Leezie Lindsay- Jardine (IN) 1935 Brewster
[From: Ballads and Songs of Indiana by Brewster; 1940. His notes follow.
Suggested improvements to the transcription in bold:
2. "To gang to the Hielands wi' you, sir,
I dinna ken how that may be;
For I ken nae the land that ye live in,
Nor ken I the lad I'm gaun wi'."
R. Matteson 2013]
20. LIZIE LINDSAY (Child, No. 226)
"Lizie Lindsay" is represented in the Indiana collection by only one version. The contributor was born in Carlisle, England, of Scottish parentage, and learned this ballad from the singing of his father, for many years a shepherd in the Cheviot Hills. The former has been in this country for about twenty-eight years. He was in concert work for a considerable period, his last tour as a singer being in 1917, when his concert company toured the middle western United States and eastern Canada.
For melody and fragmentary American texts, see Barry, Eckstorm, and Smyth, p. 297; Cox, Traditional Ballads, p. 36.
British: Greig, Last Leaves, p. 164.
"Leezie Lindsay." Contributed by Mr. William Jardine, of Terre Haute, Indiana. Vigo County. August 12, 1935.
1. "Will ye gang to the Hielands, Leezie Lindsay?
Will ye gang to the Hielands wi' me?
Will ye gang to the Hielands, Leezie Lindsay,
My bride and my darling to be?"
2. "To gang to the Hielands wi' you, sir,
I dinna ken how that may be;
For I kenna the land that ye live in,
Nor ken I the lad I'm gaim wi'."
3. Then up bespake Leezie's best woman,
A bonnie young lassie was she:
"Had I but a mark in my pocket
It's Donald that I wad gang wi'."
4. She has kilted her coats of green satin;
She has kilted them up to the knee;
And she's aff to the Hielands wi' Donald,
His bride and his darling to be.
5. He has led her high up on a mountain
And bade her look out o'er the sea:
"These isles are Lord Donald MacDonald's,
And his bride and his darling are ye."