The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #29462   Message #377972
Posted By: Malcolm Douglas
19-Jan-01 - 02:55 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Rares Hill / Reres Hill / Rare's Hill
Subject: Lyr Add: THE BACK O' RAREY'S HILL
The version in Ord is rather different, so here it is:

THE BACK O' RAREY'S HILL

It was on a Saturday's evening,
As I went to Dundee,
I met in wi' an old sweetheart,
And he being on the spree,
His company I did incline,
So with him I did go;
But to my sad misfortune
He's proved my overthrow.

I travelled east, I travelled west,
His company to shun,
Until the train, it was away,
Nae mair for to return;
My love he followed after me
Wi' heart and hand guidwill,
That very nicht, and I lost my way
At the back o' Rarey's hill.

When we awoke in the morning
We were lying in each other's arms,
When we awoke in the morning
From enjoying each other's charms;
My love brought forth a bottle,
Likewise a glass to fill,
And we drank, shook hands, and parted
At the back o' Rarey's hill.

My love wrote me a letter
Which made me weep and mourn;
My love wrote me another
That he would never return;
But if I'd come to sweet Dundee
His wedded wife to be,
Wi' heart and hand in wedlock band,
So happy we would be.

Oft in my lover's arms
My love to him I've told,
And in my lover's arms
He oft did me enfold;
But girls, keep your secrets,
Let no one know your mind
That talks of love and marrying you
When it's far from his design.

Oh, may you never prosper,
And may you never thrive,
Nor anything you take in hand
As long as you're alive;
And the very grass you travel on,
May it refuse to grow,
If ever I loved anyone
So dear as I love you.

So all ye Aberdeen lassies,
A warning tak' by me,
And be sure to choose your company
When ye gang to Dundee;
And beware o' young bachelor laddies
Down by yon Baxter's Mill,
For they're sure to gar ye lose your way
At the back o' Rarey's hill.


This text from John Ord's Bothy Songs and Ballads (1930, reprinted by John Donald, Edinburgh 1995).  Ord gives no indication as to where he got it, or to what tune it was sung.  It fits the tune Mary Black got from Cilla Fisher, so we may assume for now that that's the one that belongs to it.

Malcolm