Help: HEY HOW MY JOHNNIE LAD

Subject: RE: Help: HEY HOW MY JOHNNIE LAD
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 26 Aug 05 - 10:15 PM

Never forget that there is more than one way of spelling Johnny (and that "Johnnie" is one of the less common options). Type something like johnny lad into the onsite search engine which you will find at the top of every page, and it will find for you

HEY HOW MY JOHNNY LAD

It seems that I posted the words myself some years ago. I wouldn't like to think that I'd wasted my time. I can add, now, that the song was got from Johnson's Scots Musical Museum, IV, 1792, 368 (number 357). It appeared there as Hey how Johnie Lad.

Subject: RE: Help: HEY HOW MY JOHNNIE LAD
From: Bearheart
Date: 26 Aug 05 - 09:52 PM

Yes please, I would also like the words!

Bekki

Subject: RE: Help: HEY HOW MY JOHNNIE LAD
From: GUEST,Mary
Date: 26 Aug 05 - 09:44 AM

eithly trow means something like easily believed
sae weel ye micht hae tousled me - here the girl is basically saying that Johnnie would have been welcome to make love to her. Prie ma mou means to taste my mouth, ie. kiss, and bedeen means forthwith. Hope that makes things a bit clearer! I would actually like all the words of this song if you have them.

Subject: RE: Help: HEY HOW MY JOHNNIE LAD
From:
Date: 27 Sep 00 - 04:04 PM

bedeen---altogether or entirely
eithly--easily

Subject: RE: Help: HEY HOW MY JOHNNIE LAD
From: Robby
Date: 27 Sep 00 - 03:06 PM

A Glossary of Scottish words, which I found at the back of either The Ballad Book, MacEdward Leach, Ed., Harper and Row, NY (1955) or The Book of Ballads, same editor and publisher (1957), does not have any entries for either bedeen or eithly. However, there is an entry for bedyng, which is defined as bidding.

Unfortunately, I cannot tell if bedying is interchangeable with bedeen.

Subject: RE: Help: HEY HOW MY JOHNNIE LAD
From: Scabby Douglas
Date: 27 Sep 00 - 02:47 PM

trow my een - means "believe my eyes" sae weel's ye might hae tousled me - "tousled" means mussed up, or messed about - unruly hair is "tousled". In this context it probably denotes a tumble in the hay, or something else that will disarrange one's attire. mou = Mouth I can't remember "bedeen" or "eithly" at present - I'll check it out, though....

Regards

Subject: RE: Help: HEY HOW MY JOHNNIE LAD
From: Michele
Date: 27 Sep 00 - 01:44 PM

I don't understand the meaning of: "eithly trow", "sae weel's ye might hae tousled me" and "prie'd my mou bedeen"
Michele

Subject: HEY HOW MY JOHNNIE LAD
From: Michele
Date: 27 Sep 00 - 11:34 AM

I have "Hey How, my Johnnie lad" on "traditional songs and ballads" by Ewan MacColl (Folkways FW 87609). A pleasant version is also sung by Rebecca Pidgeon on her recent CD "Four Marys" (Chesky jd 165).
I don't understand lines 4,5,6 of the first stanza:
"...I could na eithly trow my een.
Sae weel's ye might hae tousled me
and sweetly prie'd my mou bedeen."
Can anyone help me?
Thanks from Italy,
Michele