The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #52265   Message #3401801
Posted By: GUEST,LYRIC ADD: 999
08-Sep-12 - 05:57 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Come Away, Bonnie Lad
Subject: ADD: Come Away, Bonnie Lad
Come Away Bonnie Lad as sung by the Sons of Erin. (NB, they have a video on the following link from which I took the lyrics.)

http://www.wtv-zone.com/phyrst/audio/nfld/22/lad.htm

COME AWAY, BONNIE LAD
Songwriter:

Come away, bonnie lad, 'tis making me sad,
I've loved you these twenty long years;
You're as pure as the heather, my bonnie wee lad,
Come away, 'tis the pipes that I hear.

You're the likeness, my son, of your father who's gone,
From the earth and I well do recall,
'Twas a morning like this when he chanced for to hear,
The pipes calling out one and all.

If you follow the pipes you will ne'er see again,
The sweet purple heather in bloom;
I once said the same to your father in vain,
As the pipers were playing their tune.

Come away, says the pipes, they're playing our tune,
For the likes of you to be ready;
They are playing the tune I remember so well,
When I last saw your father, dear laddie.

Come away, bonnie lad, it's fearful too sad,
What I hear over yonder blue heather;
'Tis the pipers again calling out for young men,
To die in the fields of endeavour.

Come away, bonnie lad, 'tis making me sad,
I've loved you these twenty long years;
You're as pure as the heather, my bonnie wee lad,
Come away, 'tis the pipes that I hear.

####.... Alan MacRae ....####

This variant arranged and recorded by the Sons of Erin, featuring bandleader Ralph O'Brien, Johnnie Lynn, "Wee" John Cameron, and Denis Ryan on their self-titled album (Sons Of Erin, trk#2, 1970, Dominion Records, Toronto, Ontario).

See more songs by Sons of Erin.

A variant was also recorded as Come Away Bonny Lad by The R.O.S.S. Ceiligh Band of St. John's, NL (The Besta' Rough Gear, 2005).

The YouTube video below features a recording by Dick Nolan (I Want To Live, trk#4, 1967, Arc Sound Ltd, Toronto, Ontario, directed by Ben Weatherby); and a digitally remastered compact disc (Newfoundland Songbook, Volume 3, trk#18, 2008, Unidisc Music Inc., Pointe-Claire, Quebec).