Taco Tuesday #114: My Love is Like a Crispy, Crunchy Taco
Danny Johnson
Hi, y’all! It’s been two weeks–it’s time for some Musical Tacos!
Or, as Robert Burns might have said if he spoke Scots Gaelic, “Tha an t-àm ann airson Tacos Ciùil!”
Yes, our Celtic concert is coming up soon, so here’s a little preview for our most recent Celtic concert, in 2022. You can absorb all of these and not spoil your appetite: None of these will be performed at this year’s concert! As before, my primary sources for these evocative, romantic, and sometimes scandalous ballads have remained constant over the last thirty years. Orpheus Caledonius: Or, A Collection of Scots Songs set to musick by W. Thomson is a collection of 100 songs published by William Thomson in London in 1725 and 1733. Thomson grew up in Edinburgh and as the son of a professional musician, he was surrounded by characteristic Scots songs. His nostalgia for the songs of his youth compelled him to collect and publish some of the more fashionable and popular ones. The Scots Musical Museum, originally intended as a collection of all the existing Scots songs, contains 600 ballads in six volumes published between 1787 and 1803 by James Johnson (c. 1750–1811) with no small assistance from Robert Burns (1759–1796). Most of the poems are anonymous, but Burns contributed more than 150 poems and curated or edited many others.
Celtic Crossings
February 12 & 13, 2022
The Banks of the Devon 🙞 Poem by Robert Burns (1759–1796); Tune: T’hannerach dhon na chri;
The Scots Musical Museum II: 157, 1788; arr. D. Johnson 1999, 2021
Jenifer Thyssen, soloist
According to the poet, “These verses, were composed on a charming girl, a Miss Charlotte Hamilton, who is now married to James M’Kitrick Adair, Esq., physician. She is sister to my worthy friend Gavin Hamilton, of Mauchline, and was born on the banks of Ayr…she was at the time I wrote the lines, residing at Herveyston, in Clackmannanshire, on the romantic banks of the little river Devon. I first heard the air from a lady in Inverness and got the notes taken down for this work.” [The Book of Scottish Song, ed. Alexander Whitelaw, p. 209.]
How pleasant the banks of the clear-winding Devon,
With green-spreading bushes, and flowers blooming fair!
But the bonniest flower on the banks of the Devon
Was once a sweet bud on the braes of the Ayr.
Mild be the sun on this sweet blushing flower,
In the gay rosy morn, as it bathes in the dew;
And gentle the fall of the soft vernal shower,
That steals on the evening each leaf to renew!
O spare the dear blossom, ye orient breezes,
With chill hoary wing as ye usher the dawn!
And far be thou distant, thou reptile, that seizes
The verdure and pride of the garden and lawn!
Let Bourbon exult in her gay gilded lilies,
And England triumphant display her proud rose;
A fairer than either adorns the green valleys
Where Devon, sweet Devon, meandering flows.
Mary Scott, Queen of Yarrow 🙞 Caledonian Pocket Companion, James Oswald, 1745; arr. T. Honey
Therese Honey, harp
Mary Scott, Queen of Yarrow appears in several 18th-century sources; the vocal version in The Scots Musical Museum is quite similar to the version Therese Honey will play from James Oswald’s Caledonian Pocket Companion.
Wae is my heart 🙞 Poem attrib. to Robert Burns; Scots Musical Museum V: 476, 1796;
arr. D. Johnson, 1996, 2022
Cayla Cardiff, soloist
The tune to this piece is thought to be a combination of the two older melodies, Will ye go to Flanders and Gala Water. The lyrics to this piece are now attributed to Burns, but there is still a question mark over his involvement. The extent of Burns’s involvement in fragmentary songs which he recovered is often unknown. The poetry of this song, however, is universally acknowledged as beautiful.
Wae is my heart, and the tear’s in my e’e;
Lang, lang joy’s been a stranger to me:
Forsaken and friendless my burden I bear,
And the sweet voice o’ pity ne’er sounds in my ear.
Love, thou hast pleasures, and deep hae I loved;
Love thou hast sorrows, and sair hae I proved:
But this bruised heart that now bleeds in my breast,
I can feel by its throbbings will soon be at rest.
I wish you would marry me now 🙞 A Collection of Scots Reels or Country Dances, Robert Bremner, 1757;
arr. D Johnson, 2019, 2022
Instrumental
This lively reel (also known as George Carnegie’s Strathspey, Inverara Rant, Marry Me Now, The Proposal) was first printed in Robert Bremner’s 1757 anthology. Its popularity is confirmed by other early printings, including the (James) Gillespie Manuscript of Perth (1768).
Frennett Hall 🙞 Anonymous poem and music; The Scots Musical Museum III: 286, 1790;
arr. D. Johnson, 2019, 2022
Ryland Angel, Cayla Cardiff, & Joel Nesvadba, soloists
We have now arrived at the Game of Thrones portion of the Taco! Although this song is based on an historical event in 1630, it is undoubtedly romanticized a bit. Lady Frendraught (Elizabeth, a daughter of the 12th Earl of Sutherland) entices two young travelers to ease their journey by staying the night at Castle Frendraught (aka Frennet) of the Crichton family despite a feud between their two families. The travelers, Lord John of Huntly and Gordon of Rothiemay, consent based on Lady Frennet’s promises. Their room is set afire by night, with no survivors. It was never established that this was more than a ghastly accident, but the Gordons and Huntlys were passionately resentful. They took the quarrel to the Privy Council. According to Rosalind Mitchison’s A History of Scotland (1982), the Council “investigated repeatedly, tortured a servant or two for information, executed a hanger-on of no great social status, but failed to gain evidence against Crichton of Frendraught. Dissatisfied, a member of the Huntley clan let in broken men from the Highlands to ravage Crichton land, and for years the northeast was troubled by burnings, looting, and kidnappings.” In terms of feud, this wasn’t notably worse than much of what passed in Scotland; disappointingly enough, there were no dragons involved. The unknown melody, with elements of modal folk music, seems to be from a much earlier time than its 1790 publication.
When Frennet castle’s ivied wa’s thro’ yallow leaves were seen;
When birds forsook the sapless boughs, and bees the faded green;
Then Lady Frennet, vengeful Dame, did wander frae the ha’,
To the wild forest’s dewie gloom, among the leaves that fa’.
Her page, the swiftest of her train, had clumb a lofty tree,
Whase branches to the angry blast were soughing mournfullie: (soughing: sighing)
He turn’d his een towards the path that near the castle lay,
Where good Lord John and Rothemay were riding down the brae.
Swift darts the Eagle from the sky, when prey beneath is seen;
As quickly he forgot his hold and perch’d upon the green:
“O hie thee, hie thee! Lady gay, frae this dark wood awa’:
Some visitors of gallant mien are hasting to the ha’.”
Then round she row’d her silken plaid, her feet she did not spare,
Until she left the forest skirts alang bowshot and mair.
“O where, o where, my good Lord John, O tell me where you ride?
Within my castle wall this night I hope you mean to bide.
Kind nobles, will ye but alight, in yonder bow’r to stay?
Saft ease shall teach you to forget the harness of the way.”
“Forbear entreaty, gentle dame, how can we here remain?
Full well you ken your Husband dear was by our Father slain. (ken: know)
The thoughts of which with fell revenge your angry bosom swell:
Enrag’d, you’ve sworn that blood for blood should this black passion quell.”
“O fear not, fear not, good Lord John, that I will you betray,
Or sue requittal for a debt which Nature cannot pay.”
Bear witness, a’ ye pow’rs on high, ye lights that ’gin to shine,
This night shall prove the sacred cord that knits your faith and mine.
The Lady slee, with honey’d words, entic’d thir youths to stay: (slee: sly; thir: those)
But morning sun nere shone upon Lord John nor Rothemay.
Ok! I hope your appetite has been whetted (?) for more! We’re so excited to share more Celtic music (and more Robert Burns poetry) with you at our Celtic Memories concert on February 22-23! Tickets are available now! Check out our Director’s Blog for more details.
We will be back in approximately exactly two weeks with a brand-spankin’ new Taco for you! As always, stay safe, stay sane! We’re trying to help.
Danny
