The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #1253   Message #3966
Posted By: LaMarca
07-Apr-97 - 02:40 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Bonny Susie Cleland
Subject: RE: Bonny Susie Cleland
If you don't object to the marriage of trad. folk with rock& roll, there's a really great version done by June Tabor and The Oyster Band on a Ryko CD. They twist the traditional tune and verses JUST a bit, so that the refrain line goes

"Bonnie Susie Clelland's to be MARRIED in Dundee"

until she tells her little foot page to tell her lover she's going to be burned at the stake - then the refrain changes to:

"Bonnie Susie Clelland's to be BURIED in Dundee."

A group of us known as The Yorkist Ballad Charade Society did a silent theater performance of the ballad at Pinewoods Folk Music Week one year, with David Jones playing the part of the noble English lover who arrives too late. He gingerly lifted the charcoal covered shroud over his lady-love, gave a delicate shudder, pantomimed "Yeeccchh" and promptly departed...

Chris Foster also did a superb recording of the original version of the ballad, Lady Maisrie, on his Topic record "Layers". It's much longer, and quite a bit more graphic than Bonnie Susie Clelland.