Bluegrass Messengers

Elf Knight- Alexander Reid (Perth) 1975 Headlee

[From Tocher: Tales, Songs, Tradition - Issues 17-23; Issues 25-29 - Page 141, 1975; SA 1975/1Z2/A2 Recorded by Alexander Reid ("Shells", born in 1922 in Fife), Pitlochry, by Linda Headlee Text and music transcribed by Linda Headlee.

R. Matteson 2018]

Elf Knight- Sung by Alexander Reid ('Shells') of Pitlochry, Perthshire, collected by Linda Headlee on 14th September 1975; Tocher XX (1975) pp.140-1.

Go mak tae me a Highland shirt
Withoot a seam or needle a work,
And the dreary, dreary winds blaw my plaidie awa.

You'll wash it in a ne'er dry well
Where there ne'er was water nor one drop o dew fell;
You'll dry it on a thorn haw bush
Where there ne'er was thorns since Adam was born,
And the dreary, dreary wind blaw my plaidie awa.

O devil, o de'il, ye put a task on me
And it's surely I'll put one on you;
You will find to me three acre o land
Between the salt sea and the salt sea strand,
You will plough it up with a tup's horn - [spoken] a tup doesn't have a horn -
You will sow it over with one pea  o corn,
And the dreary, dreary wind'll nae blaw my plaidie awa.

You will cut it down with a peahen feather,
You will stook it up with a tongue of an adder;
You will yoke two sparrows in a match-box*
 And cart it home to our own farm yard,
And the dreary, dreary wind'll blaw my plaidie awa.