THE BONNIE BANKS O'LOCH LOMOND
I'm sure that most of you are familiar with the following song. Yes, it's another one of those songs which is not exactly making the club circuit in the UK (or anywhere else for that matter) but is nevertheless extremely beautiful. All I know about it is that it is a VERY old and VERY famous song from Scotland. Does anyone know exactly when it was written? Does anyone have any further background information concerning this song? Damian, I expect to hear from you on this one.
By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes,
Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomon'.
where me and my true love were ever wont to gae
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomon'.
Chorus:
O ye'll tak' the high road and I'll take the low road,
An' I'll be in Scotland afore ye;
But me and my true love will never meet again
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomon'.
Aren't there supposed to be more lyrics, by the way?
Incidentally, I DO realise that "me and my true love" really should be "my true love and I" to make it grammatically correct but in songs grammar sometimes has to take a "back seat" to rhyme and lyricism.
‘Twas there that we parted in yon shady glen,
On the steep, steep side o’ Ben Lomond.
Where in purple hue, the hieland hills we view,
And the moon comin’ out in the gloamin’.
The wee birdies sing and the wild flowers spring,
And in sunshine the waters are sleeping:
But the broken heart, it kens nae second spring again,
Tho’ the waefu’ may cease from their greeting.
The words come from a poem written by Andrew Lang. Apparently the poem was published around 1875.
Gie me yon high road any time o'day.......yon low road is the ill place come peak hours. I'd lay me doon to dee on yon bonnie banks but nae likly in this cald wather.
"Incidentally, I DO realise that 'me and my true love' really should be 'my true love and I' to make it grammatically correct but in songs grammar sometimes has to take a 'back seat' to rhyme and lyricism."
Well, it MIGHT be "me and my true love" for the purpose of poetic licence but I doubt it.
"Me and my true love" is not incorrect. It's a construction used in many English dialects for hundreds of years.
It just so happens that "my true love and I" has gained ascendancy as "correct" in so-called "standard English" while "me and my true love" has become a bit of a Rodney Dangerfield of a construction.*
* Much like "ain't" which just "gets no respect" though "won't" is considered fine.
Roman Emperor Hadrian knew the truth when he built the wall....
From an English newspaper -
The Times September 28, 2005
The Times
Hadrian knew the truth
by Ross Clark
“HAVE A WEE DRAM afore ye go,” runs the traditional old Scottish greeting — or, in the English translation: “I’m going to stuff this broken beer glass in your face.” According to the World Health Organisation, Scotland has the second-highest murder rate in Western Europe, with 2.33 victims last year per every 100,000 people. Another United Nations study goes even further, revealing that Scotland is now the most violent country in the developed world, with Scots three times more likely than Americans to suffer a violent assault.
We can be thankful to Scottish devolution for exposing the murderous habits of the Scots. In the past, homicides north of the border would simply have been lumped together with those in the South to produce a single British murder statistic, thereby allowing the violent Scots to defile us peace-loving English and Welsh. At a mere 0.7 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, England and Wales narrowly have the SECOND-LOWEST murder rate in Western Europe after Germany. In fact, if you stripped out attacks committed by drunken McSporrans and McTavishes just arrived on the train at Euston, I wouldn’t be surprised if England came out as the most murder-free country in the world.
Yet in spite of evidence, we still tend to view England as the place with the crime problem. I was speaking to an estate agent in Edinburgh the other week who told me of the droves of English families who were looking to move to Scotland “to escape crime-infested London”. How can they be so stupid? It is hardly as if there is anything new about the Scots propensity for murder: when they sit down to read the particulars of some 19th-century fairytale castle in Renfrewshire, maybe these English house-hunters should stop to wonder: why were the Scots still fortifying their homes so late? It was because they all feared going the same way as the MacDonalds, 30 of whom were bumped off by their house guests, the Campbells, at Glencoe in 1692.
When even a former Scottish Labour Minister, Lord Watson of Invergowrie, ends up being jailed for setting light to the hotel where he had been drinking, there seems little hope in reforming the Scots. This week Charles Clarke will be blathering on about tackling violent crime by using more electronic tagging and other illiberal measures. There is an alternative: just rebuild Hadrian’s Wall.
thetimesonline.co.uk
What does "Tho’ the waefu’ may cease from their greeting" in English? Thanks.
RGrayDodge (a bit 'o Irish and Welsh in my background I'm told)
I play the clarinet and our band had to play this song once. According to what is written above the music it was written by an anonymous soldier who was imprisoned and waiting execution. I guess he was reminicsing. Maybe I have the wrong one? Either way, the one I know is a beautiful song but there are no words so I'm not sure if it is the right one.