Busk, Busk, Bonnie Lassie
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1960.116.B5
Original Tape ID
Summary
In this song, the singer invites a young woman to busk [get dressed] and leave with him for Glenisla. He points out to her the shepherds with their plaids and the soldiers marching with their broadswords. Of the mountains, he tells her that they have pairted many a true love and will soon part them.
Learned from old folk named MacDonald on Deeside.
Item Notes
3 verses and choruses of 4 lines. The melody belongs to a tune family including 'The Bloody Fields of Flanders', which Hamish Henderson used for his 'Freedom Come-All-Ye'.
The progenitor song 'Oh, No, No' 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. This contrasts with the 'invitation' refrain in 'Busk, Busk, Bonnie Lassie', which is more than a little at odds with the sentiment of the verses.
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
Item Location
County - Angus
Parish - Glenisla
Village/Place - Glenisla
Recording Location
County - Perthshire
Parish - Rattray
Village/Place - Berrybank
Language
Scots
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Fair