Down the Moor
On Autumn Harvest AH 002
Old Songs & Bothy Ballads - Here's a Health to the Company
Roisin White sings:
The song is well known in this form in Ireland and is in the Sam Henry collection of songs from Ulster, Songs of the People. However, the song is clearly of Scottish origin and Robert Burns collected a closely related version that he took down from the singing of a girl Jean Glover of Kilmarnock as she was strolling through the countryside - and which he considered was her own composition. Other forms of the song are to be found in Scottish tradition today as Bonnie Lass among the Heather and Skipping Barfit through the Heather.
1: One morn in May when fields were gay,
Serene and pleasant was the weather,
I spied a lass and a bonnie bonnie lass,
She was scoopin the dew frae among the heather,
Down the moor.
In among the heather,
O'er the moor and through the heather,
I spied a lass and a bonnie bonnie lass,
She was scoopin the dew frae among the heather,
Down the moor.
2: Barefooted was she, she was comelye dressed,
And on her head neither cap nor feather;
But the plaid hung neatly around her waist
As she tripped through the bloomin heather
Down the moor.
In among the heather,
O'er the moor and through the heather,
But the plaid hung neatly around her waist,
As she tripped through the bloomin heather,
Down the moor.
3: Well I steppèd up to this fair maid,
"What is your name, come tell me hither?"
And she answered me down by the bonny burnside,
"And I'm herding all my yowes together,
Down the moor."
In among the heather,
O'er the moor and through the heather,
And she answered me down by the bonny burnside,
"And I'm herding all my yowes together,
Down the moor."
[Text to check::::
4: Well I courted her that lee-long day,
My heart was light as any feather;
Until the beams of the red setting sun
Came shining down in among the heather,
Down the moor.
In among the heather,
O'er the moor and through the heather,
Until the beams of the red setting sun
Came shining down in among the heather,
Down the moor.
5: She said young man, I must away,
For my ewes are straying from each other;
But I'm loath for to part from you
As the bonnie wee lamb is to part their mother,
Down the moor.
In among the heather,
O'er the moor and through the heather,
But I'm loath for to part from you
As the bonnie wee lamb is to part their mother,
Down the moor. |
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c p 2005 Autumn Harvest AH002
www.springthyme.co.uk
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