Talk:Bluebells of Scotland

Latest comment: 16 years ago by Bazzargh

The article at the moment is quite thin on the original song, just covering the 'Air & Variations' version. Its still sung commonly enough at Burns Suppers so it might be worth expanding the article to include the lyrics. The lyrics vary a lot but are mostly based on a version written by Anne MacVicar Grant sometime between 1799 and 1803 - here's a link to her book: http://books.google.com/books?id=kw01AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA407&dq=%22highland+laddie+gone%22&as_brr=1&ei=sB0AR_-GAoSc7gLktMHlDQ#PPA407,M1

The George Thomson book she refers to is one of the 5 volumes of "Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs", more famously associated with Robert Burns. The arrangement by Haydn in that volume is H 31a/176, and their version of the song was brought to the stage and made popular by Dorothea Jordan. However, all this is a bit too much like OR for me to add it in. The Thomson/Haydn connections should be easy enough to find references for in a Burns bio, the Grant reference above should be enough for her, and I guess the Jordan connection should be easy to get a reference for too - she's well enough known. A Burns expert would be a help, I'll add a note over there. Bazzargh 23:02, 30 September 2007 (UTC)Reply