Key signature: Aminor
Submitted on December 29th 2011 by Trevor Jennings.
This tune has been added to 6 tunebooks.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Lad With The Trousers On, The
M: 9/8
L: 1/8
R: slip jig
K: Amin
dAc BGB AFA |c2c cdc B2A |dAc BGB AFA |d2d ded c2A :|
|:F2A E2A D2B |c2c cdc B2A |F2A E2A D2c |d2d ded c2A :|
|:d2e fdf ecA |c2c cdc B2A |1 d2e fdf ecA |
d2d ded c2A :|2 dAc BGB AFA |d2d ded c2A ||
The Lad with the Trousers on
This tune is from the 1770 William Vickers manuscript collection of country dance tunes, mostly from Scotland and Northumbria.
The Vickers manuscript is inconsistent, and even confusing, in its use or non-use of key signatures, accidentals and time signatures. However, the editor, Matthew Seattle, of a modern (1986) edition has attempted to bring some order into the chaos, and for this tune he has suggested a version with two sharps and the occasional c-nat:
K:Dmaj (as a holding suggestion)
dA_c BGB AFA |_c2c cdc B2A |dA_c BGB AFA |d2d ded c2A :|
|:F2A E2A D2B |_c2c cdc B2A |F2A E2A D2c |d2d ded c2A :|
|:d2e fdf ecA |_c2c cdc B2A |1 d2e fdf ecA |d2d ded c2A :|2 dA_c BGB AFA |d2d ded c2A ||
Matthew Seattle says he has tried to maintain a balance between the manuscript, what one may suppose the writer meant when it contradicts musical logic, what other versions of the tunes from other sources say, and his (the editor's) own ideas. Matthew Seattle welcomes alternative interpretations and invites the users of his edition to exercise their own judgment.
My personal preference is the original manuscript version, which is what I have submitted.
I don't know whether the title of this tune had a particular cultural, or even political, resonance for Scotland or Northumbria in the 18th century, but anyway I have no hesitation in dedicating this submission to Mr Yhaalhouse - who else!
# Posted on December 29th 2011 by Trevor Jennings
Bruce Collingwood and Stokoe ( Northumbrian Minstrelsy) link the song to the tune of "The Sailors are all at the Bar". This is the tune and text (p 128):
X:1
T:The Sailors are all at the Bar
S:Northumbrian Minstrelsy
M:9/8
L:1/8
K:G
BGB AFA G2B|AcA FAF AcA|BGB AFA G2c|def gdc BAG:|
|:F2f ege f3|cde fcB AGF|F2g ege g3|def gdc BAG:|
The sailors are all at the Bar,
They cannot get up to Newcastle
The sailors are all at the Bar,
They cannot get up to Newcastle.
Up with smoky Shields,
And hey for bonny Newcastle ;
Up with smoky Shields,
And hey for bonny Newcastle.
The above was all that remained of what had evidently been a
longer ballad when Bell's "Rhymes of the Northern Bards" was
published in 1812, and it was included in that work. The tune is
above a century old, and is very likely one of the old bagpipe hornpipes.
THE LAD WITH THE TROWSERS ON.
At a later period a popular song under this title was also sung
to the same tune, but we have only met with a fragment of the
song.
The lad wi' the trowsers on,
He says he winnot hae me;
The lad wi' the trowsers on,
He says he winnot hae me.
If he winnot hae me,
He can let me be;
Aw can get' another,
Twice as good as he.
# Posted on December 30th 2011 by Weejie
Should say "Collingwood Bruce".
Northumbrian Minstrelsy
A Collection of the Ballads, Melodies and Small-Pipe Tunes of Northumbria
http://www.archive.org/details/ACollectionOfTheBalladsMelodiesAndSmall-pipeTunesOfNorthumbria
# Posted on December 30th 2011 by Weejie
Mode
As corroborated by many other versions under different titles the key is D maj. but with C naturals in bar 2 of each 4, as well as bars 1 and 3 of strain 1.
Whatever the accidentals, this D-centred tune is not in A minor and the abc should be changed.
BTW I recommend the one-volume 2008 edition of The Great Northern Tunebook which benefits from much more research and 20 more years' experience than the first edition.
# Posted on December 30th 2011 by Matt Seattle
The Lad with the Trousers on
In view of Matt Seatle's knowledgeable comments I have changed the ABC to Dmaj - in time for Jeremy's provision of the sheet music.
(I still like to play it in Amin, though!)
# Posted on December 31st 2011 by Trevor Jennings
Thanks, Trevor - you are of course at liberty to play it how you wish. I suspect we have a different perception of modal centre. As it stands now, the abc has two sets of fields (it still works) but the _ signs give c flat rather than = which will give the needed c naturals.
Happy New Year.
# Posted on December 31st 2011 by Matt Seattle
The Lad with the Trousers on
Matt, thanks for pointing out those errors - which I've corrected. I blame them on the iPad (one with an add-on keyboard) that I was given for Christmas and which I'm gradually coming to terms with!
Regarding the name of the tune, my wife wondered if it could be anything to do with a custom a couple of hundred years ago in some parts of the country where small boys were dressed in the same sort of dresses as their sisters, and on reaching a certain age were elevated to the honour of wearing trousers.
Happy New Year!
# Posted on December 31st 2011 by Trevor Jennings