Annotation:Gold in Gopins
GOLD IN GOPINS. AKA - "Gold in Gowpens." AKA and see "Bonny Tweedside," "Gowd in Goupins, "We'll all get gold in Gowpins." Scottish, English; Jig. England, Northumberland. A Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. A Borders air. 'Gopins', or gowpens, is a dialect word meaning 'handfulls'. The melody also appears in the c. 1812 music manuscript collection of Northumbrian musician John Bell [1] (1783-1864) with the following lyric:
If I had gold a' Gowpens,
If I had money in store;
If I had gold a' Gowpens,
My laddy should work no more.
The title (as "We'll all get gold in gowpins") appears in publisher Henry Robson's list of popular Northumbrian song and dance tunes ("The Northern Minstrel's Budget"), which he published c. 1800. It was also entered into the large 1840 music manuscript collection of multi-instrumentalist John Rook, of Waverton, near Wigton, Cumbria.
