Annotation:Bonny Mary Hay

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X:1 T:Bonnie Mary Hay C:R.A. Smith (1825) M:C L:1/8 Q:"With feeling" R:Air B:D. Jack - "Lyric Gems of Scotland" (1856, p. 165) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:A F>E E>F A2 A>B|c3 e (dc) BA|{F}E2 E>F A2 e>c|(cB) B>A A2z2:| (A>B)|c2 c>d e2 dc|(f>e) e>c {c}!fermata!B2 !fermata!(e>d)|c>B A<F E2 c>B|B3A A2z2||

BONNY MARY HAY. AKA - "Bonny Mary Hart." Scottish, Air (whole time). C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. "Bonny Mary Hart" is the title attached to this tune in Carlin's Master Collection (1984), however, Fr. John Quinn finds it is a version of the British and Irish ballad "Bonny Mary Hay" [Roud #7975], collected as early as 1825^[1]. The words begin:

Bonnie Mary Hay, I will l'oe thee yet;
For thy eye is the slae, and thy hair is the jet,
The snaw is thy skin, and the rose is thy cheek:
Oh! Bonnie Mary Hay, I will l'oe thee yet.

Bonnie Mary Hay, will you gang wi' me,
When the sun's in the west, to the hawthorn tree?
To the hawthorn tree in the bonnie berry den?
And I'll tell you, Mary, how I l'oe thee then.

Additional notes

Printed sources : - Carlin (Master Collection of Dance Music for the Violin), 1984; No. 171, p. 100. Huntington, ed. (Sam Henry’s Songs of the People), Athens, Georgia, 1990. D. Jack (Lyric Gems of Scotland), 1856; p. 165.

Recorded sources : - Last Track Records ‎– LTR 001, Ceolbeg - "Ceolbeg" (1984).

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↑ According to Alexander Whitelaw's (1803–1846) The Book of Scottish Song (1844, p. 7), the author of the song was Archibald Crawford of Ayr. "It originally appeared in the Ayr and Wigtonshire Courier, and was afterwards introduced into one of a series of stories by Mr. Crawford, published at Edinburgh, in 1825, under the title of Tales of My Grandmother. The composer was R.A. Smith."

[1] According to Alexander Whitelaw's (1803–1846) The Book of Scottish Song (1844, p. 7), the author of the song was Archibald Crawford of Ayr. "It originally appeared in the Ayr and Wigtonshire Courier, and was afterwards introduced into one of a series of stories by Mr. Crawford, published at Edinburgh, in 1825, under the title of Tales of My Grandmother. The composer was R.A. Smith."

[1]