| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
FAMOUS SONGS
minor, while Scott's song is in the rollicking major. Here are the first verse and chorus of a mournful version to be found in "Ancient Ballads and Songs," 1827.
" Oh, have I burned, or have I slain, Or have I done aught of injury ; I've slighted the lass I may ne'er see again, The Baillie's daughter of bonny Dundee.
" Bonny Dundee and Bonny Dundas, Where shall I see sae bonny a lass ? Open your ports, and let me gang free, I maunna stay longer in bonny Dundee."
As Scott puts the last two lines of this refrain into the mouth of Rob Roy towards the end of his midnight interview with Baillie Nicol Jarvie in the Tolbooth of Glasgow, it is natural to suggest that the author of " Waverley" gathered the notion for his own lyric from this one, which was a street favourite. Gay uses it gaily in the "Beggar's Opera." But there is yet another Dundee—" Adieu, Dundee," which is believed to date from the time of James II.—when he dwelt in Scotland, 1679-82—whose nobles may have carried it to England, for it is somewhat similar to an old English song. In " Pills to Purge Melancholy," 1719, will be found the original parts of the chorus adapted by Scott
11.-7 97 |
||