The Session: Tunes - O Steer Her Up, An Haud Her Gaun (polka)

O Steer Her Up, An Haud Her Gaun

I know it isn't a tune but a song...hence the probably incorrect tune type.

I heard it on the album : Robert Burns The Complete Songs Vol. 1 sung by Rod Paterson. It's very nice...check it out.

# Posted on December 8th 2007 by D.J.F.

O Steer Her Up, An Haud Her Gaun

The Lyrics to the song are as follows:

O steer her up, an' haud her gaun,
Her mither's at the mill, jo;
An' gin she winna tak a man,
E'en let her tak her will, jo.
First shore her wi' a gentle kiss,
And ca' anither gill, jo;
An' gin she tak the thing amiss,
E'en let her flyte her fill, jo.

O steer her up, an' be na blate,
An' gin she tak it ill, jo,
Then leave the lassie till her fate,
And time nae langer spill, jo:
Ne'er break your heart for ae rebute,
But think upon it still, jo:
That gin the lassie winna do't,
Ye'll find anither will, jo.

# Posted on December 8th 2007 by D.J.F.

SONG!

Others may yell "delete!" because this is no place for songs, but tunes...

Since its Scottish, Ill forgive you.... since my family lore says we've got some Scottish among our ancestors.

If you simply repeat the parts you have posted and play it
AA BB then it is a great little tune in my opinion.
I have heard it that way somewhere before.

# Posted on December 8th 2007 by The Merry Highlander

Burns used dance tunes as airs to a number of his songs - or perhaps his song airs (Is he known to have written tunes himself?) were adopted by dance musicians. Whatever the case, this tune makes a perfectly good polka if payed as one (and it probably already has been, if it's been around since Burns' time), so the fact that it is a song is irrelevant. Many Scots song airs (including a few of Burns') are already well established in he Irish dance music repertoire.

# Posted on December 8th 2007 by granama

^^burns wrote lots of songs including this one!

Yeah it didn't strike me as being a polka when listening to the recording but when played by my solitary fiddle it sound like one!

# Posted on December 8th 2007 by D.J.F.

"Steer Her Up"

# Posted on December 8th 2007 by ceolachan

^^why is that there?

It doesn't really sound like the tune I put up!!! Maybe if you turned all the c sharps into c naturals then it would sound like this time except for the fact it's also in the wrong key.

# Posted on December 8th 2007 by D.J.F.

You had all the G's sharp, that's what ^G means... The correlation, in this transposition, is ^c. Since all the G's and C's are sharp, it's not me that has it in the 'wrong key'... Sorry...

# Posted on December 8th 2007 by ceolachan

After transposition up there isn't a lot of difference, other than being higher in pitch, and what I'd posted above was a take where I was having fun playing it as a 'polka' rather than as a song air... I can't help it if you don't like it. It was just an offering. Take it or leave it...

# Posted on December 8th 2007 by ceolachan

Mea culpa! ~ late nights and no sleep ~ to ^ and not too ^

Ah yes, not all your G's are ^ ~ bars 4 of the A-part & 3 & 4 of the B-part...

T: O Steer Her Up, An Haud Her Gaun
R: song
K: A Mixolydian
~ | B,G G2| ~ & ~ | B,>G GB, | D2 G,2 | ~

So, I'll try polkafying it again in Mixolydian... :-/ But I've enjoyed taking it as I did, in Major, despite it not being to your taste... Maybe the second try will be more acceptable?

# Posted on December 8th 2007 by ceolachan

Saying I've got it in the wrong key is wrong i'm afraid! Though you won't know that coz you aint listened to the recording which is obviously an A mix piece due to A chords followed G chords and vice versa! Trust me on that will you?

# Posted on December 8th 2007 by D.J.F.

"Ah yes, not all your G's are ^ ~ bars 4 of the A-part & 3 & 4 of the B-part..."

sorry i didn't see that before the previous post...you didn't say i had it in the wrong key..many thanks for the variations btw :-)

# Posted on December 8th 2007 by D.J.F.

Burns was SUCH a genius, absolutely love this song, kudos to Dan for posting!!!

# Posted on December 8th 2007 by mehitabel23

"Steer Her Up" ~ D Mix, D Mix ~ ("Da plain, Da plane" ~ Fantasy Island)

By the way, I've nothing against songs. Some of my best friends are songs... ;-) It has, in playing with this melody, a tendency to want to move into Major or minor. Try this one as minor, without any other accidentals than those d minor comes with: Bb, =c & =f... (& the same with the A take lower down, as a minor) 8-)

# Posted on December 8th 2007 by ceolachan

In praise of good accompaniment ~

As you noted 'Dan the Man', a good accompanist would help keep me straight, or force me to hold it in the D Mix way, until the penultimate bars of both parts... ;-)

# Posted on December 8th 2007 by ceolachan

i dunno if he could ceolachan you're positively brimming with ideas!! If you want to hear the accompaniment. try this link:

http://www.linnrecords.com/recording-the-complete-songs-of-robert-burns-volume-1-cd.aspx

and click on the "listen" thing for track 16...or any others for that matter..they're all very good!

Dan (the Man)

# Posted on December 9th 2007 by D.J.F.

Thanks for the link, appreciated... :-)

# Posted on December 9th 2007 by ceolachan

Oops! ~ slight correction to that last take, duh D Mix ~

# Posted on December 9th 2007 by ceolachan

O Steer Her Up, An Haud Her Gaun

Burns possibly got the tune for his song from Aird's First Selection, published in 1782 (many of the his song's airs seem to come from Aird). I'll post the Aird version later.

# Posted on December 9th 2007 by nigelg

O Steer Her Up, An Haud Her Gaun

# Posted on December 10th 2007 by nigelg

Good version on 'Between two Stools' by the 'Doctor Bowser's Brown Bowel Oil Band'

# Posted on December 10th 2007 by Alancorsini

"This wonderfully named tune comes from "The Caledonian Pocket Companion, containing fifty of the most favourite Scotch tunes, several of them with variations, all set for the german flute by Mr Oswald, Book the Second". It was printed for John Simpson in Sweetings Alley, opposite the east door of the Royal Exchange, London and sold at 3s. We play many tunes from this seven volume series, of which Bristol University Library has Volumes 2, 4 and 7."

Extracted from the fine booklet by Tony Slinger which accompanied the tape. (the Title of which was 'Not to be Sniffed at' prefered to the rejected 'Between two stools'

Their version goes

# Posted on December 10th 2007 by Alancorsini

Sorry - bar 2 should read:-

| defg a2 AG |

# Posted on December 10th 2007 by Alancorsini