Gordon Easton at FifeSing Festival

THE BARNYARDS O DELGATY

Sung by Gordon Easton on Autumn Harvest AH 004 Old Songs & Bothy Ballads - Some Rants o Fun

The farm of Barnyards on the Delgaty castle estate a mile from Turriff gave rise to this - one of the most famous of the old bothy ballads. The song is no doubt a parody of life as it would really have been on this particular farm which was one of the finest in the northeast.

1: As I gaed doun tae Turra market,
Turra market for tae fee,
I fell in wi a fairmer chiel,
Fae the Barnyards o Delgaty.

Chorus
Liltan adie, touran adie,
Liltan adie, touran ae,
O liltan louran louran louran,
The Barnyards o Delgaty.

2: He promised me the twa best horse,
That ever gaed in iron sheen;
Fen I gaed hame tae the Barnyards,
There wis naething there but skin an bane.

3: Noo the auld black horse stood on his hunkers,
The auld dun meer lay on her wime;
An aa that I could up an cry,
They widna rise at yokin time.

4: Noo lang Meg Scot, she maks ma brose,
It's wi her I canna gree;
First a mote and syne a knot,
An aye the ither jilp o bree.

5: Noo Jean MacPherson maks ma bed,
Ye sud see the marks upon ma shins;
Jean, the coorse illtrickit jaud,
She fills ma bed wi prickly whins.

6: Fin I gang tae the kirk on Sunday,
Mony a bonnie lass I see;
Sittin by her faither's side,
An winkin ower the pews at me.

7: Noo some can drink an nae get drunk,
Some can fecht an nae get slain;
I can coort anither chiel's lass,
An aye gang welcome tae ma ain.

8: Ma cannle's nearly burnt oot,
The snotter's fairly on the wane;
So fare ye weel ye Barnyards,
You'll never catch me here again.

Chorus
Liltan adie, touran adie,
Liltan adie, touran ae,
O liltan louran louran louran,
The Barnyards o Delgaty.

This a track on the album Old Songs & Bothy Ballads 3: <a href="http://www.springthyme.co.uk/ah04/">'Some Rants o Fun'</a>.

Gordon Easton: Barnyards O Delgaty

THE BONNIE LASS O FYVIE

Sung by Gordon Easton on Autumn Harvest AH 002 Old Songs & Bothy Ballads 1 - Here's a Health to the Company recorded at the Fife Traditional Singing Festival May 2004.

This song telling of the dragoon captain who died for the love of the bonnie lass o Fyvie has been and still is widely popular. There are over 20 versions in the Greig-Duncan Collection (GD 1:84) with considerable variation in text and tune. It is clear from the song and local tradition that Fyvie was a staging post on the military route from Aberdeen to Fort George on the Moray Firth. The song was collected by Cecil Sharp in the Appalachians under the title Pretty Peggy O and Ford’s Vagabond Songs has a song Bonnie Barbara O localised in Derby.

1: Oh there were a troop o Irish dragoons,
And they were stationed in Fyvie O;
And the captain's faan in love wi an awfa bonnie lass,
And her name is caad Pretty Peggy O.

Chorus:
Now there's mony a bonnie lass in the Howe o Auchterless,
There's mony a bonnie lassie in the Gearie O;
Aye there's mony a bonnie Jean in the toon o Aiberdeen,
But the flooer o them aa lives in Fyvie O.

2: "Now come doon the stair Pretty Peggy my dear,
Oh come doon the stair Pretty Peggy O;
Aye, come doon the stair, bind up yer yeller hair,
Tak a last fareweel o yer daddy O."

3: "Now I never did intend a captain's lady tae be,
I never will marry a soldier O;
And I never did intend tae gang tae a foreign land,
So I never will marry a soldier O."

4: Now it was the early morning that they marched awa,
And oh but our captain was sorry O;
The drums they did beat o'er the bonnie Braes o Gicht,
And the band played the Lowlands o Fyvie O.

5: But as we won the length o auld Meldrum toun,
Wir captain we had tae cairry O;
And as we won the length o bonnie Aiberdeen,
Wir captain we had tae bury O.

6: Now green grows the birks on bonnie Ythanside,
And low lies the lowlands o Fyvie O;
Our captain's name was Ned and he died for a maid,
He died for the bonnie lass o Fyvie O.

Chorus:
Now there's mony a bonnie lass in the Howe o Auchterless,
There's mony a bonnie lassie in the Gearie O;
Aye there's mony a bonnie Jean in the toon o Aiberdeen,
But the flooer o them aa lives in Fyvie O.

The Garioch (pronounced Gearie) is an area of Aberdeenshire around Inverurie.

This a track on the album Old Songs & Bothy Ballads 1: <a href="http://www.springthyme.co.uk/ah02/" target="_self">Here's a Health to the Company</a>.