Lyr Add: What A Voice

Subject: Lyr Add: What A Voice
From: RunrigFan
Date: 15 Sep 20 - 09:43 PM

A trad song

What a voice, what a voice, what a voice I hear,
It's like the voice of my Willie dear;
But if I had wings like that swallow I
I would clasp in the arms of my Billy Boy

When my apron it hung low,
My true love followed through frost and snow;
But now(nou) my apron it's tae my shins,
And he passes me by and he'll ne'er speirs in.

It is up onto yon white house (hoose) brae,
That he called a strange girlie to his knee,
And he tellt her a tale that he once told me.

For there's a blackbird sits on yon tree;
Some says it is blind and it cannae see;
Some says it is blind and it cannae see,
And so is my true love tae me.

O I wish, I wish, O I wish in vain,
I wish I was a maid again;
But a maid again I will never be
Till a aipple it grows on a orange tree.

I wish, I wish that my babe was born,
And smilin' on some nurse's knee;
And for mysel' to be dead and gone,
And the long green grass growin' over me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0mulU8zojA

Martyn Bennett sampled the recording

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X5C4QvurWU

If it sounds familar, it was used in Danny MacAskill Ridge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ_IQS3VKjA&t=323s

It seems the second to last verse, was used on Love Is Pleasing and Butcher Boy

https://mainlynorfolk.info/folk/songs/whatavoice.html

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: What A Voice
From: GeoffLawes
Date: 16 Sep 20 - 09:36 AM



Jeannie Robertson sings "What a Voice"

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: What A Voice
From: Noreen
Date: 16 Sep 20 - 09:55 AM

That link gives a Key Error, Geoff, with lots of metadata, no song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: What A Voice
From: Vic Smith
Date: 16 Sep 20 - 12:15 PM

I can't find Jeannie on Youtube singing What a Voice but here is her daughter Lizzie Higgins, an equally great but stylistically different singer - What a Voice

Thinking of Jeannie again, I was reminded that I had written a review of one of her albums for Musical Traditions back in 2009 and looking at it again, I had to chuckle when I re-read the last paragraph:-

I'll finish with a little story. Earlier this year, we had Sheila Stewart staying with us. She was telling us about the album that she had just recorded for release by Topic and she showed me the order of the track listing that had been settled on. In my turn, I showed her the CD re-release of her mother, Belle's album, Queen Among the Heather on the Greentrax label. (I was surprised to hear her say that she knew nothing of the arrangement for the Topic album to be licensed and re-released). I then showed her this album, Jeannie Robertson: The Queen Among the Heather, released around the same time and asked her to consider what two of Scotland's great traveller singers would have said if they had been alive when these albums had come out. This greatly amused Sheila as she laughingly speculated on the comments that might have been made on both sides. I then asked her what the title of her forthcoming album was to be and she told me that this was yet to be decided. I said that it was quite common to call the album by the opening track. She looked again at the track listing and saw that the first song was called ... Queen Among the Heather. She fixed me with a stare with her penetrating black eyes and called me something that I don't care to repeat here.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: What A Voice
From: Vic Smith
Date: 16 Sep 20 - 12:21 PM

Ah! found it. Here is Jeannie Robertson singing What A Voice on the Tobar an Dualchais database

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: What A Voice
From: Noreen
Date: 16 Sep 20 - 04:20 PM

Great story Vic!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: What A Voice
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 17 Sep 20 - 06:25 AM

Fiona Hunter did a wonderful job of this at the opening concert of the 2015 Celtic Connections which premiered Greg Lawson's arrangement of Martyn Bennett's Grit.

And repeated it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI7pQsukzks