Lyr Req: Queen Amang the Heather

Subject: Queen Amangst the Heather
From: JC
Date: 08 Jun 99 - 05:13 PM

I'd like the words to the above song. It was sung by Archie Fisher and others. Hope someone can help. Also, anyone know where it came from originally?

Subject: Lyr Add: QUEEN AMANG THE HEATHER
From: Frank of Toledo
Date: 08 Jun 99 - 06:27 PM

As I roved out one fine simmer's morn
Among lofty hills, moorlands and mountains,
It was there I sspied a weel faur'd maid
As I, wi'others, was oo-a-huntin'

No shoes nor stockings did she wear,
And neither had she cap nor feather,
But her golden hair hung in ringlets fair
And the gentle breeze blew 'round her shoulder.

I said,"Braw lasie, why roam your lane,
Why roam your lane amang the heather?"
She said,"My father's awa'frae hame
And I"m herding a'his yowes thegither."

I said,"Braw Lassie, if ye'll be mine,
And care to lie on a bed of feather,
In silks and satins you will shine,
And you'll be my queen amang the heather."

She said, "Kind sir, your offer's good,
Ah, but I"m afraid it was meant for laughter.
For I see you are some rich suire's son
And I am but a poor shepherd's daughter.

"But had ye been a shepherd's loon
A-herdin yowes in yonder valley,
Or had ye been some ploughman's son,
Wi' a' my heart could hae lo'ed ye."

Now, I've been to halls and I've been tae balls,
I've been to London and Balquidder,
But the bonniest lass that e'er I saw
She was herdin' yowes amang the heather.

So we both sat down upon the plain,
We sat awhile and we talked togeother,
And we left the yowoes to stray their lane
Till I lo'ed my queen amang the heather.

Archie said he learned this version from Belle Stewart and it was called "Skippin' Barefoot Through The Heather".........

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Line breaks added. --JoeClone

Subject: RE: Queen Amangst the Heather
From: Susan of DT
Date: 08 Jun 99 - 07:00 PM

We had it as Bonnie Lass Among the Heather. I searched for queen heather (not in brackets) to find songs with both words.

Subject: RE: Queen Amangst the Heather
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 09 Jun 99 - 07:49 PM

The words I have (not yet written down) are different. But I found a couple of notes on the song:

Queen Amang the Heather (or Lass Amang the Heather)

[1965:] This splendid version of a song equally well-known amongst the Scots farming community and the travelling folk was learnt by Belle [Stewart] when she was still a wee bairn - among the singers to have contributed to her version are old Henry MacGregor of Perth, her cousin Jimmy Whyte and her brother Donald MacGregor. Versions of it used to be as thick as blaeberries in Strathmore and the Braes of Angus. It seems to be related to Ower the Muir Amang the Heather, of which Burns wrote: 'This song is the composition of Jean Glover. ... I took the song down from her singing as she was strolling through the country with a sleight-of-hand blackguard.'. Subsequent collecting makes it almost certain that Jean Glover 's version was itself a re-shaping of an older Ettrick song. James Hogg, the Ettrick shepherd produced a version which was in turn modified. Musical and textual evidence however, suggests that [...] a classic ballad lies behind the lyric lovesong. In this case, the progenitor is Glasgow Peggie (Child 228), the tunes for which are clearly related to Queen Amang the Heather, and whose story presents a parallel situation - the Highlander who takes the heiress he has carried off and beds her down 'amang the heather' before revealing that he is himself a Chieftain. (Hamish Henderson, notes 'The Stewarts of Blair')

[1995:] Sheila [Stewart] calls the song, which she got from her mother, Queen Amang the Heather, but we have used the title in the 'Greig-Duncan Collection', Volume 5. There are a bewildering variety of pieces in Scottish folk song on the courtship of the lowly by the high born suitor, notably the ballad version, The Laird o' Drum. The message is clearly egalitarian, and this has a distinct attraction for traveller singers often themselves suffering social discrimination. The motif is well expressed in the last verse of the ballad. (Peter Hall, notes 'Folk Songs of North-East Scotland')

Subject: RE: Queen Amangst the Heather
From:
Date: 09 Jun 99 - 08:42 PM

Not everyone believes the tale that it came from Jean Glover, and the tune is earlier than Jean Glover's time. Delia Murphy sang an Irish version "Down the moor, and across the heather".

Subject: RE: Queen Amangst the Heather
From: JC
Date: 10 Jun 99 - 02:14 PM

Thanks everybody for the interesting information. This is such a great site!