Lyr Req: Bonny Shepherd Laddie o' the Hills

Subject: Lyr Req: Bonny Shepherd Laddy O` The Hills
From: GUEST,toots
Date: 13 Mar 03 - 05:14 PM

Can anyone help me find the words to "The bonny shepherd laddy o`the hills" ? I know it`s on a Willy Scott vinyl, but don`t have it

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny Shepherd Laddy O` The Hills
From: Sorcha
Date: 13 Mar 03 - 05:24 PM

Right here in the DT.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny Shepherd Laddy O` The Hills
From: GUEST,toots
Date: 13 Mar 03 - 05:50 PM

wrong version, Sorcha, the one I`m after,names the main Northumbrian rivers in the chorus and ends, "with hees collie dog aside him, and hees stick wi` horned heed, that`s the bonny shepherd laddy o`the hills". Thanks anyway, but I did check first.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny Shepherd Laddy O` The Hills
From: Sorcha
Date: 14 Mar 03 - 10:10 AM

Sorry then. Didn't find that one.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny Shepherd Laddy O` The Hills
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 14 Mar 03 - 01:14 PM

It isn't listed under that title anywhere that I can find, though Willie Scott certainly had more than one song involving shepherds. What was the record?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny Shepherd Laddy O` The Hills
From: Little Robyn
Date: 14 Mar 03 - 04:05 PM

Try "Canny Shepherd Laddie" instead.
It's not listed on the back of "The Shepherd's Song" Border Ballads, Willie Scott, Topic 12T183.
How many records did he make?
I gave him a ride home to Hawick from the Newcastleton festival in 1972. He was a lovely old man and didn't mind riding in my old Morrie Minor.
Actually, I heard "Canny shepherd laddie" from another old bloke in Northumberland a couple of weeks later - Jimmy Green (or was it Jimmy White?) I don't know if he was ever recorded by Topic or Leader or anyone else (apart from me, on an old cassette that may or may not still work).
Robyn

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny Shepherd Laddy O` The Hills
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 14 Mar 03 - 04:22 PM

According to Roud's index Jimmy White recorded The Canny Shepherd Lad on Caedmon TC 1144 / Topic 12T 159 (`Jack of All Trades') (starting "Now there's sangs about your sodgers and your sailors by the score"), also on a BBC recording (as Canny Shepherd of the Hills). Nothing listed in Roud from Willie and it's not on his record The Shepherd's Song (although The Shepherd's Song is).

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny Shepherd Laddy O` The Hills
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 14 Mar 03 - 04:23 PM

Now, that sounds more promising. Peter Kennedy recorded Jimmy White singing that one back in 1954; it appeared on the Caedmon/Topic album Jack of All Trades. It's not impossible that I have it on a tape somewhere, but I'll not be finding it soon even if I have. Apparently it was a local composition; the words were written by John Mowat, to the tune of Darling Nelly Gray. It began "Now there's songs about your sodgers and your sailors...". Number 3088 in the Roud Folk Song Index; the only example listed at present.

Subject: Lyr Add: The Canny Shepherd Laddie
From: GUEST,Storyteller
Date: 14 Mar 03 - 06:02 PM

The Canny Shepherd Laddie


Now there's sangs about your sodgers and your sailors by the score,
And of tinkers and of tailors and of other men galore;
But I'll sing ye a wee bit ditty that ye've never heard before,
O' the canny shepherd laddies o' the hills.

They climb oot amang the heather ere it's turned the break o' day,
Through the bent amang the moss hags and the bogs they wend their way,
Whan they see a sheep that's markèd or a tup that's slipped away,
That's the canny shepherd laddies o' the hills.

[Sung by Jimmy White, Yetlington, Northumberland
Recorded by Peter Kennedy
Issued on Caedmon/Topic LP The Folk Songs of Britain Vol. 3 Jack of all Trades]

These two verses, without any chorus, seem to be all that Jimmy White sang for Peter Kennedy; it may be that there were other verses that had the words toots is looking for.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny Shepherd Laddy O` The Hills
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 14 Mar 03 - 08:12 PM

There are reputedly some eight other verses, but I know nothing about them. The recording is also available from Peter Kennedy's Folktrax:

Bonny Tyneside

Perhaps it's a longer take; the Caedmon series was rather brutally edited if I remember correctly. It appears that the High Level Ranters have recorded an arrangement of it (Border Spirit: Topic 12TS434, 1983), and that may be longer too.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny Shepherd Laddy O` The Hills
From: John Nolan
Date: 14 Mar 03 - 08:20 PM

The full version of the song, including the chorus (that's the river names)is published in Herd Laddie o the Glen. I'll post it tomorrow unless someone does it first.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny Shepherd Laddy O` The Hills
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 14 Mar 03 - 10:08 PM

Ah! Willie Scott did record a song called Herd Laddie o' the Glen. Looks like we're getting there, though further away from Toots' title! Dick Greenhaus regularly says titles are a snare and a delusion, and he's often right.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny Shepherd Laddy O` The Hills
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 15 Mar 03 - 04:46 AM

Malcolm, I don't think Herd Laddie o' the Glen is the actual song were looking for (I've just listened to it to make sure; it's one of Willie's own songs, a tribute to a dead friend). I think John is saying the song is in Alison McMorland's book, Herd Laddie o' the Glen, about the life of Willie Scott.

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny Shepherd Laddy O` The Hills
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 15 Mar 03 - 10:25 AM

I realised that later, but wasn't able to find a list of the contents. Perhaps it includes a discography? I don't know of a full album of Willie Scott apart from the Topic one, but he turns up in all sorts of anthologies.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE CANNY SHEPHERD LADDIE
From: John Nolan
Date: 15 Mar 03 - 12:43 PM

THE CANNY SHEPHERD LADDIE

There's songs aboot oor soldiers and oor sailors by the score,
Of tinkers and of tailors and of others there's galore;
But I'll sing ye a song that you've never heard before,
It's the canny shepherd laddie o' the hills.

Chorus

Oh the shepherds o the Coquet, the Alwin and the Rede,
The Bowment and the Breamish, they're all the same breed,
Wi their collie dog beside them and a stick with horn heid
It's the canny shepherd laddie o' the hills.

Chorus

They climb oot ower the mountain ere it's turned the break o' day,
Through the bent and moss hags and round bogs they wend their way,
Quick tae see a mawkit yin or a sheep that's strayed away,
It's the canny shepherd laddie o' the hills.

Chorus

They send the collie around the sheep with a yell o "Gan oot wide"
Then whistle with the notes so shrill the dog drops in his stride
"Come by Moss! Doon a bit I'll tak my stick oot ower yer hide"
It's the canny shepherd laddie o' the hills.

Chorus

If the lambing time is stormy he will curse and he will swear
There's a yowe that's lost its lamb and I've skinned an auld yowe there,
Some o them have ta'en the sickness, nae mair trouble can I bear
It's the canny shepherd laddie o' the hills.

Chorus

In the back-end tae the marts he'll gang if the prices they are dear
To celebrate he'll treat his pals tae whisky and tae beer,
But if the prices they are bad, it taks a dram tae cheer
The canny shepherd laddie o' the hills.

Chorus

In the winter when its stormy and drifts are piling high
He'll never flinch tae tak the risk that in the snow he may die
His first care is his sheep are settled and sheltered safe may lie
The canny shepherd laddie o' the hills.

Chorus

At Alwinton they may turn oot tae see the Shepherds' Show
Then into Foreman's for a drink they with their cronies go,
They'll argue and they'll sing and shout, but fecht, well bless me no
The canny shepherd laddie o' the hills.

Chorus

Now if ye've gaun among them as A've done for forty years
Nae kinder hearted folk you'll meet if you look far or near
The kettl'e set a boiling and they cry "Sit you doon here"
The canny shepherd laddie o' the hills.

Chorus

A've said nae words aboot their wives A'm shair there is no need
But in every house I've been tae yet they seem tae be the heid,
And I'm sure you'll all agree with me, it taks a hell of a good wife to breed
A canny shepherd laddie o' the hills.

From Herd Laddie o the Glen (1988)
Songs of a Border Shepherd
Willie Scott
Shepherd and Singer
Compiled by Alison McMorland

All royalties from the book to the School of Scottish Studies Appeal

Superfluous line breaks removed. --JoeClone, 19-Mar-03.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny Shepherd Laddy O` The Hills
From: John Nolan
Date: 15 Mar 03 - 05:03 PM

I maybe should have added, from Alison McMorland's notes, that The Cannie Shepherd Laddie o' the Hills "was written by Mrs. Nichols, a shepherd's wife then of Cappercleuch, now living in Henderland in Yarrow."
Je peut-être devrais avoir ajouté, des notes d'Alison McMorland, que le berger Laddie o de Cannie 'les collines "a été écrit par Mme Nichols, l'épouse d'un berger puis de Cappercleuch, maintenant habitant dans Henderland en millefeuille." (Pardon my French.)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny Shepherd Laddy O` The Hills
From: GUEST,Toots
Date: 15 Mar 03 - 06:06 PM

Thanks everyone, espec. John, for the info

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny Shepherd Laddy O` The Hills
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 15 Mar 03 - 10:15 PM

Thanks, John. Does Alison mention if the song was ever issued on a recording?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny Shepherd Laddy O` The Hills
From: John Nolan
Date: 16 Mar 03 - 08:55 AM

No mention of a recording, Malcolm.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny Shepherd Laddie o' the Hills
From: Dave Rado
Date: 23 May 17 - 08:32 AM

Kathryn Tickell recorded it with her father on her Northumbrian Voices LP. The lyrics are slightly different, though.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bonny Shepherd Laddie o' the Hills
From: GUEST
Date: 23 May 17 - 04:38 PM

slightly different, just like it should be where traditional singers are concerned- this is the essence of the music.... and the songs