Glen Collection of printed music > Printed music > Wood's edition of the songs of Scotland

42
THE SONGS OF SCOTLAND.
• = 88
V
COX ANIMA.
te
-Pr
THE LOWLANDS 0' HOLLAND.
l 5 ^
S=rf
4 4
^^
The love that I had cho - sen, Was to my heart's con - tent, The
m
^
^
&
-?=*
W^^-
V-
:£=£
£
saut sea sail be fro- zen Be - fore that I re -pent; Re - pent it will I ne - ver, Un •
m
A^=a
*3g
"*— s
i U>-
^^=J^y^3E3
4 4 g
til the day I dee, Tho' the Low - lands o' IIol - land Ha'e twinned my love and me.
[The stanzas within brackets may be omitted in singing.]
My love lies in the saut sea,
And I am on the side,
Enough to break a young thing's heart
Wha lately was a bride ;
Wha lately was a bonnie bride,
And pleasure in her e'e ;
But the Lowlands o' Holland
Ha'e twinned my love and me.
[My love he built a bonnie ship,
And sent her to the sea,
Wi' seven score brave mariners
To bear her companie ;
Threescore gaed to the bottom,
And threescore died at sea,
And the Lowlands o' Holland
Ha'e twinned my love and me.]
[My love he built anither ship,
And sent her to the main,
He had but twenty mariners,
An a' to bring her hame ;
1 The contrary way.
But the weary wind began to rise,
And the sea began to rout,
And my love, and his bonnie ship,
Turu'd widdershins ' about !]
There sail nae coif 2 come on my head,
Nae kame come iu my hair,
There sail neither coal nor candle licht,
Come in my bower mair ;
Nor sail I ha'e anither love,
Until the day I dee,
I never loved a love but ane,
And he's drown'd in the sea.
[0, baud your tongue, my daughter dear
Be still, and be content,
There are mair lads in Galloway,
Ye needua sair lament.
! there is nane in Galloway,
There's nane at a' for me ;
For I never lo'ed a lad but ane,
And he's drown'd in the sea]
2 Cup, head-dress.
" The Lowlands o' Holland." This ballad is said to have been composed, about the beginning of last century, by
a young widow in Galloway, whose husband was drowned on a voyage to Holland. " The third verse in the Museum,"
says Mr. Stenhouse, " is spurious nonsense, and Johnson has omitted the last stanza altogether." In Oswald's second
Collection there is a tune called " The Lowlands of Holland," but it is quite different from the excellent air given by
Johnson, and by Pietro Urbani, and is evidently modelled upon the air in the Skene MS., "My love she winns not
here away." The late Mr. William Marshall, butler to the Duke of Gordon, borrowed his highly popular tune, " Miss
Admiral Gordon's Strathspey," from " The Lowlands of Holland," as given by Johnson and Urbani. To Marshall's
altered air, Burns wrote his charming song, " Of a' the airts the wind can blaw." Mr. Stenhouse says, " The Editor
of the late Collection of Gaelic Airs in 1816, puts in a claim for ' The Lowlands of Holland' being a Highland air, and
that it is called, ' Thuilc toabh a sheidas goagh.' By writing a few Gaelic verses to each Lowland song, every Scottish
melody might easily be transferred to the Highlands. This is rather claiming too much." See Museum Illustra-
tions, vol. ii. p. IIS. To this we have to add, that with admirable coolness, and without offering any evidence, the
Editor of that Collection gives a " List of Highland Melodies already incorporated with Scottish song;" and among
these we find " Wilt thou be my dearie ?" " Coming through the rye ;" " My Love's in Germany ;" " Green grow the
rashes;" "Wat ye wha's in yon town?" " Gloomy winter's now awa';" "Wat ye wha I met yestreen ?" &c, in all
twenty-fine airs, which he claims as Highland ! We had intended to make some farther remarks upon this most
untenable claim ; but perhaps the above may suffice for the present.