The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #12922   Message #3875723
Posted By: Jim Dixon
07-Sep-17 - 03:30 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Bonnie Blue Bonnets
Subject: Lyr Add: MARCH, MARCH, ETTRICK AND TEVIOTDALE
This is the song that Lesley N. posted above. I have boldfaced a few differences. Note there is no designated chorus, and "Border Ballad" is the only title given.

From The Poetry Contained in the Novels, Tales, and Romances of the Author of Waverley [by Sir Walter Scott] (Edinburgh: Archibald Constable & Co., 1822), page 226:

BORDER BALLAD.

1.
March, march, Ettrick and Teviotdale,
Why the deil dinna ye march forward in order?
March, march, Eskdale and Liddesdale,
All the Blue Bonnets are bound for the Border.
Many a banner spread,
Flutters above your head,
Many a crest that is famous in story.
Mount and make ready then,
Sons of the mountain glen,
Fight for the Queen and our old Scottish glory.

2.
Come from the hills where your hirsels are grazing,
Come from the glen of the buck and the roe;
Come to the crag where the beacon is blazing,
Come with the buckler, the lance, and the bow.
Trumpets are sounding,
War-steeds are bounding,
Stand to your arms, and march in good order,
England shall many a day
Tell of the bloody fray,
When the Blue Bonnets came over the Border.

The musical notation can be found in The Songs of Scotland: Adapted to Their Appropriate Melodies, Volume 3 edited by George Farquhar Graham (Edinburgh: Wood and Co., 1849), page 54, where the title is given as MARCH, MARCH, ETTRICK AND TEVIOTDALE. In that version "why the deil" is changed to "why, my lads"; "bound for" is changed to "over" but "Queen" and "glory" are as the original.