Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation

Subject: Lyr Add: WILD MOUNTAIN THYME--Variation
From: Mbo
Date: 03 Apr 00 - 08:49 AM

Several people have asked me for the these lyrics, so here they are. This is the variation of Wild Mountain Thyme that I learned and sing today.


Oh, the summer-time has come
And the trees are sweetly bloomin',
And the wild mountain thyme
Grows around the blooming heather;
Will ye go, lassie, go?

Chorus:
And we'll all go together,
To pull wild mountain thyme
All around the blooming heather;
Will ye go, lassie, go?

I will build my love a tower
By yon pure, crystal fountain,
And it's there I will bring
All the flowers of the mountain;
Will ye go, lassie, go?

I will range through the wilds
And the deep land so dreary
And return with the spoils
To the bower o' my dearie;
Will ye go, lassie, go?

If my true love will not come
I will surely find another
To pull wild mountain thyme
All around the blooming heather;
Will ye go, lassie, go?

Oh, the autumn-time is comin'
And the leaves will soon be fallin',
And the blossoms o' the summer
Will soon wither on the mountain;
Will ye go, lassie, go?

^^
--Mbo

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: canoer
Date: 03 Apr 00 - 09:04 AM

Thanks Mbo. I always felt that song ended way too early.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: MMario
Date: 03 Apr 00 - 09:21 AM

Thanks Mbo. All the verses of this version are variants I haven't seen before. It's always nice to have "another bow for the fiddle" as it were.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: Big Mick
Date: 03 Apr 00 - 10:28 AM

And an FYI for all. Our own Sandy Paton is generally credited with introducing this song to the US. He can correct me if I am wrong, but I believe he also taught this to Judy Collins back when they moved in the same circles.

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: SDShad
Date: 03 Apr 00 - 10:29 AM

Another verse (I think I picked it up out of "Rise Up Singing," but I'm not sure without the book in front of me):

I will build my love a bower
By yon clear mountain stream
And my love shall be the fairest
That the summer sun has seen
Will ye go, lassie, go?

Your last two verses above are new to me, Mbo, and I've been singing this one for quite a few years. Nice to have even more of it to sing--they're welcome additions to the usual.

So, as a side tangent from a newbie, how do things like this ever get added to the DigiTrad? I think it's just the two best-known verses there....

Chris

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: SDShad
Date: 03 Apr 00 - 10:36 AM

Dang, I forgot my breaks on that lyric there. Calling Joe Offer....

Chris

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: MMario
Date: 03 Apr 00 - 10:40 AM

Susan and dick peruse the threads and basically songs get added according to some arcane formulae balancing singer songwriter with trad with variants with whatever.

Seriously, they search (which is why "Lyr Add" is a help to them) and add, trying to maintain some balance between types in the DT. The DT is updated (usually) twice a year, and they have a more or less constant backlog.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 03 Apr 00 - 10:40 AM

Apart from the last verse and the substitution of "bower" for "tower" MbO's version seems (without having the recording to hand here at work to check!) to be as sung by the Corries which was the version I learned from a Scots friend in the late 60's and subsequently heard the Corries do live & on recordings. RtS (E & OE, blame CRS)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: GUEST,Mbo
Date: 03 Apr 00 - 10:45 AM

I know, I've seen those lyrics in Rise Up Singing, Shad. In my opinion, they are quite beautiful...they only problem is, the syllables don't really scan right, so it sounds kinda funny when you sing it. "By yon clear mountain stree-eem" and "the summer sun has see-een"...i you see what I mean. A slight rewrite to fix the syllables would strengthen it...and it would also be part of the oral tradition. Wow! The folk tradition at work right here before our very eyes! And thanks for the info Micheal Mhor...that's a rather amazing achievment for Sandy Paton. I had no idea! The things you learn here....I LOVE MUDCAT!

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: GUEST,Mbo
Date: 03 Apr 00 - 10:48 AM

You're right, Roger! I have the Corries live version, and it's that arrangement I use as the basis when I sing it, except with the differences you mentioned above. I even do the little "Amen" on the last chorus! The ultimate version of the song, IMHO.

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: MMario
Date: 03 Apr 00 - 10:54 AM

And it goes to show how differing experiences can effect what versions you know. I had never seen a copy of RUS until saturday, when I spotted it at a bookstore. I own very few recordings, almost never listen to the radio, and get most of my folk and folkoid "live" at renfaires. Though I've known WMT for at least 16 years, last night was the first time I heard the Corries version...

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From:
Date: 03 Apr 00 - 04:36 PM

Chris, the only verse of Mbo's that I haven't come across is the one "I will range through the wild". The rest of them I've seen and or heard before.

I suspect that perhaps someone didn't know "bower" and thought it was "tower".

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: Gypsy
Date: 03 Apr 00 - 10:47 PM

And here is another pair of lyrics, albeit quite similar (still don't have line breaks down, please forgive me)

Oh the summertime is coming, and the breeze is softly blowin'/The wild moorcock in the heather is a crowing. AND, Oh the sunshine is a shining, and the breeze is softly blowing,/ and the wild moorcock in the heather is a crowing. Hope this comes out better than last time! Joe, teach me!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: GUEST,Victoria
Date: 03 Apr 00 - 11:10 PM

I learned a new / old verse last week (new to me!) from a friend...

"Oh the summer time is leaving
and the leaves are firey burning
and the wild Mountain thyme
casts it's seeds by the purple heather
will you go, Lassie go"

There are some great variations in this thread- I love how these lyric requests turn up so many different versions of things! :-)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 04 Apr 00 - 12:36 AM

Here's a spot of cross-referencing for anybody who wants to know more about the background to all this.  Check them out!

On earlier threads:

Braes o' Balquidder (1997)

Wild Mountain Thyme (1998)

Fourth Verse for Wild Mountain Thyme (1999)

Wild Mountain Thyme (1999)

Wild Mountain Thyme (2000)

In the DT:

WILD MOUNTAIN THYME

BRAES OF BALQUIDDER

FLOWERS OF PEACE (Pete Seeger's re-write).

HIGHLANDS OF HEAVEN -accompanied by some confused and inaccurate notes.

Malcolm

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 04 Apr 00 - 12:42 AM

And here's that first link again, this time without the duplicated "http:" which stops it working, harrumph...

Braes o' Balquidder (1997)

Malcolm

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: SDShad
Date: 04 Apr 00 - 09:44 AM

Okay, so here's what happens when you type a verse from memory that you never really quite learned right, and haven't performed in several months: you type something different.

This, my friends, is what they call the "folk process."

So, what it really has in "Rise Up Singing" for that verse is:

I will build my love a shelter
By yon high mountain green
And my love shall be the fairest
That the summer sun has seen

Uhm...I think.

"Shelter" for some reason feels too prosaic there--maybe that's why I remembered it differently.

And Mbo, I do see what you mean. That scansion has never really bothered me, but you gotta sing things in a way that feels comfortable for you.

Chris

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From:
Date: 04 Apr 00 - 06:22 PM

Great work, Malcolm.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: Bill D
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 01:04 AM

I promised I'd get this to Jeri awhile back, so here is my opportunity....This is a digital photo from Songs of Scotland ...edited by George Farquhar Graham..circa 1850...(Child lists this book as one of his sources)

I am experimenting to see if digital photography is good enough to share stuff like this...WARNING..this is a BIG file..329,000 bytes...I will see if I can get readable files with less size. But I think it is good enough to see the tune and verses..plus some notes.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: GUEST,Frankie
Date: 06 Apr 00 - 08:42 PM

Here's one I sing as the last one. It's probably mutated somewhat from the way I first learned it:

When the rude wintry wind nightly reigns round our dwelling,
And the roar of the wind o'er the night breeze is swellin',
So merrily we'll sing as the storm rambles o'er us,
'til the dear shielding ring with a light and lilting chorus.
Will you go,lassie, go...

F

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: MMario
Date: 06 Apr 00 - 08:49 PM

Frankie - what tune do you use? I can't get that to remotely scan to any of the variants I know. (NOTE: This is CURIOSITY, not critiscism....) Do you do midi, or abc or anything that you could post?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: Mbo
Date: 06 Apr 00 - 08:59 PM

MArio, it works with the old pentatonic "Braes O' Balquidder" tune. Try it!

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: MMario
Date: 06 Apr 00 - 09:03 PM

okay *he said sheepishly*

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: GUEST,Frankie
Date: 06 Apr 00 - 09:58 PM

Mario, I'm a low-tech guy with an ancient machine (computer that is)and the best I can do is tell you that the tune I use is very similar to the popular Irish (?) version, the main difference is the verse is basically twice as long. In other words think of singing two verses before singing the chorus. I learned this from a girl in Miami some time ago and sing it as a slow air. I hope this helps. Frankie

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: MMario
Date: 06 Apr 00 - 10:01 PM

okay, I guess I can "hear" that, too.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: Mbo
Date: 06 Apr 00 - 10:14 PM

Hey cool! It works! Neat!

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: Gypsy
Date: 06 Apr 00 - 10:42 PM

After going thru ALL of Malcoms info, and the assorted fragments on this page, we now have a song with 14 straight verses, and 3 really good verses with Lassie. Can't wait to collate (and separate out the seasons) this one for the next jam!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: Mbo
Date: 06 Apr 00 - 10:46 PM

Gyps, I did a similar thing with Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore, thus assembling a complete story, albeit a 12-minute long story...

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: Gypsy
Date: 06 Apr 00 - 10:54 PM

Oh yeah! And I keep threatening the group with The Witch of the Westmerland...unedited!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: GUEST,Frankie
Date: 08 Apr 00 - 07:55 AM

Here are first and second verses to go with the final one posted above, as I remember them:

Oh the summer is in prime,
With the flowers richly blooming,
And the wild mountain thyme,
All the moorlands are perfuming,
Where the deer and the roe,
Lightly bound and go together,
Sport the long summer days,
All around the blooming heather.
Will you go, lassie, go.

I will twine me about,
By the clear crystal fountain,
And I'll cover it all,
With the flowers of the mountain,
I will range through the wilds,
And the deep glen so dreary,
And return with my spoils,
To the bower of my dearie.

CHORUS Will you go,lassie, go,
And we'll all go together,
To pull wild mountain thyme,
All around the blooming heather,
Will you go, lassie,go.

FINAL VERSE

CHORUS

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: Gypsy
Date: 08 Apr 00 - 10:03 PM

Make that 16 verses. Any more Lassie verses out there? We only have three, thus far. Can't leave the barkenwoof out of the picture!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From:
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 12:56 AM

Gypsy or anyone. Would, after collation, someone repost it in one sequential whole? Sounds interesting.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Wild Mountain Thyme--Variation
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Mar 25 - 09:25 AM

Just last week I was listing to a pete seeger playlist on my Amazon music on alexa. i went to sleep with a song i had never heared a all called flowers of peace. When i woke up I asked my friend david who works for me and the story was told. the song Flowers of peace was written in 1967 by pete seeger when he heared the song wild mountain thyme. he liked the tune but could not believe that the tune was only picked up just a decade ago when pete was in the peak of his career. the first part of this song starts with the same first lines of but goes in to the time of spring. if you want more about this song for learning i will get the words as quick as i can from joe.