Annotation:Good Night and Joy be with Ye a' (3)
X:1 T:Good Night and Joy be wi' ye a' [3] M:C L:1/8 S:Gow - 2nd Repository (1802) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:C ed|c2~c2 G3c|A2A2 a3g|(eg)ag egag|e2c2c2:| ze|{e}dcde {e}d2 cA|GAcd {cd}e2 dc|~dcde ~fefg|{fg}a2d2 d3e| f>efg {fg}a2 gf|edef {ef}g2 fe|(de)fa (g<e)d>e|c2A2A2||
GOOD NIGHT AND JOY BE WITH YE A' [3]. AKA and see "Good Night and God be with Ye," "Good Night All Round," "Sweet Cootehill Town," "Peacock (1) (The)," "Burn's Farewell (to Ayrshire)." Scottish, Air and dance tune (whole time). C Major (Gow): G Major (Kerr, Miller & Perron): D Major (Kennedy, Raven). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Playford): AAB (Gow): AABB (Kerr, Miller & Perron, Manson): AABBCCDDEEFF (Oswald). "This tune is played at the conclusion of every Convivial Dancing Meeting Throughout Scotland" (Gow). A prototypical melody appears under the title "Good night and God be with you" in Henry Playford's collection of Scottish dance tunes printed in London in 1700, but perhaps its earliest appearance (or at least the earliest appearance of the title sentiment in music) is in the Skene Manuscript from 1615-20 for the mandora. The tune in the Skene may or may not be ancestral to the one published by Playford, but if so it is highly distanced. Playford's melody proved the lasting one, and for the next century or two it was used as the vehicle for a songs in ballad operas (c.f. Highland Fair; or, Union of the Clans, 1731). "Good Night and Joy be with you" was entered into the music manuscript collection of Scottish musician James Gillespie (The Gillespie Manuscript of Perth, 1768) and the music copybook of Thomas Molyneaux (Nova Scotia, 1788).
The title variation now familiar to us, "Good night and joy be with you all," comes from Robert Burns' lyrics. Burns wrote it on what he imagined was to be his last day on Scottish soil, before setting sail in the morning for Jamaica. He was being sued by his future father-in-law, James Armour, for the pregnancy of his daughter Jean Armour and Burns saw emigration as a solution to that particular problem as well as his poverty. However, to his surprise, his first published poems were suddenly successful, allowing him to reconsider his plans. He recited the song in a farewell speech to the St. James's Mason Lodge in Tarbolton in 1796. James Johnson printed Burns' song in his Scots Musical Museum, vol. 6 (1803, Song 600, p. 620). The first few stanzas go:
The night is my departing night,
The morn's the day I maun awa,
There's no a friend or fae o' mine,
But wishes that I were awa.
What I hae done for lack o' wit
I never never can reca'
I trust ye're a' my friends as yet,
Gude night and joy be wi' you a'.
Adieu! a heart-warm, fond adieu!
Dear brothers of the mystic tye!
Ye favour'd, ye enlighen'd Few,
Companions of my social joy!
Tho' I to foreign lands must hie,
Pursuing Fortun's slidd'ry ba',
With melting heart, and brimful eye,
I'll mind you still, tho' far awa'
The melody for his song, as printed in the Scots Musical Museum vol vi (1803), long predates Burns. Some sources say it first appears in recorded history as early as 1625. An older, mid-18th century, version of the words begins:
Now come is my departing time,
And here I may no longer stay,
There is no kind comrade of mine
But will desire I were away.
But if that time will me permit,
Which from your Company doth call,
And me inforceth for to flit,
Good Night, and God be with you all.
"Good night and joy be with ye a' [3]" was published by James Oswald in his Caledonian Pocket Companion Book IV (1760, p. 32), and by Glasgow musician and editor James Aird in his Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs, vol II (1785, p. 74). It was also included by dancing master and fiddler-composer James Gillespie's Duke of Perth Manuscript (also called the Drummond Castle Manuscript), compiled in 1768 (p. 18).
The tune has also been adapted for use as a polka.
