Traiveller's Joy

On Autumn Harvest AH 004
Old Songs & Bothy Ballads - Some Rants o Fun

Susan McClure sings:

A song of the traveller life composed by Glasgow poet and songwriter Helen Fullerton. Emily Smith included the song as the title track on her 2011 album with the following note: Helen Fullerton was a Scottish poet who worked in the cookhouse of the Glen Shira Hydro-Electric Dam project, Argyllshire, during the 1950s. She wrote Traiveller’s Joy, a tale of unrequited love based on her observations between Alex, a navvy on the project, and a traveller girl who worked in the cookhouse alongside Helen. The traveller girl, shy and keen to deny her traveller background had eyes for another, higher in rank than Alex, whereas Alexfar preferred his wild flower - the “Traiveller’s Joy’, to the girls, or ‘roses’ from the nearby town of Inveraray.
Traveller's joy (Clematis vitalba), also known as old man's beard, is a woody member of the buttercup family is often seen scrambling over hedgerows.

1: I ken a lass she has nae name,
Nor hame that she wad own to;
She traivels lighter than the swan,
That builds it's nest on Lochan Dhu.

Chorus:
It's will ye bundle and will ye go,
Or are ye want tae leave me?
It's will ye bundle and will ye go,
Or up the Shian wi me?

2: Let Inverara folk look doon,
She’s sunshine tae the Shira;
And gangs mair braw in her apron,
Than they in aa their gear.

3: Her hands sae rough wi weary work,
The mair her face entrances
As whiter blooms the April thorn,
Upon its blackened branches.

Chorus:

4: The flooer that twines in yon broon hedge,
Grows sweet for the wayfarer;
But I wouldna gie my traiveller’s joy,
For the Rose o Inverara.

5: Wi dooncast eyes she’ll pass us by,
Withoot a word for ony;
Just like the little mountain rose,
As bleek and dour and bonny.

Chorus:

6: I ken a lass she had nae hairt,
And she’s awa tae leave us;
She’s gane aa through the mountain range,
Nae mair she says she’ll see us.

Chorus:
It's will ye bundle and will ye go,
Or are ye want tae leave me?
It's will ye bundle and will ye go,
Or up the Shian wi me?

c p 2007 Autumn Harvest AH004
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