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I Looed a Lass

Track Information

Original Track ID

SA1971.191.5

Original Tape ID

SA1971.191

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

Song

Collection

SoSS

Classification

R154 GD1198

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good