The Bonnie Lass o Fyvie

On Autumn Harvest AH 002
Old Songs & Bothy Ballads - Here's a Health to the Company

Gordon Easton sings:

This song telling of the dragoon captain who died for the love of the bonnie lass o Fyvie has been and still is widely popular. There are over 20 versions in the Greig-Duncan Collection (GD 1:84) with considerable variation in text and tune. It is clear from the song and local tradition that Fyvie was a staging post on the military route from Aberdeen to Fort George on the Moray Firth.

1: Oh there were a troop o Irish dragoons,
And they were stationed in Fyvie O;
And the captain's faan in love wi an awfa bonnie lass,
And her name is caad Pretty Peggy O.

Chorus:
Now there's mony a bonnie lass in the Howe o Auchterless,
There's mony a bonnie lassie in the Gearie O;
Aye there's mony a bonnie Jean in the toon o Aiberdeen,
But the flooer o them aa lives in Fyvie O.

2: "Now come doon the stair Pretty Peggy my dear,
Oh come doon the stair Pretty Peggy O;
Aye, come doon the stair, bind up yer yeller hair,
Tak a last fareweel o yer daddy O."

3: "Now I never did intend a captain's lady tae be,
I never will marry a soldier O;
And I never did intend tae gang tae a foreign land,
So I never will marry a soldier O."

4: Now it was the early morning that they marched awa,
And oh but our captain was sorry O;
The drums they did beat o'er the bonnie Braes o Gicht,
And the band played the Lowlands o Fyvie O.

5: But as we won the length o auld Meldrum toun,
Wir captain we had tae cairry O;
And as we won the length o bonnie Aiberdeen,
Wir captain we had tae bury O.

6: Now green grows the birks on bonnie Ythanside,
And low lies the lowlands o Fyvie O;
Our captain's name was Ned and he died for a maid,
He died for the bonnie lass o Fyvie O.

Chorus:
Now there's mony a bonnie lass in the Howe o Auchterless,
And there's mony a bonnie lass in the Gearie O;
There's mony a bonnie Jean in the toon o Aiberdeen,
But the flooer o them aa lives in Fyvie O.

The Garioch (pronounced Gearie) is an area of Aberdeenshire around Inverurie.

c p 2005 Autumn Harvest AH002
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