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Highland Laddie (The Original Highland Laddie)
Scotch Measure, Quickstep, March, Polka, or Country Dance Tune (cut time). England, Northumberland. Scotland, New England; Southeastern and Gulf ports of the United States;
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: Late 1700’s
RECORDING INFO: Green Linnet SIF 1076, Relativity - "Gathering Place" (1987). Green Linnet SIF 1121, Tannahill Weavers - "The Mermaid Song." Redpath, Jean. Father Adam, Philo 1061, LP (1979), cut#A.02
OTHER NAMES: "Hielan Laddie." AKA and see "Bonny Laddie," "Clashing At Her," "Donkey Riding," "High Caul'd Cap," "I have two yellow goats" (Ireland), "The Lass of Livingston," “Wish I Was in Mobile Bay,”
SOURCES: Bowie Manuscript, c. 1789 [Johnson]. Carlin (The Gow Collection), 1986; No. 568. Emmerson (Rantin' Pipe and Tremblin' String), 1971; No. 29, pg. 129. Gow (Complete Repository, Part Second), 1802; pgs. 2-3. Johnson (Scottish Fiddle Music in the 18th Century), 1984; No. 1, pg. 22. Kerr (Merry Melodies), Vol. 1; No. 5, pg. 21. Miller & Perron (101 Polkas), 1978; No, 95. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; pg. 150. Seattle (William Vickers), 1987, Part 2; No. 265 (appears as "Clashing At Her"). Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc;
NOTES: D Major (Kerr, Raven): F Major (Johnson): G Major (Miller & Perron, Vickers): A Major (Emmerson, Gow). Standard. AB (Raven): AABB (Emmerson, Kerr, Seattle/Vickers): ABCD (Johnson): AABBCCDD (Gow). In the Gentleman's Magazine for 1750 that "The Highland Laddie written long since by Allan Ramsay, and now sung at Ranelagh and all the other gardens; often fondly encor'd, and sometimes ridiculously hiss'd," for, as Emmerson (1971) points out, the rising of 1745 of Bonnie Prince Charlie was fresh in the minds of many at the time. However, by the end of the century that memory had dimmed to the extent that Gow noted in his Repository (Part Second, 1802) "The Quick step (sic) of the gallant 42nd Regiment (The Royal Highlanders, or, more popularly, The Black Watch). Performed when the Regiment was reviewed by His Majesty at Ashford, May 7, 1802." It is still played on ceremonial occasions. The melody appears in the Drummond Castle Manuscript (in the possession of the Earl of Ancaster at Drummond Castle), inscribed "A Collection of Country Dances written for the use of his Grace the Duke of Perth by Dav. Young, 1734." John Glen (1891) finds the earliest printing of the tune in Robert Bremner's 1757 collection (pg. 47). Highland Laddie is also the name of a simple step dance which used to be taught to children, and is the name of a Scottish country dance. (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
This was often sung to the pipe tune version:
Where ha' ye been a' the day?
Bonnie laddie, Hielan' laddie
Saw ye him that' far awa'
Bonnie laddie, Hielan' laddie
On his head a bonnet blue
Bonnie laddie, Hielan' laddie
Tartan plaid and Hielan' trews
Bonnie laddie, Hielan' laddie
"Barry Finn reports that the melody was used as a capstan and a 'stamp and go' shanty, and (without the grand chorus) was also used as a halyard shanty. It was popular on the Dundee Whalers, then later used (c. 1830's and 40's) as a work song for stowing lumber and cotton in the Southeastern and Gulf ports of the United States. Finn thinks the shanty probably goes back at least to the 1820's or earlier when the Scottish whalers out of Dundee, Peterhead, & Aberdeen were in their Greenland Fisheries hay-days, chasing the right whale."(Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
An older Dundee version goes:
Where have ye been all the day, Bonnie Laddie, Hieland Laddie
Where have ye been all the day, my Bonnie Hieland Laddie
Chorus: Way hay & away we go, Bonnie Laddie, Hieland Laddie
Way hay & away we go, my Bonnie Hieland Laddie
I did see ye down the glen, Bonnie Laddie, Hieland Laddie
I did not see ye near the burn, my Bonnie Hieland Laddie
Chorus
No, I was not down the glen, no, I was not near the burn
I joined a ship & went a sailing, sailed far north & went a whaling
Shipped on board of a Dundee whaler, shipped on board as a whaling sailor
Bound away to Iceland cold, found much ice but not much gold
Greenland is a cold country, it's not the place for you and me
We caught some whales and boiled their blubber, oil and fat choked every scupper
I'll be glad when I get home, I'll give up this whaling game.
A later shanty called "Donkey Riding" was derived from the tune:
Was you ever in Quebec, moving timber on the deck
Where you nearly break your neck, riding on a donkey
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