Will Ye Gang Love? / Rashy Moor/Muir
The obvious difference between the Died for Love songs and Waly, Waly, songs is the chorus:
Will ye gang, love, and leave me noo
Will ye gang, love, and leave me noo
Will ye forsake your own true love
And gang wi' a lass that ye never knew?
The "Will you go and leave me now?" chorus is the main identifier. Floating lyrics are borrowed from the related families of songs.
R. Matteson 2017]
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For Love
Title - For Love
Contributors - Willie Mathieson
Reporters - Hamish Henderson
Summary - The singer saw her lover standing at the stable door combing his hair. His lovely hair enticed her. She will not give his name. She has picked the roses and violets but didn't realise how painful love could be. She has seen him go off to another. When she was young and slender he followed her but now she is pregnant he has left her for a richer girl, who she says will get the same treatment that she has received. She will go to Aberdeen and snub him but she will not tell his name. When she dies she wishes her grave dug wide and deep, with a turtle dove at her head and feet. The song's refrain laments that he is leaving her for someone he has never known.
Willie Mathieson learned this song from Annie Massie, maid at East Toddlehills, when he was about fifteen.
Track Duration (h:m:s) - 00:04:17
Date Recorded - 1952.04
Language - Scots
Genre - Song, Information
Collection - School of Scottish Studies
Track ID - 15020
Original Tape ID - SA1952.002
Original Track ID - SA1952.02.B2
Audio Quality - Good
Audio Format - R2R
Classification - GD1215; R6261;
Item Notes - Text and music transcribed in School of Scottish Studies. 9 verses with refrain. The theme of the song is related to 'Died for Love' or 'There is a tavern in the town'. With the first line, cf. 'Lord Lovel' (Child 75).
See:
Greig-Duncan vol. 6, pp. 377-379
Willie Mathieson's MSS I:41
Permanent Link - http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/fullrecord/15020/1
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Wad ye Gang, Love, and Leave me Noo
Will Ye Gang Love
I Wish I Wish
What a Voice
Will Ye Gang, Love
spacer
Title - Wad ye Gang, Love, and Leave me Noo
Contributors - Isla St Clair
Reporters - Hamish Henderson
Summary - The girl sees her lover combing his hair and wonders if he ever thinks of her. He deserted her when she became pregnant and she wishes she were still a maid. She wishes to leave her baby with her mother and die of love.
Track Duration (h:m:s) - 00:02:56
Date Recorded - 1973
Language - Scots
Genre - Song
Collection - School of Scottish Studies
Track ID - 27321
Original Tape ID - SA1973.016
Original Track ID - SA1973.16.A9
Audio Quality - Good
Audio Format - R2R
Classification - GD1086; R495; R60; R6776;
Recording Location:
County - Aberdeenshire
Parish - Aberdeen
Village - Aberdeen
Item Notes - 6 verses.
See:
Greig-Duncan vol. 6, pp. 377-379
Permanent Link - http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/fullrecord/27321/1
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Will Ye Gang, Love (2)
My love he stands in yon chaumer door
Combing doob his yellow hair
His curly locks I like to see
I wonder if my love minds on me.
cho: Will ye gang, love, and leave me noo
Will ye gang, love, and leave me noo
Will ye forsake your own true love
And gang wi' a lass that ye never knew?
I wish, I wish, I wish in vain
I wish I were a maid again,
But a maid again I'll never be
Till an apple grows on an orange tree.
I wish, I wish my babe was born
I wish it sat on's daddy's knee
And I myself were deid and gone
And the wavin' grass all o'er me growin'.
As lang as my apron did bide doon
He followed me frae toon tae toon
But noo it's up and above my knee
My lovce gaes by but kens nae me.
Make my grave baith lang and deep
Put a bunch of roses at my head and feet
And in the middle put a turtle dove
Let the people know I died of love.
note: Not only is the sentiment universal, so, apparently,
are the words. RG
Frm Soodlums 100 Great Scottish Songs
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Will Ye Gang Love-Traditional
[Bm]My love he [A]stands in yon [G]chaumer [A]door,
Combing [Bm]doon his [G]yellow [A]hair,
His [Fsharp.m]curly locks [Bm]I like to [G]see,
I wonder [Em]if my love [G]minds on [A]me.
Chorus :
Will ye[Bm] gang love, an' [G]leave me [A]noo?
Will ye [Bm]gang love, an' [G]leave me [A]noo?
Will ye forsake [Bmyour ain love [G]true,
An' gang wi' a [Em]lass that [G]ye never [A]knew?
I wish, I wish, I wish in vain
I wish I were a maid again.
But a maid again I'll never be
Till an apple grows on an orange tree.
I wish I wish my babe was born
I wish it sat on's daddy's knee,
An' I myself were deid an' gone
An' the wavin' grass all o'er me growin'.
As lang as my apron did bide doon
He followed me frae toon tae toon,
But noo it's up an' above ma knee
My love gaes by but he kens na me.
Mak' my grave baith lang and deep
Put a bunch of roses at my head and feet,
And in the middle put a turtle dove,
Let the pople know I died of love.
---
Fairies and Folk: Approaches to the Scottish Ballad Tradition - Page 272
https://books.google.com/books?isbn=388476957X
Emily B. Lyle - 2007 - Snippet view
GD 1215 Rashy Muir
"One evening as I stood in the door
An' looked down thro' yon rashy muir,
My heart grew sore, an' my eyes grew blind
To think my true love left me behind.
GD 1229 Fair Ellen "Child MSS" 23 Nos 736-737, from Thomas Davidson]
WILL YE GANG LOVE
Trad., arr. Black Brothers
As I came in by yon rushy wood
What spied I at my true love's door
My heart stood still, my eyes grew blind
For to see my bonnie lad leave me behind.
Chorus:
And will ye gang love and leave me now
Will ye gang love and leave me now
Will ye forsake your own true love
And gang wi' a lass that you never knew.
As I came in by yon lenten wend
I spied another my love attend
I bowed my head, I cried ochón
The best of my good days are gone.
And I will tell you the reason why
Because she's got more gold than I
And I will tell you the reason true
The sweeter taste of a love that's new.
I leaned my back against an oak
Thinking it was a trusty tree
But first it bent and then it broke
And so has my love done unto me.
And if you love me we'll never part
And instead of gold you can have my heart
You can have my heart with a right good will
You're a bonnie laddie, I love you still.
"The Black Family," Dara Records, CD 023, track 6, 1986. They learned this one from, as they put it, "the Fisher family of Glasgow".
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A fine singer from Kirkcaldy (Irene Riggs) also sang this and she also sang 'lang toun end'. Rashie Moor and Will ye Gang Love are both in 101 Scots Songs and I think at least one of the sets of words above are an amalgam of both
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The most recent Scottish variants are in: Buchan 1962: 61, with the title, "Will Ye Gang, Love?"; Buchan and Hall 1973: 93, a version by Lizzie Mary Hutchison; and MacColl and Seeger 1977: 194-98, sung by Charlotte Higgins.
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The Rashy Muir
Greig-Duncan #1215A
As I came through yon rashy moor
How spied I in my true love's door
My heart grew sair an my eyes grew blind
To think my bonnie love left me behind.
As we came through the water wan
The brig's being broken at yon mull dam
I boued my body an took her through
But alas she's gone an she's left me noo.
As we came our yon hill sae high
The nicht wis dark an my love took fleig
I took her in my arms twa
An we lay there till it wis day.
And in the morning when we arose
I helped her on wi her clothes
First her stockings an then her sheen
It was bit my duty when a wis dene.
But when I came in at yon town end
I saw another did my love attend
I took aff my hat an I said Hough hon
The best o my weel days are done.
O are ye gone lovey are ye gone
O are ye gone an left me noo
Wid ye forsake a' yere former vows
An break the heart o a lover true?
I lent my back against an oak
I thought it was a trusty tree
But first it bowed an then it break
And so has my false love to me.
Now since all my days are done,
I'll have it written on my grave stone,
Here lies a young man that died for love
Because his mistress wid not approve.
noted by George F. Duncan from his mother's singing in 1875
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The Rashy Muir
(Greig-Duncan #1215B)
Will ye gang, love, and leave me noo?
Will ye gang, and me sae true?
Will ye forsake a love sae true,
And gae wi' the lad ye never knew?
Singer: Mrs. Lyall - collected by Duncan (1907)
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The Rashie Moor
Greig-Duncan #1215D
As I cam' thro' yon rashie moor
Fa spied I in my true love's door?
My hairt grew sair, and my eyes grew blin',
To see my bonnie love leave me ahin'.
Oh, are ye gyaun, love, to leave me noo,
Oh, will ye gyang, love, and leave me noo?
Wid ye forsake your former vow,
And go wi' the one that ye never knew?
As I gaed in by yon water wan,
The brig was broken at yon milldam;
I bent my body and took her through,
But alas, she's gone and she's left me noo.
But as I gaed in by yon toon-en',
I saw another did my love atten',
I took aff my hat, and I said, Ochon,
The best o' my weel days is done.
But I will tell you the reason why,
She's got another and that's the wye;
And I will tell the reason tee,
He has got more gold than me.
But if ye love me, love, we'll never part,
And instead o' gold ye will get my heart,
Ye'll get my heart wi' richt guid-will,
You're a bonnie lass and I love ye still.
I bent my back into an oak,
I thocht it was a trusty tree;
But first it bent and then it broke,
And so has my love done to me.
Singer: Mrs. Grieve - collected by Greig
no tune
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The Rashy Moor
Greig-Duncan #1215E
9. Now all ye people that stand aside,
Woe be to this false woman's pride;
She is stubborn-hearted and would not bow,
She's been the death of her lover true.
10. Now when I am dead and gone,
You'll write this on my burial stone, —
She is stubborn-hearted and would not bow,
She's been the death of her lover true.
8. Ye'll bring to me my honey sweet,
And she'll put on my winding sheet;
And bring to me my darling doo,
And she'll lay me in my coffin too.
These additional verses for 1215D furnished by Mrs Cruickshank, Greciehill, New Deer - collected by Greig
no tune
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Rashy Muir, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls making love in the hills one night and helping his sweetheart to dress. When they got to town "I saw another did my love attend". "Wid ye forsake a' yere former vows An break the heart o a lover true?" She would, maybe for money.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1894 (Murison collection, according to Lyle, _Fairies and Folk_)
KEYWORDS: courting infidelity sex promise floatingverses
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #118, p. 2, "The Rashie Moor" (1 text); Greig #121, p. 2, "The Rashie Moor" (1 text plus 1 fragment)
GreigDuncan6 1215, "The Rashy Muir" (4 texts, 3 tunes)
Roud #6261
ALTERNATE TITLES:
O Will Ye Gang, Love, and Leave Me Noo?
Will Ye Gang, Love
NOTES: GreigDuncan6: "Noted by George F. Duncan from mother's singing in 1875."
The most common floating verse in the GreigDuncan6 texts is "I lent my back against an oak I thought it was a trusty tree But first it bowed an then it break And so has my false love to me." - BS
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Will Ye Gang, Love-- Versions and info
WILL YE GANG LOVE
Trad., arr. Black Brothers
As I came in by yon rushy wood
What spied I at my true love's door
My heart stood still, my eyes grew blind
For to see my bonnie lad leave me behind.
Chorus:
And will ye gang love and leave me now
Will ye gang love and leave me now
Will ye forsake your own true love
And gang wi' a lass that you never knew.
As I came in by yon lenten wend
I spied another my love attend
I bowed my head, I cried ochón
The best of my good days are gone.
And I will tell you the reason why
Because she's got more gold than I
And I will tell you the reason true
The sweeter taste of a love that's new.
I leaned my back against an oak
Thinking it was a trusty tree
But first it bent and then it broke
And so has my love done unto me.
And if you love me we'll never part
And instead of gold you can have my heart
You can have my heart with a right good will
You're a bonnie laddie, I love you still.
"The Black Family," Dara Records, CD 023, track 6, 1986
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Archie Fisher: Will Ye Gang, Love
WILL YE GANG, LOVE —
A beautiful variant of the universal "I Wish I Wish" theme. Relations of this song appear under many different titles, including The Foolish Young Girl, Died for Love, What A Voice, Rashy Moor and The Water is Wide.
Archie Fisher album- "Will Ye Gang, Love." Topic 1976, track 5. Re-release 1993, Green Linnet.
2. Frances Black, with the Black Family. Daracd 023, as noted above.
3.The Browne Sisters and George Cavanaugh, West of Home, Woodenship Records, 1996.
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WILL YE GANG, LOVE?
Traditional- Electric Scotland
My love he stands in yon chaumer door,
Combing doon his yellow hair,
His curly locks I like to see,
I wonder if my love minds on me.
Chorus :
Will ye gang love, an' leave me noo?
Will ye gang love, an' leave me noo?
Will ye forsake your ain love true,
An' gang wi' a lass that ye never knew?
I wish, I wish, I wish in vain
I wish I were a maid again.
But a maid again I'll never be
Till an apple grows on an orange tree.
I wish I wish my babe was born
I wish it sat on's daddy's knee,
An' I myself were deid an' gone
An' the wavin' grass all o'er me growin'.
As lang as my apron did bide doon
He followed me frae toon tae toon,
But noo it's up an' above ma knee
My love gaes by but he kens na me.
Mak' my grave baith lang and deep
Put a bunch of roses at my head and feet,
And in the middle put a turtle dove,
Let the pople know I died of love.
Footnote : This is a bonnie version of a song whose theme is basic to all folk-song. It is related in Scotland to such songs as 'The Rashy Moor' and 'Waly Waly', and in America to 'The Wild Goose Grasses' and 'Careless Love'.