‘Annie Laurie’

Just like today, we can often trace when songs were released and became popular in Sydney in the 19th century. The tune to this ‘old’ ballad ‘Annie Laurie’ may not have been quite as old as the Rouse family thought.

Some of the songs discovered at Rouse Hill Estate have completely vanished from our cultural memory while others, like ‘Annie Laurie’, have powered into the digital age with numerous performances ranging from a folky style to arrangements for voice, violin and guitar and even a version by the former Soviet Red Army Choir! Many songs that we think of now as early traditional folk songs were often written in the 19th century and made popular as parlour songs.

This Scottish love song originated as a poem in the early 18th century and is said have been written by William Douglas (1682?–1748). The melody was penned in the mid-1830s by Alicia Scott (1810–1900) who, while passionate about preserving Scottish language and traditions, created a tune that became popular in many middle-class drawing rooms across the English-speaking world. The song of ‘Annie Laurie’ is first mentioned in the Australian press in the late 1840s and this copy, owned by the Rouse family, was published in Sydney in around 1855.

Watch the performance

Listen to Dan Walker introduce and perform ‘Annie Laurie’ and then have a go yourself! Dan has shared a sound file of his guitar accompaniment and prepared some guitar chords to help you sing or play along. We have also added many other versions to inspire you further.

This video was recorded at home in 2020 during a COVID-19 lockdown.