The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #125348   Message #2775390
Posted By: Joe Offer
28-Nov-09 - 02:31 AM
Thread Name: Origins/lyrics: Queen Among the Heather
Subject: ADD Version: Queen Among the Heather
Oh, if I'd looked a littler closer at the Traditional Ballad Index, I'd have seen that the Belle Stewart recording is on disc 15 of Topic's Voice of the People

QUEEN AMANG THE HEATHER

Noo, as I roved out one summer's morn
Amang lofty hills, moorland and mountain,
It was there I spied a lovely maid,
Whilst I with others was out a-huntin'.

No shoes nor stockin's did she wear;
Neither had she hat nor had she feather,
But her golden locks, aye, in ringlets rare
In the gentle breeze played around her shoulders.

"Oh," I said, "braw lassie, why roam your lane?
Why roam your lane amang the heather?"
For she says, "My faither's awa' fae hame
And I'm herdin' a' his yowes thegether."

"Noo," I said, "braw lassie, if you'll be mine
And care to lie on a bed o' feathers,
In silks and satin it's you will shine,
And you'll be my queen amang the heather."

"But," she said, "kind sir, your offer is good,
But I'm afraid it was meant for laughter,
For I know you are some rich squire's son
And that I'm a poor lame shepherd's dochter."

"But had ye been a shepherd loon
A-herdin' yowes in the yonder valley,
Or had you been a plooman's son,
Wi' all my heart I would hae lo'ed ye."

Noo, I hae been to balls and I hae been to halls;
I have been in London and Balquidder,
But the bonniest lassie that ever I did see
She was herdin' yowes amang the heather.

So we baith sat doon upon the plain.
We sat awhile and we talked thegether,
And we left the yowes for to stray their lane,
Till I wooed my queen amang the heather.

from the CD booklet, Voice of the People CD 15
BELLE STEWART, voice
Recorded by Fred Kent in Blairgowrie, Perthshire, May 1976; Topic 12TS307.

braw-fine
your lane - you alone
loon - boy
lo'ed - loved
stray their lane - on their own

Srich, where did you get your version. I listened through Kennedy's Belle Stewart recording, and I heard nothing like It was there I spied a weel faurt maid. In this recording, it's clearly It was there spied a lovely maid. Could it be that Belle Stewart cleaned the song up when she sang it for Kennedy?
-Joe-