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 :|

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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. It was said that a second strain derived from James Oswald's mid-18th century variations on the tune became attached to the one-strain air, however, the second strain appeared much earlier in Henry Playford's Dancing Master, 11th Edition (1701) under the title "Fiddler's Morris." This two-part instrumental version of the melody was published by Alexander McGlashan in the 1770's as "Watson's Scots Measure", coexisting with the binary "O an ye were dead guidman," as published by Aird (1782 as "O gin ye were dead Gudeman"). It was in this binary form that John Templeton, a tenor of the Italian Opera, and Scottish vocalist, brought Robert Burns' (1759-96) autobiographical lyric "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 it is associated today. 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.

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