Gie Me A Lass Wi‘ A Lump O’ Land jig

This was in the requests list, but it reminded me of how much I like the tune. I first heard it from the Scottish folk group Ossian on their wonderful St Kilda Wedding album (1978), but it’s an old song and an old tune which can be found in Aird’s collections (1782-1801). The following lyrics are from www.scotstext.org:

GIE me a lass wi a lump o land,
An we for life shall gang the gither,
Tho daft or wice, I’ll never demand,
Or black, or fair, it maksna whether.
I’m aff wi wit, an beauty will fade,
An bluid alane is no worth a shillin,
But she that’s rich, her mercat’s made,
For ilka chairm aboot her is killin.

Gie me a lass wi a lump o land,
An in my bosom I’ll hug my traesur;
Gin I haed ance her gear in my hand,
Should love turn dowf, it will finnd plaesur.
Lauch on wha likes, but there’s my hand,
I hate wi puirtith, tho bonny, to meddle,
Unless they bring cash, or a lump o land,
They’ll ne’er get me to dance to their fiddle.

There’s meikle guid love in bands an bags,
An siller an gowd’s a sweet complexion;
For beauty, an wit, an virtue in rags,
Haes tint the art o gainin affection:
Love tips his airaes wi wids an parks,
An castles, an riggs, an muirs, an meidaes,
An naething can catch oor modern sparks
But well-tochered lasses, or jointur’d-weedaes.

I can’t actually remember where my version comes from, but it’s more than likely to have been a transcription from the record mentioned above. I can’t check that out at the moment…

Great entry and words Similar air to Bill Hartes jig. Already here.

Thank you.. What a delight..
Looking forwards to getting my lips round them..

Love this relatively simple single jig and the song that it accompanies. Learned this off the Ossian album mentioned above. This setting is basically the same as the setting posted by Nigel but in the key its played on the album (Dmix) and with a few minor changes, mostly to accent the snappy rhythm in parts.