Inglis Collection of printed music > Printed music > Songs of Scotland prior to Burns
(305) Page 299
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THE BIRKS OF ABERGELDY. 299
O ye shall get a gown o' silk,
A gown o' silk, a gown o' silk ;
ye shall get a gown o' silk,
And a coat o' calimanco.
Na, kind sir, I darena gang,
I darena gang, I darena gang ;
Na, kind sir, I darena gang,
For my minnie she '11 be angry.
Sair, sair wad she flyte,
"Wad she flyte, wad she flyte,
Sair, sair wad she flyte,
And sair wad she bang me.
This is one of the simple old songs of Scotland, conveying
little meaning, but yet, with the aid of a good melody, more
facile to sing than many superior compositions. It is localised
to Aberdeenshire, for Abergeldy is a beautiful district on Dee-
side, once the property of a gentleman named Gordon, but now
that of her Majesty Queen Victoria, being adjacent to the royal
residence of Balmoral. The birch was long ago the natural
and abundant wood of the district, and must have formed an
attractive scene for the imagination of the poetical lover ; but
it has for many years been superseded by oak and other more
profitable timber. An air styled Tlie Birhs of Abergeldie appears
in Playford's Collection, 1700.
The rustic simplicity of the Birks, the gown 0' silk, and coat
o' calimanco, proved unsatisfactory to the more refined lovers
of Scottish song in the last century, and accordingly we find in
Herd, under the title of the air Birks of Abergeldy, a long and
rather common-place ditty, in which a gentleman bewails the
disappointments incidental to the married state — as follows, for
example :
O ye shall get a gown o' silk,
A gown o' silk, a gown o' silk ;
ye shall get a gown o' silk,
And a coat o' calimanco.
Na, kind sir, I darena gang,
I darena gang, I darena gang ;
Na, kind sir, I darena gang,
For my minnie she '11 be angry.
Sair, sair wad she flyte,
"Wad she flyte, wad she flyte,
Sair, sair wad she flyte,
And sair wad she bang me.
This is one of the simple old songs of Scotland, conveying
little meaning, but yet, with the aid of a good melody, more
facile to sing than many superior compositions. It is localised
to Aberdeenshire, for Abergeldy is a beautiful district on Dee-
side, once the property of a gentleman named Gordon, but now
that of her Majesty Queen Victoria, being adjacent to the royal
residence of Balmoral. The birch was long ago the natural
and abundant wood of the district, and must have formed an
attractive scene for the imagination of the poetical lover ; but
it has for many years been superseded by oak and other more
profitable timber. An air styled Tlie Birhs of Abergeldie appears
in Playford's Collection, 1700.
The rustic simplicity of the Birks, the gown 0' silk, and coat
o' calimanco, proved unsatisfactory to the more refined lovers
of Scottish song in the last century, and accordingly we find in
Herd, under the title of the air Birks of Abergeldy, a long and
rather common-place ditty, in which a gentleman bewails the
disappointments incidental to the married state — as follows, for
example :
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| Special collections of printed music > Inglis Collection of printed music > Printed music > Songs of Scotland prior to Burns > (305) Page 299 |
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| Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/94503636 |
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| Description | With the tunes. Edited by Robert Chambers. |
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| Shelfmark | Ing.64 |
| Additional NLS resources: | |
| Attribution and copyright: |
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More information
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| Description | Scottish and English songs, military music and keyboard music of the 18th and 19th centuries. These items are from the collection of Alexander Wood Inglis of Glencorse (1854 to 1929). Also includes a few manuscripts, some treatises and other books on the subject. |
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| Description | The Glen Collection and the Inglis Collection represent mainly 18th and 19th century Scottish music, including Scottish songs. The collections of Berlioz and Verdi collected by bibliographer Cecil Hopkinson contain contemporary and later editions of the works of the two composers Berlioz and Verdi. |
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