The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #92750   Message #3852081
Posted By: Joe Offer
24-Apr-17 - 12:31 AM
Thread Name: Origins: Gairdner and the Plooman (Jean Redpath)
Subject: RE: Origins: Gairdner and the Plooman (Jean Redpath)
There's a Traditional Ballad Index entry on this song, so there are more versions to be found:

Gairdner and the Plooman, The

DESCRIPTION: A gardner has long courted the girl, "But the blythe blink o the plooman lad Has stown my hairt frae me, me, Has stown my hairt frae me." The singer first saw her love singing "under a bush o' rue." She finally turns to the plooman
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Grieg)
KEYWORDS: love courting farming
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Bronson 219, "The Gardener" (9 versions+3 in addenda, but #1 at least is "The Gairdner and the Plooman")
Ord, p. 94, "The Gairdner and the Ploughman" (1 text)

Roud #339
NOTES: This song sometimes is listed as a version of "The Gardener" [Child #219], including by Bronson, who counts one of Grieg's versions there. This is understandable, as the song is very diverse (Bronson himself says that "The Gardener" "rests uneasily in Child's collection. It is both too little of a ballad... and too sophisticated").
Nonetheless, I think they should be separated. "The Gardener" seems to have at its root a dialog involving flowers and courting. This piece mentions a gardener, but he isn't wandering around waving flowers in the girl's face, really, and she has a separate love interest. - RBW
File: Ord094

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Here are the lyrics we have in the Digital Tradition. I think it's taken from the post above from Peace, but originally from the album notes from the Jean Redpath Folk-Legacy album, Frae My Ain Countrie.

THE GAIRDNER AND THE PLOOMAN

Awyte I keepit the gairdner's hert,
But leet my ain gae free,
Till by it cam' the plooman lad,
And he's stown my hert fae me.

But woe be to the plooman lad,
And woe be till 'im noo;
-------
And he's left me sair to rue.

The plooman heard his bonnie love's moan,
As he was at the ploo;
The plooman heard his bonnie love's moan,
Near to yon bush he drew.

Lat oot yer goon, my bonnie love,
And mak' it neat and new,
And ye shall he the plooman's bride,
And ye'se never hae cause to rue.

It's braw bein' a gairdner's wife,
In the gairden amo' the thyme;
But it's better bein' in the plooman's airms,
Faur I've been mony a time.

The first time that I saw my love,
It was under a bush o' rue.
And aye the sweeter that she sang,
The nearer the bush I drew.

A gairdner lad that lives near by,
Lang has he woo'd me,
And he's gi'en me his heart tae keep,
A pledge o ' love tae be.

Lang did I keep my gairdner's heart,
My ain was aye free,
Or the blithe blink o' the plooman lad
Has stown the heart frae me.

The firstan time I did him see,
He was plooin' on yon brae broo,
And I could neither haud nor ca',
Twas a' for the love o' you.

The neistan time I did you see,
It was under a bush o' rue,
And aye the sweeter that ye sang,
The nearer the bush I drew.

Mak' up yer goon, my bonnie lass,
And rnak' (mak') it neat and fine,
And ye shall be the ploomanrs (plooman's) wife,
For the gairdner's changed his mind.

The plooman lad, he's hearin' this,
Just in a bush near by;
Says, "Say nae mair, my bonnie lassie
For ye ken better why. "

The first time that I saw my love,
It was under a bush o' rue,
And aye the sweeter that she sang,
The nearer the bush I drew.

(mistakes underlined, with corrections following in italics).

Murray Shoolbraid, originally from Leslie in Fife, was living in Vancouver, B.C., when we met.
I envy him his card index of Scottish songs and his ability to provide a text with a melody like this.
The words are found in Greig's Folk-Song of the Northeast, the original text being from Mrs. Jaffray of Mintlaw.
The apparent confusion of this version as it stands (who is saying what and to whom?) is cleared up
by the second text in Greig which, although fragmentary, has a more complete story line

Recorded by Jean Redpath on Frae My Ain Country
filename[ BUSHRUE
PX
Feb07

Here's the Redpath recording from Frae My Ain Countrie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkmSXB-hI4g