US & Canada Versions: 236. The Laird o Drum
[Both the extant US ballads labeled versions of Laird o Drum are associated with the 1792 Burns re-composition, "O'er the Moor Amang the Heather," originally by the Scottish Jean Glover of Kilmarnock, which according to Alan Cunningham became popular in 1790. The third verse appears in both US versions. The Michigan text is identical to the verses of "O'er the moor" (see below) and should not properly be called a version of Child 236. The Canadian text published by Barry in 1929 was assigned the title, "The Laird and the Shepherd's Daughter" (probably by Barry) and is a combination of "Laird" and the ballads in Child's appendix where the bride is a shepherd's daughter.
R. Matteson 2013]
CONTENTS: (Click on individual ballads found attached on left hand column)
The Laird o' Drum- Laidlaw (MI) 1916 Gardner (not a version of Laird o Drum)
The Laird and the Shepherd's Daughter- McGill (NB) 1928 Barry
-------------------
Burn's Re-composition 1792
Child's Appendix: Johnson's Museum, No 397, p. 410.
As I went out ae May morning,
A May morning it chanc'd to be,
There I was aware of a weelfar'd maid,
Cam linkin oer the lea to me.
O but she was a weelfar'd maid,
The bonniest lass that's under the sun;
I spier'd gin she could fancy me,
But her answer was, I am too young.
'To be your bride I am too young,
To be your loun wad shame my kin;
So therefore, pray, young man, begone,
For you never, never shall my favour win.'
From: Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan- A Collection of 200+ traditional & folk songs & variations with commentaries by Emelyn - Elizabeth Gardner and Geraldine Jencks Chickering, Include Lyrics & Sheet music. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press : 1939
THE LAIRD O' DRUM
(Child, No. 236)
In The Songs of Scofland Pnor to Burns, edited by Robert Chambers (Edinburgh and London, 1862), pp. 440-441, there is a song with identical words, a tune, and a footnote (p 441) which reads: "This song is said to have been the composition of a woman named Jean Glover, who, strange to say, had deserted respectable, humble Scotch life, to accompany a very poor band of strolling players. Burns tells us, "I took the song down from her singing, as she was wandering through the country with a sleight-of-hand blackguard." The Child version of "The Laird o' Drum," to which the Michigan text is similar, contains three stanzas of four lines each, taken from Johnson's Musical Museum, No. 397, p. 410 (Child, IV, 332). For one stanza almost identical with stanza 3 of the Michigan text see Barry, Eckstorm, and Smyth, p. 300. The present version was sung in 1916 by Mr. John Laidlaw, Ypsilanti.
1 A-coming o'er the crags o' Kyle
And through amang the blooming heather,
There I met a bonnie lass
Was keeping a' her ewes together.
2 Her head it was so finely drest
Adorned wi' hat and feather;
Her plaid hung loose about her waist,
Came sweeping through amang the heather.
3 Says I, "My lass, where is your hame,
In maur or dale, come tell me whither?"
She says, "I tend the fleecy flocks
That feed amang the blooming heather."
------------------
The Songs of Scotland, ancient and modern: with an introduction and notes ... edited by Allan Cunningham 1825
O'ER THE MOOR AMANG THE HEATHER.
Coming through the crags o' Kyle,
Amang the bonnie blooming heather,
There I met a bonnie lassie,
Keeping a' her ewes thegither.
O'er the moor amang the heather,
O'er the moor amang the heather;
There I met a bonnie lassie,
Keeping a' her ewes thegither.
Says I, my dear, where is thy hame,—
In moor or dale, pray tell me whether?
She says, I tend the fleecy flocks
That feed amang the blooming heather.
We laid us down upon a bank,
Sae warm and sunnie was the weather:
She left her flocks at large to rove
Amang the bonnie blooming heather.
While thus we lay, she sang a sang,
Till echo rang a mile and farther;
And aye the burden of the sang
Was, O'er the moor amang the heather.
She charm'd my heart, and aye sinsyne
I couldna think on ony other:—
By sea and sky, she shall be mine,
The bonnie lass amang the heather!
O'er the moor amang the heather,
Down amang the blooming heather,—
By sea and sky, she shall be mine,
The bonnie lass amang the heather!
A singular story is told about the origin of this very beautiful song—Burns says, " Coming through the Crags o' Kyle" is the composition of Jean Glover, a girl who was not only a whore but a thief, and in one or other character had visited most of the correction-houses in the west. She was born, I believe, in Kilmarnock. I took the song down from her singing, as she was strolling through the country with a slight-of-hand blackguard." There are older, and there are newer verses on this subject, but Jean Glover has surpassed them far in gaiety, and life, and ease. Her song became popular about the year 1790, and is likely to continue a favourite.
----------------
The Songs of Robert Burns now first printed with the melodies for which they ... By Robert Burns
Comin thro' the craigs o' Kyle,
Amang the bonie blooming heather,
There I met a bonie lassie,
Keeping a' her yowes thegither.
CHORUS: O'er the moor amang the heather;
O'er the moor amang the heather;
There I met a bonie lassie
Keeping a' her yowes thegither.
Says I, 'My dear whare is thy hame,
In moor, or dale, pray tell me whether?'
She says, 'I tent thae fleecy flocks
That feed amang the blooming heather.'
CHORUS: O'er the moor amang the heather;
O'er the moor amang the heather;
There I met a bonie lassie
Keeping a' her yowes thegither.
We laid us down upon a bank,
Sae warm and sunny was the weather;
She left her flocks at large to rove
Amang the bonie blooming heather.
CHORUS: O'er the moor amang the heather.
O'er the moor amang the heather;
She left her flocks at large to rove
Amang the bonie blooming heather.
While thus we lay, she sang a sang,
Till echo ran a mile and farther;
And ay the burden o' the sang
Was, O'er the moor among the heather.
CHORUS: O'er the moor amang the heather,
O'er the moor amang the heather;
And ay the burden o' the sang
Was, O'er the moor amang the heather.
She charm'd my heart, and ay sinsyne,
I could na think on ony ither:
By sea and sky she shall be mine!
The bonie lass amang the heather.
CHORUS: O'er the moor amang the heather,
O'er the moor amang the heather;
By sea and sky she shall be mine!
The bonie lass amang the heather.
Notes: No. 356. O'er the moor amang the heather. The only excuse for inserting here this fine song is the fact that it was entirely unknown until it was printed in the Scots Musical Museum, 179a, No. J28, from Burns's MS. The explicit account of the authoress by Bums in the Interleaved Museum forbids its entrance among his works. How much or how little is his own cannot be ascertained ; but as the discoverer, at least, he will always be associated with it. His extraordinary statement is as follows: 'This song is the composition of a Jean Glover, a girl who was not only a w— but also a thief; and in one or other character has visited most of the correction houses in the west. She was bom, I believe, in Kilmarnock. I took the song down from her singing as she was strolling the country with a slight-of-hand blackguard.' Some previous verses with the title must have existed, because the tune O'er the muir amang the heather is in Bremner's Keels, 1760,77, published, according to C. K. Sharpe, when Glover was only two years old. The tune was well known, for it is repeated in Stewart's Reels, 1761; Campbell's Reels, 1778, and elsewhere. A tune Well all go pill tie hadder is named in Gedde's Saints Recreation, 1683.
-------------
Excerpt from The British Traditional Ballad in North America
by Tristram Coffin 1950, from the section A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America
236. THE LAIRD DRUM
Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 300 / Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich 149.
Local Titles: The Laird (Knight) and the Shepherd's Daughter, The Laird o' Drum.
Story Types: A: A nobleman out hunting spies a sliepherd's lass who immediately captivates him. In the New Brunswick text, he offers to marry her and, in spite of her protests that he is joking, says he will go with her to herd sheep. Examples: Barry, Gardner and Chickering.
Discussion: The event, the marriage of Alexander Irvine to a woman of mean birth against his family's wishes, on which this ballad is based is given in Child, IV, 322. The American fragments have lost the story to some extent and, except for the last stanza in the New Brunswick version, make no reference to the family's objections. This Canadian stanza and its lines "For
it's herdin' sheep on yon hillside I'll gang wi' you my lovely Nancy" could result in a change in the story.
Barry, Brit -Bids Me, 301 points out that the Child versions of this ballad fall into two groups: the older forms that stick close to history (A, C, D, E, etc.) and the more recent forms which do not mention the suitor by name and do not indicate a previous marriage (B). The Canadian fragment shows influence from both groups, but follows the recent tradition more closely. Child, IV, 122 suspects his B version to have been contaminated by a song in the Motherwell Mss. concerning an earl and a shepherd's daughter. The Canadian fragment reflects the influence of this song, too, in the fact that the suitor's father is alive. (Barry, op. cit., 301 3.)
Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, 149 indicate that Robert Chambers (ed.) in The Songs in Scotland Prior to Burns (London, 1862), 440 I names a song with identical words to the Michigan fragment which was composed by a well-born vagabond, Jean Glover. The text also resembles the Canadian fragment. Stanza 3 of the Michigan text is almost identical to Stanza 3 of the Canadian.