl Allison R:Reel L:1/8 M:2/4 F:http://www.john-chambers.us/~jc/music/abc/mirror/thisoldtractor.com/I-reel.abc K:G D/ | GG dG/A/ | BA AB/A/ | GG dG/A/ | (.B.g) d>d | (e/f/)g/d/ (B/c/)d/B/ | (e/d/)c/B/ AB/A/ | G{f}g d/e/d/c/ | BA {f}G :| d/ | gg g/a/b/g/ | (a/g/)a/b/ ag/e/ | (d/e/)g/a/ (g/a/)b/a/ gd ed | (e/f/)g/d/ (B/c/)d/B/ | (e/d/)c/B/ AB/A/ | G{f}g d/e/d/c/ | BA {F}G :|



THERE WAS A LAD (WAS BORN IN KYLE). AKA and see “Fiddler's Morris,” "O an ye were dead guidman," "Watson's Scots Measure." Scottish, Air, March, Scots Measure and Reel. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The versatile tune of "There was a Lad was born in Kyle" was first associated with the song "O an ye were dead guidman" which can be traced to Gude and Godlie Ballates (1567), although the air consisted of only one strain. G. Farquhar Graham, in Popular Songs and Melodies of Scotland (1893), recorded the belief that the air had been employed during the Reformation in Scotland (c. 1525-60) as a spiritual hymn. A second strain derived from James Oswald's c. 1760 variations on the tune became attached to the one-strain air[1], and the two-part instrumental version of the melody was published by Alexander McGlashan in 1788 as "Watson's Scots Measure". In this form that John Templeton, a tenor of the Italian Opera, and Scottish vocalist, brought "There was a Lad was born in Kyle" into public notice but instead of singing it to the tune for which Burns wrote it, he chose the two-part "O an ye were dead guidman" with which Robert Burns' (1759-96) autobiographical lyric "There was a Lad" is associated today[2]. The first stanza and chorus begin:

There was a lad was born in Kyle,
But what na day o' what na style,
I doubt it 's hardly worth the while
To be sae nice wi' Robin.

Chorus:
Robin was a rovin' Boy,
Rantin' rovin', rantin' rovin';
Robin was a rovin' Boy,
Rantin' rovin' Robin.


Additional notes



Printed sources : - Niel & Nathaniel Gow (Complete Repository, Part 1), 1799. Hardie (Caledonian Companion), 1992; p. 30. Henderson (Flowers of Scottish Melody), 1935.






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  1. According to Stenhouse, in his notes to the Scots Muscial Museum
  2. Burns originally used "Dainty Davie" for his song, reserving "O an ye were dead guidman" for his "Highland lad my love was born (A)," which is now associated with "White Cockade (1) (The)")