"My Son David" and "O Gin I Were Where Gadie rins": A Note on Tune Relationships and Local Song-Making
by James Porter
Folk Music Journal, Vol. 3, No. 5 (1979), pp. 479-487
[Music Upcoming]
"My Son David" and "O gin I were where Gadie rins": A Note on Tune Relationships and Local Song-Making
JAMES PORTER
While working on the melodic structure of Jeannie Robertson's versions of "My Son David" (Edward, Child 13),[1] I observed that the melody was in reality a slow transformation of the refrain of "O gin I were where Gadie rins", the Aberdeenshire song whose tune first appeared in print in William Christie's Collection of about 1820, where it is entitled "O if I were where Gadie runs, or The Hessian's March."[2]
O IF I WERE WHERE GADIE RUNS, or THE HESSLAN'S MARCH
Slow Maestoso
Somewhat later, it emerged as a bagpipe tune under the name "The Back of Bennichie"in the New Edition of William Ross's Collection (1875); it had not been included in the first edition of 1869.[3]
THE BACK OF BENNICHIE. MARCH
The "New Edition", and also the Second Edition of [1876], contain a tune which appears to be a variant. In this the two halves of the melody are reversed: the second half of "The MacLauchlin's March" resembles the opening bars o f "O gin I were".[4]
THE MACLAUCHLINS' MARCH
As "The Back of Bennachie", the tune has remained in the bagpipe repertoire, and is contained such familiar collections as Paterson's Scots Guards.[5] George Farquahar Graham refers to the origin of the tune" I wish I were where Gowdie rins," asserting that "the air is not Scottish, but seems to have become a localized favourite in the north about the middle of last century"[6]. Dean Christie is cited a s having told him that he held a copy of the air, sent to his father in 1815 by a gentleman farmer in Buchan. This farmer's father had allegedly heard it played in the Duke of Cumberland's army as it passed from Aberdeen to Culloden in 1746, the air being composed "for horns (bugle), and is a grand one for soldiers on the march.[7]" Is this a link to the title "The Hessian's March" in the Christie Collection? It seems a tempting inference, but there is as yet no sign of such a tune in extant collections of military music of the period, as far as I can discover.
The tune was often played by bands of the Gordon Highlanders; it was likewise the favourite quick march of the City of Aberdeen Rifle Volunteers. A review in the Queen's Park at Holyrood, Edinburgh, in 1860 before Queen Victoria included the presence of a 470-strong contingent from Aberdeen heralded by this march.[8] David Glen prints it with the title "Where the Gadie Runs-a quickstep", meaning there by a quick march rather than the later, popular dance.[9]
At least five lyric variants of the words were written to the tune, all of them beginning with somewhat similar words. The text printed by Graham was said to be "by a clergyman who desired to remain unknown."[10] This is clearly the version composed b y Dr. John P ark, born in Greenock in 1804, whose words became very popular not least, one supposes, from their printing by Graham in his volume although Park's s ongs were n ot published until after his death in 1865. The earliest version of the song text seems to be by Arthur Johnston, a native of the Garioch, born in 1578. He was not only one of the first students at Marischal College when it opened in the buildings of the former Greyfriars Monastery, but earned a degree of doctor of medicine at Padua in 1610 and served as Professor of Logic at the Protestant Seminary at Sedan in France. Charles I appointed h im his physician in ordinary, while at the request of Archbishop Laud he translated the Psalms of David into Latin. He became Rector of King's College, Aberdeen, in 1637, living for a time as a laird on Gadie-side.[11] The Rev. John Davidson, minister of Inverurie, wrote a history of the district in 1878, including verses traditionally ascribed to Johnston:
0! gin I war where Gadie rins,
Where Gadie rins, where Gadie rins,
0! gin I war where Gadie rins,
At the back o' Bennachie.
I wad ne'er seek hame again,
Seek hame again, seek hame again,
I wad ne'er seek hame again,
To view my am countrie.
For its there the bonnie lassie lives,
The lassie lives, the lassie lives,
For its there the bonnie lassie lives,
Wha'sp romisedto be mine.
After a description of the silk hose, golden band with a diamond clasp for her waist, and roses for her hair, the song text concludes that after they were wed a happier pair
Ye wadna hae seen where Gadie rins,
Where Gadie rins, where Gadie rins,
Ye wadna hae seen where Gadie rins,
In a lang, lang summer day.[12]
A rather more widely-publicized version of the song text was put together early in the 19th century by John Imlah (1749-1846).[13] Imlah, descended from farming stock in the parish of Fyvie, was born in Aberdeen, the youngest of seven consecutive sons; his father w as an innkeeper at Cuminestown, near Turriff. At the city grammar school he began to write poetry, later being apprenticed to a music seller as a piano tuner. He subsequently moved to London to work for Broadwood's, although he spent part of the year travelling in Scotland tuning instruments. His poems were published in two volumes: the first, May Flowers, appeared in 1827, and the second, Poems and Songs, in 1841. The Rev. Samuel Rogers, commenting on Imlah's version of "O gin I were", believed that the refrain, apart from suggestings everalm oderns ongs, "similar in manner and sentiment", was originally connected with a Jacobite song now lost.[14] Imlah apparently composed two versions with refrain, the first in May Flowers, the second from the 1841 collection. The earlier version was founded, Rogers thought, on a rumour prevailing throughout Aberdeenshire during the first quarter of the 19th century, that a Scottish officer serving in Egypt, was greatly affected on hearing a soldier's wife" crooning to herself the original words of the air."[15]
Although Imlah's song text was widely known, it was nevertheless that of the "accomplished clergyman" (Park) which was the most popular. He, according to Rogers, had heard the air and refrain from a friend, thereupon composing his particular version.[16] Park's anonymous assertion, quoted by Rogers, was that "the air is undoubtedly old, from its resemblance to several Gaelic and Irish airs. 'Cuir's chiste moir me', and several others, might be thought to have been originally the same in the first part [presumably Park's emphases]. The second part of the air is, I think, modern." [17] This appears to be an unsupportable conjecture, since the only resemblance betweent he Highland air and "O gin I were" is the characteristic rise (5-6-1) found at the outset of hundreds of Scottish tunes, both Highland and Lowland.[18]
Another variant of the text is given in the second or New Statistical Account for the Parish of Clatt (1842), where The Rev. Robert Cook adds a footnote verse:
I wish I war where Gadie rins,
Mangf ragranht eatha ndh eatherw hins
Or crawlind' ownt he boskiel inns,
At the back o' Bennachie.[19]
Mrs. Helen Beaton, in her description of life in the Garioch in the 19th century, has preserved a form of the song.[20] A lament for dead lovers, it seems to be a woman's song, and the words are closer to the local dialect than the other versions. The first stanza is related to the 16th century lyric by Johnston, though the author has appended the note that "the above version of the song is traditional":
"FAR GADIE RINS"
0! gin I war far the' Gadie rins,
Far Gadie rins, far Gadie rins,
At the back o' Benachie.
I never wad seek back again,
Seek back again, seek back again,
I never wad seek back again
The Buchan lads to see.
I never hid bit twa richt lads,
Bit twa richt lads, bit twa richt lads,
I never hid bit twa richt lads,
An' it's dearly they lo'ed me.
Th' tane wis kill't in Lowran Fair,
In Lowran Fair, in Lowran Fair,
Th' tane wis kill't in Lowran Fair,
An' th'i therw is droon'ti n Dee.
O! hid he gotten man for man,
Man for man, man for man,
0! hid he gotten man for man,
Or yet a man for three,
He wadna hae lyin' sae low th' day,
Sae low th' day, sae low th' day,
He wadna hae lyin' sae low th' day,
At the fit o' yon arn tree.
Th' Dee wis flowin' fae bank tae bank,
Fae bank tae bank, fae bank tae bank,
Th' Dee wis flowin' fae bank tae bank,
Fan my love dreed his dree.
0! wisna that twa dowie days,
Twa dowie days, twa dowie days,
0! wisna that twa dowie days,
Twa dowie days tae me?
Instead o' buyin' my bonnie things,
My bonnie things, my bonnie things,
Instead o' buying' my bonnie things,
I bocht linen tae bury them wi'.
It's twice that I hae been a bride,
Hae been a bride, hae been a bride,
Noo twice that I hae been a bride,
Bit a wife I'll never be.
I gazed an' cast my wandering eye
To get one blink o' Bennachie;
It seemed a blythesome sight tae me,
As I do pass it by.
0! might I die far Gadie rins,
Far Gadie rins, far Gadie rins,
0! might I die far Gadie rins
At the back o' Bennachie!
As it happens, a version of "Gadie" was recorded from Jeannie Robertson, her husband Donald, with Isaac Higgins, Donald's brother, accompanying their singing on the pipe chanter. The tune is the usual one, but the text has close affinities with Beaton's:
0 GIN I WERE WHERE THE GADEE RINS
J.R.
0 gin 1_were where the Ga-die rins where the Ga-die rins where the Ga-die rins_
(Chanter)
0-. Lwerewherethe I 7. I
O_ gin I_werewherethe Ga-die rins at the fit o Be-na - chie.
Refrain: 0 gin I were where the Gadie rins
Where the Gadie rins, where the Gadie rins,
O gin I were where the Gadie rins
At the fit o Benachie.
1. [ I where the Gadie rins
Where the Gadie rins, where the Gadie rins
O wid ye meal an' ale where the Gadie rins
At the fit o Benachie.
2. It's aince I had, I knew twa lads
I knew twa lads, I knew twa lads
Aince I had, I knew twa lads
But nou I hinnae ane.
3. There ane was killed aye in Lowran Fair,
Aye in Lowran Fair, aye in Lowran Fair,
There ane was killed aye in Lowran Fair
An' the ither yin droont in the Dee.
4. O wheneverI get reddedo ut
Get reddedo ut, get reddedo ut
WheneverI get reddedo ut
I'll droon my sel' in the Dee.
5. They are green broom where the Gadie rins
Heatherb ellsa n'b onnieh ills
They are green broom where the Gadie rins
At the fit o Bennachie.[21]
The connections, then, between Jeannie Robertson's "My Son David" and the tune for "O gin I were where Gadie rins", and between the textual variants of the latter song, add a further dimension to the notion of song complexes and tune relationships. Tracing the original air to to a printed collection of military music of the mid-18th century might serve, at least, to close this chapter of research on the history of the air.
Mr. A. L. LLOYD writes:
Probably the widest known version of the tune is the one commonly attached to the nursery rhyme:
'If I had a donkey t hat wouldn't go,
Would I beath im? Oh no, no'.
The rhyme is mentioned in Dickens 'The Old Curiosity Shop. The melody was also used for the familiar sea shanties Hieland Laddie and Donkey Riding.
________________
1. See James Porter, "Jeannie Robertson's My Son David': A Conceptual Performance Model", Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 89, 351, pp. 7- 26 (1976).
2 WilliamC hristieA, Collection ogStrathspeys, Reels, Hornpipes, Waltzes
&c.,p rintedf or the Author,E dinburgh1 1820].F or informationo n this
and other points I am grateful to Miss Ruzena Wood of the Music
DepartmentN, ationalL ibraryo f ScotlandT. he Gadie,a n Aberdeenshire
stream,n ses at the back of Bennachieh ill and laterj oins the Urie, a
tributaryo f the Don, in its 13 -milec ourse.
3. William Ross, Collection[o f]P ipeM usic,L ondon 1875.
4 Ibid., pp. 72-73.
5 Paterson's Scots Guards: Standard Settings of Pipe Music, London
1965.
6 GeorgeF arquharG raham,P opularS ongs of Scotland,G lasgow 1887,
pp. 222-223.
7 Ibid., p. 223.
8 George Banks, "O! Gin I Were Where Gadie Rins", Scotland's
Magazine, May 1975, pp. 22-25.
9 DavidG len,C ollectiono f HighlandB agpipeM usic,E dinburgh1 876-80.
10 Graham, op. cit., p. 223.
11. Banks, op. cit., p. 23.
12 Ibid., pp. 22-23.
13 See Graham, op. cit., p. 223; Gavin Greig, Folk-Song of the Northeast
X; John Greig, Scots Minstrelsie, Edinburgh 1892-95, vol. I, p. viii; Rev.
Samuel Rogers, The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Edinburgh 1855-57, vol.
IV,pp. 117-119.
14 Rogers, op. cit., p. 117.
lsIbid., p.11I7.
16 Ibid., pp. 11 7- 118.
17 Ibid., p. 118.
18 See the tune in K. N. MacDonald ed., Puirt-a-beul: Mouth tunes: or
Songs for dancing as practised from a remote antiquity by the
Highlanders of Scotland. Collected and arranged by Keith Norman
MacDonald, M.D., Glasgow 1901, repr. 1931. MacDonald describes the
tune as very old, done best in the key of D. He gives Marshall's set of it,
remarking that the original was much older than his time (presumably
Marshall's time). Marked "Key G" and "Strathspey (in B flat)", it is
printed in sol-fa notation; another name for the tune was "Miss
Cruickshank." I am grateful to Morag MacLeod, School of Scottish
Studies, for this information.
19 Banks, op. cit., p.24.
20 HelenB eatonA, t the Back o BennachieA, berdeen1 915.
21 Schoolo f ScottishS tudiesA rchiveN umberS A 1954/98/16.