Twa Recruiting Sergeants
On Autumn Harvest AH 002
Old Songs & Bothy Ballads - Here's a Health to the Company
Geordie Murison sings:
It was the singing of Jeannie Robertson in the folk clubs of the 1960s that brought this song to the wider public. Even before the 1745 Jacobite Uprising, the government were using the fighting qualities of the Highlanders in British regiments. Even so, they had to sometimes work hard to persuade the youg lads to sign up and take the king's shilling. The recruiting officer offered adventure and a tempting escape from poverty, the hardships of work on the land or from family responsibility. Versions of the song date back to at least the early 1700s (GD 1:77).
1: Twa recruiting sergeants cam frae the Black Watch
At mairkets and fairs some recruits for tae catch.
Aa that they gotten was forty and twa:
Sae list ma bonnie laddie an come awa.
Chorus:
Over the mountains and over the main,
Through Gibraltar tae France and Spain;
A feather tae your bonnet and a kilt abeen your knee,
List ma bonnie laddie and come awa wi me.
2: Laddie noo ye dinna ken the danger that ye're in,
Gin yer horse they were tae fleg and yer owsen was to rin;
That greedy old fairmer, he wouldna pay yer fee,
Sae list ma bonnie laddie and come awa wi me.
3: Oot o the barn and in tae the byre,
This old fairmer thinks ye'll never tire;
A slavery job o low degree,
Sae list my bonnie laddie and come awa with me.
4: With your tattie poorins and yer meal and kale,
Yer soor sowan soorins, yer ill-brewed ale;
Yer buttermilk and whey, yer breid fired raw,
Sae list ma bonnie laddie and come awa.
5: Laddie if ye've gottn a sweetheart an bairn,
Ye'll easily get rid o that ill-spun yarn;
Twa rattles o the drum, aye and that'll pay it aa,
Sae list my bonnie laddie and come awa.
Chorus:
Over the mountains and over the main,
Through Gibraltar tae France and Spain;
A feather tae your bonnet and a kilt abeen your knee,
List ma bonnie laddie and come awa wi me. |
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c p 2005 Autumn Harvest AH002
www.springthyme.co.uk
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