Origins: Wild Mountain Thyme/Braes o' Balquhidder

Subject: RE: Origins: Wild Mountain Thyme/Braes o' Balquhidder
From: Jim McLean
Date: 30 Jun 21 - 04:50 PM

There are two threads running at the moment and so I will copy in my posting from the other relevant thread.
Let’s clear this up.

There are three distinct tunes associated with The Braes o’ Balquhither.

A) The commonly accepted melody used by Burns for ‘An I’ll Kiss Ye Yet’ and printed by R A Smith under the title The Braes o’ Balquhither, Smith’s Scotish (sic) Minstrel, Vol. 1, 1822.
B) The Three Carles o’ Buchanan, the tune chosen by Tannahill in his letter to Smith, 1810.
C) The Wild Mountain Thyme, first recorded by the McPeakes in 1956.

All tunes are COMPLETELY different.

The tune Rory referenced, New York publication, is tune B also published by Smith Vol lV 1824 2nd edition, titled The Three Carles o’ Buchanan and not the same as Daniel referenced (A).

Tune C is completely original and credited to the McPeakes.

Daniel, John Hamilton was know to Tannahill so he probably deliberately chose the tune tune (B) to distance himself from Hamilton’s Braes o Bowhether which has a familiar theme. Hamilton, by the way, copies many lines from Burns’ An I’ll Kiss Ye Yet, including the tune (A).m

I am an ethnomusicologist, degree from the university of Edinburgh, 2008, Thesis title “A Study of Two Tunes: The Three Carles O’ Buchanan and the Braes O’ Balquhither in their cultural contexts from 1740 to the present day”.

Daniel, I suggest you listen again to tunes A and B and take note of the differences.
Rory, both your New York referenced tune (B) and the one you referenced earlier form the Scotish (sic) Minstrel (A) are different.

Subject: RE: Origins: Wild Mountain Thyme/Braes o' Balquhidder
From: RunrigFan
Date: 30 Jun 21 - 05:13 PM

LET us go Lassie go,
To the braes o’ Balquhither
Where the blae-berries grow,
Mang the bonnie highland heather,
Where the deer and the Rae
Lightly bounding together.
Sport the lang summer day,
Upon the braes o’ Balquhither

Will ye go lassie go
To the braes o’ Balquhither
Where the blae-berries grow,
Mang the bonnie blooming heather,

2
I will twine thee a bow'r
By the clear silver fountain.
And I'll cover it o’er
Wi’ the flow’rs o’ the mountain,
I will range thro’ the wilds,
And the steep glens sae dreary
And return wi’ their spoils,
To the Bow’r o’ my dearie.

Will ye go lassie go
To the braes o’ Balquhither
Where the blae-berries grow,
Mang the bonnie blooming heather,


3 When the rude wintry wind'
Idly raves 'roun' oor dwellin'
And the roar o' the linn
On the nicht breeze is swellin'
Sae merrily we'll sing
As the storm rattles o'er us
'Til the dear shielin' ring
Wi' the licht liltin' chorus

Will ye go lassie go
To the braes o’ Balquhither
Where the blae-berries grow,
Mang the bonnie blooming heather

From the singing from Kenneth McKellar from the album McKellar Today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVs_NEOGU4E

Subject: RE: Origins: Wild Mountain Thyme/Braes o' Balquhidder
From: RunrigFan
Date: 30 Jun 21 - 05:43 PM

I will build my love a bower
By yon clear siller fountain,
And on it I will build
All the flooers of the mountain.

Will you go lassie go
Tae the braes o’ Balquhither
Where the blae-berries grae,
Amang the bonnie purple heather

I will roar amang the glens? ??
And then ??? it
And I bring back the spoils
To the ???????? o' my deary.

Will you go lassie go
Tae the braes o’ Balquhither
Where the blae-berries grae,
Amang the bonnie purple heather


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDGWeTWEip8


Couldn't get all of it

Subject: RE: Origins: Wild Mountain Thyme/Braes o' Balquhidder
From: Reinhard
Date: 30 Jun 21 - 05:58 PM

BRAES O’ BALQUIDDER
Geordie McIntyre and Alison McMorland
as sung on Rowan in the Rock (2001)

I will build my lover a bower
By yon clear siller fountain
An’ aroon it I will build
All the flooers o’ the mountain

Chorus
Will ye go lassie go
Tae the braes o' Balquidder
Whaur the blaeberries grow
Amang the bonnie purple heather

I will roam o’er glens
And bens sae eerie
An’ I'll bring back the spoils
Tae the airms o’ my dearie

Chorus

Noo its high Simmertime
An’ the flooers are a-bloomin
An’ the wild mountain thyme
On the breezes perfumin’

Whaur the deer an' the roe
Lichtly bound a' the gither
Sport the lang simmer days
On the braes o’ Balquidder

Chorus

Subject: RE: Origins: Wild Mountain Thyme/Braes o' Balquhidder
From: RunrigFan
Date: 30 Jun 21 - 06:11 PM

Long version by Carl Peterson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACcv_W_WNEs

Subject: RE: Origins: Wild Mountain Thyme/Braes o' Balquhidder
From: RunrigFan
Date: 30 Jun 21 - 06:18 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBAk9_RMsAc


Different verse then Braes o' Balquhidder

Subject: RE: Origins: Wild Mountain Thyme/Braes o' Balquhidder
From: Jim McLean
Date: 30 Jun 21 - 06:45 PM

I covered all this in my Thesis. It’s a hybrid version recorded by Jeannie Robertson erroneously logged as the Braes o Balquhither at the School of Scottish Studies. The first verse is from Hugh McWilliams “The Lass Among the Heather”.
In all the versions recorded by Gregg/Duncan they never mentioned Hugh McWilliams.

Subject: RE: Origins: Wild Mountain Thyme/Braes o' Balquhidder
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Jun 21 - 10:57 PM

As noted previously 'Go Lassie Go' with the McPeakes tune was recorded in a field recording held by the British Library from 1952. It was also recorded here on a 10" HMV LP.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hppzya3pmZ0

One reason for changing the title to 'Wild Mountain Thyme' would be to give it its own copyright identity and separate it from 'Go Lassie Go', but this didn't stop any confusion of people thinking the whole was a simple copy arrangement of a trad. work, rather than a re-writing of the lyrics with additions and a re-shaping with an original tune (or at least one which is otherwise presently unrecorded before 1952).

Subject: RE: Origins: Wild Mountain Thyme/Braes o' Balquhidder
From: GUEST,Joop
Date: 14 Jun 23 - 12:50 PM

On Date: 05 Feb 20 - 08:19 PM Dave Rado states
C) Contrary to the claims on many websites – and even the liner notes of some recordings – the tune of Wild Mountain Thyme/ Will Ye Go, Lassie Go was never published or recorded before Francis McPeake Snr sang it in 1952; and the tune he sang it to bears no relationship whatsoever to any of the tunes that The Braes of Balquhidder had ever been sung to prior to 1952. So either Francis McPeake wrote the tune and that version of the words; or his uncle did; or else Wild Mountain Thyme – including its tune – must surely be a traditional Irish variant of The Braes of Balquhidder that was passed to them through the oral tradition. Question to Jim or anyone else who can throw any light on this: do you know which of these three alternative possibilities is the closest to the truth?

When I listen to any version of "Wild Mountain Thyme", I can't help but thinking of "Shenandoah".
We agree Francis McPeake got lyrical inspiration from "Braes o' Balquhidder". But could it be got a bit of inspiration from "Shenandoah"?

Joop greets

Subject: RE: Origins: Wild Mountain Thyme/Braes o' Balquhidder
From: Lighter
Date: 14 Jun 23 - 01:01 PM

I think the similarities are coincidental. Just a phrase here and there.

Subject: RE: Origins: Wild Mountain Thyme/Braes o' Balquhidder
From: GUEST,Rossey
Date: 14 Jun 23 - 05:20 PM

I doubt if anyone will ever get back before the first field recording in 1952.   It was performed live at a Folk festival in the Albert Hall, London January 1953. For some reason the Wiki for the song has never been altered, and has an erroneous date given of 1957 for the first recording of the McPeake's re-structured and modern rendering of 'Go Lassie Go/Wild Mountain Thyme'. The date of 1957 is wrong - as there is the 1952 recording and here..

"Frank and Francis also sang the lovely song. “ Will you go lassie, Monday 12 January 1953, Northern Whig - Antrim, Northern Ireland Page: 2

Subject: RE: Origins: Wild Mountain Thyme/Braes o' Balquhidder
From: GUEST,Jim McLean
Date: 17 Jun 23 - 04:03 AM

In answer to Joop:
As there is no noted version of the tune now known as The Wild Mountain Thyme, neither printed nor referenced in any traditional or scholarly periodical, before the McPeakes sang it then we must assume the tune belongs to them. It has no similarity whatsoever with Tannahill’s chosen melody, The Three Carles o Buchanan or R A Smith’s first printed version of the tune we now “normally “use for The Braes o Balquhither.
McPeakes lyrics are obviously mostly taken from Tannahill and could be a rewrite from memory.