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My Dearest on Earth, Give me your Kiss

Title

Alternative Title

Thoir dhomh do phog, a luaidh mo chridhe The Lovely Lady's Request Dear Lady, Give me a Kiss

Artist

John MacDougall, Jack Lee

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Information

This tune was entered into competitions in the early 1800’s under different titles including “The Lovely Lady’s Request” and “Dear Lady, Give me a Kiss”. The accepted title, and the basic tune we play now, were provided by Colin Cameron. It has been printed in Ceol Mor and in David Glen's Collection. In all known settings there appears to be a deficiency in line 2 of the Urlar. This is detailed in the PS book 11 note.

Judges Note 2011

PS 11 provides concise notes on this tune. The main differences between the PS version and the ones contained in both Ceol Mor and Glen’s Mss are in the first phrase of the ground, and in bars four and five of line two, as described in the notes.

The tune seems similar in style to the tunes of John MacKay, Raasay. It is long, at some 14 minutes in duration. The siubhal and variations are not dissimilar in style and content to the Lament for MacLeod of Colbeck and the ground also has similarities to this tune. In recordings of Pipe Major Donald MacLeod and of Captain John MacLellan, both play the first note of the couplets in the siubhal singling and doubling quite evenly, so that the first note loses the dot in value. It is perhaps likely that present day competitors will play these with more emphasis on the first note.

There will be the usual differences in stylistic approach to cadences, etc. Donald MacLeod plays the cadence E and then the first note of the cadence long - about the same length - followed by a slightly shorter second note. John MacLellan plays the cadence E shorter and the following two notes quite evenly. He also reverses the 'dot and cut' in the first couplet in bar 4 of line 1 of the ground. Bob Brown played the initial E cadence significantly longer than might often be heard nowadays, then rolled down through the C. In the suibhal he showed phrase endings clearly by not staying too long on the low A/low G of the three note group at each phrase end. James Campbell gives the first E of the tune more length than the other E cadences, and none is short. He allows the short notes in the suibhal to be well sounded, and his timing of the 3 note group is similar to that of Brown. Brown's long initial E cadence was also a feature of his playing of other tunes with the same beginning - Colbeck, Melbank, MacRae's March, etc.

In PS 11, In bar 1 of line 2 of the ground, there should be a D grace note on the second B. There is also an obvious error in the instruction for playing the doubling of variation 1 - the low A-C at phrase endings is written short-long, whereas it should be long-short.

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Available in:

PS Book 11

David Glen's Book My dearest on Earth, Give me your Kiss