Annotation:Laddie I Esteem You

Find traditional instrumental music

Back to Laddie I Esteem You


LADDIE I ESTEEM YOU (A' Ghille dhuinn is toigh leam thu). Scottish, Slow Air (4/4 time). G Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB. This tune "is an interesting air, derived from the editor's progenitor. Were it known to Government that veneration and attachment even the most common Highlander entertains for his native spot--that there is no sacrifice for the service of his country but he will cheerfully submit to, on condition of its being ultimately preserved to him and his family--they would certainly interpose some remedy to prevent the depopulation of the Highlands, a measure of which they have shewn themselves so worthy, on every occasion of putting their conduct to the test." {Fraser follows with several paragraphs outlining his plans to intervene in the rate of emigration through consolidation of the fishing industry} (Fraser).

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Fraser (The Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles), 1816; No. 66, p. 23.

Recorded sources:




Back to Laddie I Esteem You