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Lyr Req: roving ploughboy

08 May 04 - 02:11 PM (#1181215)
Subject: lyrics for roving ploughboy
From: crocket8

i'm searching for the lyrics for roving ploughboy ,it is similar to the gypsy bladdie but this one has a chorus that goes "ploughboy o' ploughboy o' we'll follow the roving ploughboy o'"
thank you

08 May 04 - 02:16 PM (#1181218)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE ROVIN' PLOUGHBOY
From: Letty

This one?


Chorus:
Ploughboy-o, ploughboy-o
Follow the rovin' ploughboy-o

Saddle tae me my old grey mare
Saddle tae me my pony-o
And noo she's on the road and she's far far awa'
Awa' wi' her rovin' ploughboy-o

Champion ploughboy her Geordie lad
Cups and medals and prizes-o
In bonnie Deveron-side there is none can compare
Wi' the jolly rovin' ploughboy-o

Yestreen she lay in a fine feather bed
Sheets and blankets sae cosy-o
And noo she maun lie in a cauld barn-shed
Ro'ed in the arms o' her ploughboy-o

Fare thee weel tae auld Huntly toon
Fare thee weel Drumdelgie-o
And noo she's on the road and she's far far awa'
Awa' wi' her rovin' ploughboy-o

08 May 04 - 03:03 PM (#1181253)
Subject: RE: lyrics for roving ploughboy
From: crocket8

Thank you Letty i'm very gratefull ,been looking for ages .
thanks again

09 May 04 - 12:52 AM (#1181560)
Subject: ADD: The Roving Ploughboy-O
From: Joe Offer

Letty, where's your version from? Here's another version:

The Roving Ploughboy-O

Come saddle tae me my auld grey mare
Come saddle tae me my pony-O
And I will tak' the road and I'll go far away
After the roving ploughboy-O
Ploughboy-O
Ploughboy-O
I'll follow the roving ploughboy-O

Last night I lay on a fine feather bed
Sheets and blankets sae cosy-O
This night I maun lie in a cold barn shed
Wrapped in the arms o' my ploughboy-O

A champion ploughman, my Geordie-O
Cups and medals and prizes-O
On bonny Devronside there are none to compare
With my jolly roving ploughboy-O

Sae fare ye well to old Huntley toon
Fare thee well, Drumdelgie-O
For noo I'm on the road and I'm goin' far awa'
After the roving ploughboy-O


recorded by Peter Kennedy in 1953, from the singing of John MacDonald, Elgin, Moray Scotland.

source: Folk Songs of Britain and Ireland, Kennedy.

Click to play

Notes from Kennedy:
This song is a reworking by the singer of a traditional fragment. Because it has similar verses and tune one would conclude that it is a bothy parody of the ballad "The Gipsy Laddie" mentioned by Ord in Bothy Songs and Ballads (p. 42). In fact it uses a similar tune to that sung by Jeannie Robertson for The Gipsy Laddie.
Variants of the same tune are also used for two other popular Occupational Songs: The Brewer Lad and The Collier Laddie (the latter touched up by Robert Burns). In a note to the The Collier Laddie Ord remarks that in the north eastern counties of Scotland (Aberdeenshire, Banffshire and Morayshire) 'Ploughman Laddie' is substituted for 'Collier Laddie'. He gives the opening verse:
    I've been East and I've been West
    And I've been in St Johnstone,
    But the bonniest laddie that ever I saw
    Was a ploughman laddie dancing

The Collier Laddie too would seem to be parodied on The Gipsy Laddie.
    I'll gie her lands and I'll gie her rents
    And I'll make her a lady,
    I'll make her one of a higher degree
    Than to follow a collier laddie

Another song with a similar tune is Mormond Braes, but it could also be a fragment of the same song:
    There's as guid fish into the sea
    As ever yet was taken
    I'll cast my line and try again
    I'm only once forsaken

    Sae fare ye weel, ye Mormond Braes
    Where aftimes I've been cheery
    Fare ye wee!, ye Mormond Braes
    For it's there I've lost my dearie

This in turn could also be part of The Brewer Lad which has similar verses:

    She has rambled up, she's rambled down
    She's rambled through Kirkcaldy
    And mony's the time she rues the day
    She jilted her brewer laddie

09 May 04 - 01:41 PM (#1181693)
Subject: RE: lyrics for roving ploughboy
From: Letty

I think I got that version from a website at some stage.
Malinky do a nice version too on their 3 Ravens album, much more like yours.

09 May 04 - 02:05 PM (#1181707)
Subject: RE: lyrics for roving ploughboy
From: Malcolm Douglas

The text Letty posted came from Susanne and Henry's songbook:

The Rovin' Ploughboy. As usual, Susanne has added notes from various sources; Hamish Henderson's comments are particularly informative.

The text there is a transcription from a record made by Iain MacKintosh & Hamish Imlach, which was an arrangement of John MacDonald's set; though for some reason they altered it into the third person. MacDonald's set has been published a number of times, both in print and sound, and is currently the only example from tradition listed in Roud (number 2138). I would expect that Malinky's recording is also an arrangement of it.