My Auld Sheen

Chris Miles: On Autumn Harvest ah08: Old Songs & Bothy Ballads: There's Bound to be a Row. Recorded at the Fife Traditional Singing Festival May 2009.

This is a version of I Aince Loed a Lass or The False Bride (GD 6:1198; Roud 154). In many versions the jilted lover asks for his grave to be dug as he prepares to die of a broken heart. However, in this version, as in others from the northeast traveller community, the jilted lover compares his false love to a pair of worn shoes and declares in the last lines - 'a-roving I'll go, never fear, but I'll soon find another'.

1: When I saw my bonnie love tae the kirk go,
Wi bridegroom and maidens they made a fine show;
And I follaed her on wi a hert fu o woe,
She's gaen tae be wad tae another.

2: When I saw my bonnie love at the kirk style,
I trod on her goun-tails but didnae them fyle;
And she turned hersel roond and she gaed a sweet smile,
But she's gaen tae be wad tae another.

3: The clerk o the parish he gaed a loud cry,
"If ye've ony objections, pray bring them by."
And I thocht tae masel guid objections hae I,
But I hadnae the will tae affront her.

4: When I saw my bonnie love sit doun tae dine,
I sat doun beside her and poured oot the wine;
And I drank tae the lassie wha should hae been mine,
But noo she is wad tae another.

5: Up spak the bridegoom, "Begone for a coward,
Ye've ridden ower lang on the point o your word;
Ye hae ridden ower lang o'er an unknown ford,
Sae be gane for ye ne'er shall enjoy her.

6: Ye but wear my auld sheen, ye but wear ma auld sheen,
Ye may dance in them till ye dance them dane;
Aye and when they are dane ye maun sew them again,
For they're but ma auld sheen noo ye've got them.

7: And noo she is gaen, even so let her go,
For I'll never gie ower tae sorrow and woe;
And I'll cheer up ma hert and a-rovin I'll go,
Never fear but I'll soon find another.

c p 2010 Autumn Harvest : www.springthyme.co.uk