Here's the traditional Ballad Index entry of "The Broom of the Cowdenknowes. Note that the Ballad Index says there are two songs with this title and tune, the ballad listed here, and a more lyric piece about a man who must leave home because he fell in love with a girl above his station. I've included the DT lyrics for both songs below.
Broom of Cowdenknows, The [Child 217]
DESCRIPTION: A gentleman sees a pretty (shepherdess), and lies with her (without her leave). She becomes pregnant. Some weeks or months later, the gentleman returns and claims her for his own
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1768 (Percy collection; tune mentioned 1632)
KEYWORDS: seduction pregnancy abandonment return marriage bastard
FOUND IN: Britain(England,Scotland(Aber)) US(NE,So)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Child 217, "The Broom of Cowdenknows" (15 texts)
Bronson 217, "The Broom of Cowdenknows" (21 versions+1 in addenda)
GreigDuncan4 838, "The Cowdenknowes" (10 texts, 10 tunes plus a single verse on p. 555)
Lyle-Crawfurd2 178, "The Tod Wi the Twinkland Ee" (1 text)
Lyle-Crawfurd1 32, "The Laird of Ochiltree Walls" (1 text, 1 tune); 49, "The Laird o' Ochiltree" (1 text)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 293-295, "The Broom of Cowden-Knowes" (1 text plus an excerpt from "Broom (II)," 1 tune) {Bronson's #21}
Moore-Southwest 43, "The Bonny Broom" (1 text, 1 tune)
Whitelaw-Ballads, pp. 288-289, "The Broom of Cowdenknows" (1 text)
Roud #92
RECORDINGS:
Stanley Robertson, "The Ballad of the Ewe Buchts" (on Voice06)
BROADSIDES:
Murray, Mu23-y1:041, "Ewe Buchts," James Lindsay Jr. (Glasgow), 19C
NLScotland, L.C.1270(004), "Ewe Buchts," unknown, n.d. (the site says 1840-1850, but a second ballad on the sheet refers to [Charles Stewart] Parnell, which puts it least thirty years after that); also L.C.Fol.70(2b), "Ewe Buchts," unknown, n.d.
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wylie Wife of the Hie Toun Hie" [Child 290] (plot)
cf. "The Dainty Doonby" (plot)
cf. "The Sleepy Merchant" (plot)
cf. "The Bonnie Parks o' Kilty" (plot)
cf. "A Nobleman" (plot)
cf. "The Broom o the Cowdenknowes (II - lyric)" (tune & meter)
SAME TUNE:
The New Way of the Broom of Cowden Knowes (Broadside NLScotland, Ry.III.a.10(007), "The New Way of the Broom of Cowden Knowes" ("Hard Fate that I should banisht be, And Rebell called with Scorn, for serving of a Lovely Prince, As e'er yet was born"), unknown, prob. 1716)
The Glasgow Factory Lass (per broadside Murray, Mu23-y1:010, "The Glasgow Factory Lass," unknown (Glasgow), no date)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Laird o Ociltree Wa's
Laird o Lochnie
Ewe Buchts
Bonnie Mary Is to the Ewe Buchts Gane
The Laird o' Youghal Tree Wells
NOTES: Note that this melody is used for two pieces, both called "Broom o' the Cowdenknow(e)s," and both Scottish: The ballad listed here, and a more lyric piece about a man who must leave home because he fell in love with a girl above his station.
Although the texts of this piece are generally quite late, the tune appears much older. BBI ZN2610, "Through Lidderdale as lately I went," registered in 1632, claims a "pleasant Scotch tune, called, The broom of Cowdenknowes" as its melody.
It's ironic to add that the tune you've almost certainly heard for this song (Bronson's #1) is from Playford, without lyrics -- and neither the Playford tune nor any of its immediate relatives in Bronson has a text (Bronson's group Aa includes six tunes; #4 has a single stanza of lyrics, the rest none -- and that stanza in #4 is the lyric version of the song, not the ballad!). - RBW
Last updated in version 3.3
File: C217
Broom o the Cowdenknowes (II - lyric), The
DESCRIPTION: "How blythe each more was I to see My lass come ower the hill, She tripped the burn and ran to me, I met her wi' good will." The singer is exiled for loving the girl (who is above his station?). "To wander by her side again Is a' I crave or care."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1725 (_A Collection of Old Ballads Vol III_, #69)
KEYWORDS: love separation exile
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Bronson 217, "The Broom of Cowdenknows" (21 versions+1 in addenda; the #4 version belongs here, implying that at least some of #1-#6 also go with this piece)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 293-295, "The Broom of Cowden-Knowes" (1 excerpt plus a text and tune from the Child ballad)
DT, COWDENKN*
ADDITIONAL: [Ambrose Phillips?,] A Collection of Old Ballads Vol III, (London, 1725), #44, pp. 236-237, "The Broom of Cowdenknow" [.".. Cowdenknows" in Table of Contents]
James Johnson, Editor, _The Scots Musical Museum_ [1853 edition], volume I, #69, p. 70, "The Broom of Cowdenknows" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST DTcowden (Partial)
Roud #8209
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Broom of Cowdenknows" [Child 217] (tune & meter)
NOTES: Although this song is very popular in folk revival circles (probably because it has the excellent "Cowdenknowes" tune but is short), it is much less popular in tradition than its ballad cousin.
It's interesting to note that the Scots Musical Museum version, which is by far the earliest known to me, is longer than any I've ever heard sung: Eight stanzas plus the chorus. I rather suspect rewriting, because some of the verses are pretty poor. The tune is not quite the same as what we usually hear today.
That the song is even older than that seems nearly certain from the existence of a broadside, NLScotland, Ry .III.a.10(007), "The New Way of the Broom of Cowden Knows," unknown, n.d. Said broadside clearly is based on this song -- the lyric begins "Hard Fate that I should banishet be, And Revell called with Scorn. For serving of a Lovely Prince, As e'er yet was Born. O the Broom, the Bonny Broom, The Broom of Cowding (sic.) knows, I wish his Frinds had Stayed at home, Milking there Dadys Ewes."
There can be no question that this is a Jacobite song. The notes at the NLScotland site suspect it of coming from the 1715 rebellion, probably because it mentions Huntly and his treachery, plus Seaforth. I'd be more inclined to date it to 1746, because 1. It refers to a *prince* (James III was King, in the Jacobite view, in 1715 as well as 1745), and it wishes his friends had stayed at home -- a much more likely sentiment after 1746, when the Highlanders were ruined, than in 1715, when nothing much happened.
Either way, though, the broadside is strong evidence for the existence of the lyric version of "Broom" long before the 1797 publication. - RBW
re A Collection of Old Ballads Vol III: Ambrose Philips, whose name does not appear in the Google Books copy is, according to Google Books, the editor. The New York Public Library catalog says "Compilation usually attributed to Ambrose Philips" - BS
Last updated in version 3.0
File: DTcowdenGo to the Ballad Search form
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Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or DiscographyThe Ballad Index Copyright 2015 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.
BROOM O' THE COWDENKNOWES (BALLAD VERSION) (from DT)
There was a troop o' merry gentlemen,
Cam' ridin' between twa knowes,
An' there heard the voice o' a fair bonnie lass,
In the valley, milkin' her yowes.
There's yin o' them has lighted aff his horse,
An' tied it tae a tree,
An' he has gane tae yon yowe-bucht,
Tae see what it might be.
Singin', "O, the broom , the bonnie, bonnie broom,
The broom o' the Cowdenknowes;
Fain wad I be in the nairth country,
Tendin' my faither's yowes."
He's ta'en her by her milk-white hand,
An' by her green gown-sleeve,
An' led her intae a misty bough,
An' speired o' her nae leave.
Sayin, "I've been nairth, an' I've south,
An' I've ridden o'er the downs,
But the bonniest lass that e'er I've seen
Is right here in Cowdenknowes."
O, the broom...
When fifteen weeks had past an' gane,
Fu' fifteen weeks an' three,
This maid grew thick aboot the waist,
An' she longed for his twinklin' ee.
It fell on a day, on a bonnie simmer's day,
As she wauked the hills sae high,
Anither troop o' fine gentlemen
Cam' ridin' o'er the lea.
Singin', O, the broom...
Yin o' them, he stopped an' he said,
"Wha got the babe by thee?"
Weel, first she blushed, but syne she said,
"I hae a fine man at hame."
"Oh, ye lie, ye lie, my bonnie bonnie may!
Aloud I hear ye lie!
Dinna ye mind the bonnie simmer nicht
I lay in the yowe-bucht wi' thee?"
O, the broom...
He's lighted aff his milk-white steed,
An' set this fair maid on,
"Noo ca' your herds, good lady," he said;
"Ye'll ne'er see them again.
"For I am the laird o' Knottingham,
Wi' fifty ploos an' three,
An' let your faither cam' after your sheep,
For tonight my bride ye'll be."
Singin', O, the broom...
-----------------------------------------------------------
Child #217
Roud-92
This is the only ballad version I have heard of this song.
(The lyric text, which is sung to the same tune, is incredibly
common. Ewan MacColl sings another ballad text on "The English
and Scottish Popular Ballads, Volume III," but it uses a
different stanza structure). This is very loosely the version
sung by Dan and Roxanne Keding on Wisconsin Public Radio's
"Simply Folk Sampler," but Jeff Cahill also interpolates some
phrases, and I collated the result with Child's "A" text
to bring back the Scottishness of the original.
For a completely different ballad text for this well-known
and beloved tune, see the "B" text of Child 95. Although
clearly a version of that ballad ("The Maid Freed from the
Gallows," best known in America as "Hangman, Hangman,"),
it has taken over the burden -- and apparently the music --
of "Broom o' the Cowdenknowes." RW
glossary:
aboot: about
aff: off
anither: another
ca': call
cam': came
dinna: do not
fu': full
gane: gone
hae: have
hame: home
intae: into
laird: landowner
may: maid
nairth: north
noo: now
ploos: plows
sae: so
simmer: summer
speired: asked
syne: then
ta'en: taken
tae: to
twa: two
wad: would
wauked: walked
wha: who
yin: one
yowe: ewe
@bastard @pregnancy @Scottish
filename[ COWDENK2
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TUNE FILE: COWDENKN.2
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TUNE FILE: COWDENKN.3
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RW
BROOM OF THE COWDENKNOWES (from DT)
How blithe each morn was I tae see
My lass came o'er the hill
She skipped the burn and ran tae me
I met her with good will.
O the broom, the bonnie, bonnie broom
The broom o the cowdenknowes
Fain would I be in the north country
Herding her father's ewes
We neither herded ewes nor lamb
While the flock near us lay
She gathered in the sheep at night
And cheered me all the day
Hard fate that I should banished be
Gone way o'er hill and moor
Because I loved the fairest lass
That ever yet was born
Adieu, ye cowdenknowes, adieu
Farewell all pleasures there
To wander by her side again
Is all I crave or care
_____
Sing Out.
17th Century Scottish.
Child #217
Roud-92
Recorded by Clutha- Bonny Mildams, Silly Wizard
@Scottish @love @plant @animal
note: Alternate tune COWDENKN.2 is the older version: from Orpheus
Caledoneus, Thomson (1733). COWDENKN.3 from Robert Waltz; variant
on COWDENKN.
filename[ COWDENKN
TUNE FILE: COWDENKN
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TUNE FILE: COWDENKN.2
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TUNE FILE: COWDENKN.3
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SOF