Lyr Req: The Journey tae Fyvie (Bill Smith)

Subject: Lyr Req: Variation on Bonnie Lass o'Fyvie
From: Catflap
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 10:59 AM

Very many years ago (just after Dr Beeching had closed down what seemed like avery railway in Britain) in a folk club in Glasgow I heard a variation on the Bonnie Lass o' Fyvie (a.k.a. "The Captain's name was Ned" ak.a. There once was a troop of Irish Dragoons").

All I can now remember is

After forty five was over and done
Geordie said to Wade Man Alive e o
Awa' wi' pick and spade
And make for me a road
Runnin all the way doon frae Fyvie o

Has any one any ideas at all??

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Variation on Bonnie Lass o'Fyvie
From: GUEST,Jack Campin
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 12:05 PM

For what it's worth, Wade never built a road anywhere near Fyvie.

That's no reason for not singing about one, of course.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Variation on Bonnie Lass o'Fyvie
From: BobKnight
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 03:24 PM

Wade also built most of his roads BEFORE the '45, so the timeline is wrong too. You sure you want to find out more about a song that's so badly "flawed?"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Variation on Bonnie Lass o'Fyvie
From: BobKnight
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 03:29 PM

Right - just checked - Wade left the highlands in 1740 and passed on his command to Major Willian Caulfield. Who?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Variation on Bonnie Lass o'Fyvie
From: Jim McLean
Date: 03 Dec 09 - 04:18 PM

The metre is wrong, the rhyme is wrong, it's historically inaccurate so I'd forget it, Catflap.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Variation on Bonnie Lass o'Fyvie
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 03:12 AM

Got a copy of it in an old Scots folk magazine somewhere - will look it out later.
From memory - 1st verse;

There were a troop of Irish(?) Dragoons,
Come marchin' intae Fyvie O
And the reason that they marched all he way frae Marble Arch
There were no railways runnin' intae Fyvie O.

Jim Carroll

Subject: Lyr Add: THE JOURNEY TAE FYVIE (Bill Smith)
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 04:23 AM

Gotcha!
From Scottish Folk Notes Vol 1 no 2 (no date, but contains a review of 101 Scottish Songs, which was published in 1962.)
Jim Carroll
^^
THE JOURNEY TAE FYVIE
By Bill Smith of Falkirk,
Tune – obvious.

There was a troop o' Irish Dragoons
Cam' marchin' up tae Fyvie-o,
An' the reason that they marched
A' the way frae Marble Arch:
There was nae railway runnin' up tae Fyvie-o.

Efter the Forty-Five was ower an' done,
Geordie said tae Wade, "Man alivie-o!
Grab yersel' a pick and spade,
Don't come back till you have made
Me a road runnin' a' the way tae Fyvie-o."

So Wade he grab'bed his shovel and he made the king a road
Up frae the Borders tae Fyvie-o.
He made the king a road
An' it wasna verra broad,
But it speeded the Journey up tae Fyvie-o.

Ye've a' heard o' Watt, the celebrated Scot,
Brewin' up some coffee efter bingein'-o
As he watched the kettle steam,
Jimmy Watt began tae dream,
An' inventit the verra first steam engine-o.

Soon efter came the train, product o' a Scottish brain,
Then railway lines ran tae Fyvie-o,
There was mony an English chiel
Made his fortune on the deal
When they buildit the railways up tae Fyvie-o.

It is different today, for the railways dinna pay,
So they brought in Doctor Beeching-o.
He came straight from I.C.I.
With his pukka Old School Tie
You should jist hear the nonsense he is preachin'-o.

He telt Uncle Mac, did this economic quack,
"Take all the railways up from Fyvie-o.
Take the railways all away
And the bloody things will pay,
And the nation's economy will thrive-y-o.

So now, Doctor Dick, don't you play this dirty trick,
If ye should value your lifie-o,
Or you'll end up on your back,
Fastened tae the railway track,
In the path o' the last train up tae Fyvie-o.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Variation on Bonnie Lass o'Fyvie
From: Jim McLean
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 04:54 AM

Catflap, I take back my what I said as it was based on the verse you gave as an example. The whole song as produced by Jim Carroll I think was valid for the time it was written. It's a bit chauvinistic but I have written worse doggerel myself!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Journey tae Fyvie (Bill Smith)
From: Catflap
Date: 11 Dec 09 - 12:28 PM

Thanks for all the help, and yes I am aware that Wade built his roads before 45 but I also assumed a large degree of poetic licence was involved.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Journey tae Fyvie (Bill Smith)
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 12 Mar 10 - 04:38 PM

Is the Bill Smith who wrote this masterpiece the same Bill Smith who was the founder member and mastermind behind the Corrie Folk Trio and Paddie Bell ?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Journey tae Fyvie (Bill Smith)
From: Richard Mellish
Date: 13 Mar 10 - 04:10 PM

I have somewhere an old recording of something like this, but the one phrase from it that I have in my head is "They're closing down the railway up to Fyvie-o", which isn't in the version as transcribed above by Jim.

I may get around to digging it out some time, but I don't have time just now.

Richard