I Looed a Lass
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1971.191.5
Original Tape ID
Summary
This song is about a man whose former lover, in spite of him apparently loving her well, is now to be wed to another, as the 'reward' for his love. He watches her go to the wedding, and, in attendance himself, he pours the wine and raises a toast to the couple, all the time with a heart full of woe. Broken-hearted, he says he will lie down for a long sleep [death], being the only way he can forget her.
Item Notes
6 verses. Performed live in concert at the 'Scott Conference Ceilidh', held as part of the bicentennial celebrations of Sir Walter Scott's birth, and compèred by Hamish Henderson. .
Also called "I Aince Lo'ed a Lass" or "She's Only My Auld Shoes".
There is a version called "It Was Not My Fortune to Get Her" in the National Library of Scotland broadsides collection, published at the Overgate in Dundee, c.1880-1900.
The version sung here by Cathie Higgins, however, does not contain any reference to the 'auld shoes' motif. It does have the characteristic 'strawberries and ships' verse found in the shorter, well-known versions of the song.
See:
Greig-Duncan vol 6, pp. 310-327, song 1198
Ord, (rep. 1995), p. 175 'It Wasna My Fortune to Get Her'
Recording Location
County - Midlothian
Parish - Edinburgh
Village/Place - Edinburgh
Language
Scots
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Good