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THRO THE WOOD LADDIE
Oh Sawney, why Leav'st thou thy Nelly to mourn?
Thy presence could ease me,
When nothing can please me:
Now Doure I sigh on the banks of the Burn,
Or Thro the wood Laddie, until thou return.
The woods now are bonny, & mornings are clear
While lavrocks are singing,
And primroses springing,
yet none of them pleases mine eye or mine ear,
When thro the wood Laddie, ye Dinna appear.
That I am forsaken some spare not to Tell,
I'm fashd with their scorning,
Both evening & morning,
Their jeering goes oft to my heart as a Knell,
When Thro the wood Laddie, I wander my Sell.
Then stay my dear Sawney, no longer away,
But quick as an arrow,
Haste here to thy marrow,
Wha's Living in Languor till that happy Day
When thro the wood Laddie we'll dance, sing & play.
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THRO THE WOOD LADDIE
Appears in:
Orpheus Caledonius,2nd Edition. Vol 1, 1733;
Fifty Favourite Scotch Airs . . . with a Thorough Bass for the Harpsichord, 1762;
Elizabeth Van Rensselaer Her Music Book, 1733.
MALBROOK
Appears in:
Evening Amusement, 1796.
"Malbrouk" or "Malbrouk s'en va-t'en guerre", known to us today as "The Bear Went
Over the Mountain", or "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow". This tune has been popular in France for some 250 years, and the French words and
translation can be found in Peter Kennedy's book Folksongs of Britain and Ireland. It was named after John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough
(1650-1722), whose military exploits under James II, William III and Queen Anne were well known. (And he was an ancestor of Sir Winston
Churchill.) Apparently, it was a satirical song written in 1722 when France's foe Marlborough died, beginning "Malbrouk s'en va-t-en d'guerre,
J'ne sais quand i' r'vindra" (Marlborough he's gone to the war, I don't know when he'll be back.)
Beethoven used this tune in his 1813 symphony Wellington's Victory. He used "Rule Britannia" to represent the British army, and "Malbrouk" to
represent the French. Originally, Beethoven was commissioned by the mechanical genius Maelzel, inventor of the metronome, who wanted
Beethoven to write it for his mechanical machine "orchestra" called the Panharmonicon. Beethoven then went on to arrange the music for
conventional orchestra instruments.
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