Busk, Busk, Bonnie Lassie

Original Track ID

SA1954.96.A3

Original Tape ID

SA1954.096

Summary

In this song, the singer invites a young woman to leave with him: "Busk, busk, [get ready] bonnie lassie and come awa wi me / And I'll tak ye tae Glenisla near bonnie Glenshee." He points out to her the shepherds with their plaids and the soldiers marching with their broadswords. Of the mountains, he tells her, "It parted mony's a true love / Aye, and will part us twa." She resists saying. "Fain I'd gang wi ye / But I daurna gang wi ye /.../ Oh no, love, no!"; she eventually consents.

Maggie Stewart was often asked to sing this song, and is here singing the complete version: "Nane o them sings it like me" [no-one else has such a version].

Item Notes

3 verses of 4 lines with chorus of 4 lines ("Busk, Busk ...") and an occasional chorus of 4 lines ("Sayin it's fain, fain ..."). The melody belongs to a tune family including 'The Bloody Fields of Flanders', which Hamish Henderson used for his 'Freedom Come-All-Ye'.

While this performance generally follows the narrative found in most versions of this invitation song, there are also residual elements of the progenitor song 'Oh, No, No' (which features a soldier explaining to his sweetheart why she cannot follow him when he goes away - hence his drawing her attention to the soldiers, telling her that they must be parted, etc.). Here, the 'Oh No' refrain has shifted from the soldier to his sweetheart, with her refusing to go with him (at first).

See:
Greig-Duncan vol. 5, pp. 494-498
'Bothy Songs & Ballads' (J. Ord, 1930) pp. 136-137
'The Scottish Folksinger' (N. Buchan & P. Hall, 1973) p. 111
'Till Doomsday in the Afternoon' (E. MacColl & P. Seeger, 1986) pp. 207-208
'Folk-Song of the North-East' (G. Greig, K. Goldstein & A. Argo, 1963 reprint) art. CVII & CXLI
'Jeannie Robertson: Emergent Singer, Transformative Voice' (J. Porter & H. Gower, 1995) pp. 173-174

Recording Location

Item Location

Language

Scots

Genre

Song Information

Collection

SoSS

Classification

R832 GD1053

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Fair