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marching air (traditional)
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Scots poet Allan Ramsay (1686-1758) composed a song to this melody. It became part of his pastoral drama The Gentle Shepherd, published in the 1720s. It was also published in Orpheus Caledonius (1733). James Oswald printed an instrumental setting of the tune in The Caledonian Pocket Companion book 3 (1743-48). Ramsay's verses begin: "My Peggy is a young thing . yet well I like to meet her at the wawking of the fauld." "Wawking" (sometimes "Wauking," "Waaking," Waulking," or "Wakin") means "watching" and "fauld" refers to a sheep fold. Watching over the fold when the lambs were weaned or the sheep milked provided an opportunity for young men and women to spend time together. |
