Bonnie Bessie Lee

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Theme code Index	5155 1H1H66
Also known as
Composer/Core Source
Region	Scotland
Genre/Style	Scottish
Meter/Rhythm	Strathspey
Key/Tonic of	G
Accidental	1 sharp
Mode	Ionian (Major)
Time signature	4/4
History
Structure	AA'B
Editor/Compiler	Biography:James S. Kerr
Book/Manuscript title	Book:Merry Melodies vol. 3
Tune and/or Page number	No. 69, p. 9
Year of publication/Date of MS	c. 1880's
Artist
Title of recording
Record label/Catalogue nr.
Year recorded
Media
Score ()

BONNIE BESSIE LEE. Scottish, Strathspey. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'B. "Bonnie Bessie Lee" is the title of a poem and song lyric by Robert Nicoll (1814–37), a Perthshire-born writer of some merit who published his volume in 1835. It begins:

Bonnie Bessie Lee had a face fu’ o’ smiles,
And mirth round her ripe lip was aye dancing slee;'
' And light was the footfa’, and winsome the wiles,
O’ the flower o’ the parochin—our ain Bessie Lee.

As a song, it was very popular in Victorian times, and appears in Gavin Greig's Scots Minstrelsie (vol. 5)

Printed source: Kerr (Merry Melodies), vol. 3; No. 69, p. 9.

X:1
T:Bonnie Bessie Lee
M:C
L:1/8
R:Strathspey
S:Kerr - Merry Melodies, vol. 3, No. 69  (c. 1880's)
Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion
K:G
e|d>BG>B d2 d>e|g>f (g<b) e2 (e>f)|g>ag>e (d<B) g>d|1 c>BA>G A3:|2 c>BA>G A2 (g>a)||
b>ag>B d>eg>a|b>ag>B d2 (B>A)|G>A(B>d) g2 (3gab|c'>ba>g a2 g>a|
b>ag>B d>eg>a|b>ag>B d2 (3gab|c'>Ba>g e>fg>e|d<b a>b g3||