Lyr Add: Braes o' Balquidder

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Braes o' Balquidder
From: GUEST,James Phillips
Date: 28 Jan 24 - 10:15 AM

"wonderfully done by Jock Tamson's Bairns, with vocals by the fabulous Rod Paterson"

Just for the record, it's not Rod who sings on that track, I believe it's John Croall who sang on many of the Bairns' tracks (like Woo'd and Married and A).

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Braes o' Balquidder
From: GUEST,IS
Date: 28 Jan 24 - 07:04 AM

The ITMA website has changed since I last listened to it there, so it's harder to find. I managed to find it on this playlist, about 22 songs down:

Songs in Praise of Place

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Braes o' Balquidder
From: GUEST
Date: 28 Jan 24 - 05:50 AM

Any hint on how to find the Tim Lyons recording? I've tried searching the ITMA website for "Tim Lyons" and for "Braes o' Balquidder" and not found it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Braes o' Balquidder
From: GUEST,IS
Date: 27 Jan 24 - 03:51 PM

There's a great recording of Tim Lyons singing it on the ITMA website that might interest you, Jim Bainbridge.

It's funny about a lot of Tannahill's songs that they're ostensibly love songs, yet he spends more time in them banging on about the splendours o nature than he does about the purported object of his affections! See 'Gloomy Winter.' And in the case of 'Are ye sleepin Maggie', it's the gothic horrors of nature...

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Braes o' Balquidder
From: GUEST,jim bainbridge
Date: 27 Jan 24 - 10:00 AM

I picked up on this song when I heard the late great Tim Lyons of Cork sing it about 30 years ago. I was curious about where he'd got it- he told me he'd got it from a recording of Elizabeth Cronin of Macroom, Co Cork

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Braes o' Balquidder
From: Jim McLean
Date: 25 Feb 07 - 05:06 PM

Bill D,
Yes, I have that book and it's a copy of the tune printed in Smith's volume of 1821, a bit earlier. Did you compare the air sung by McDonald to that printed in your scan? They are entirely different as I posted previously. McDonald sings McPeake.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Braes o' Balquidder
From: Bill D
Date: 25 Feb 07 - 04:39 PM

Amazingly, that old page I posted a fuzzy image to 7 years ago is still there. I suppose I ought to scan it, now that I have a decent scanner...(it and several hundred other songs in the book!)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Braes o' Balquidder
From: Jim McLean
Date: 25 Feb 07 - 11:43 AM

I'm sure this has been covered before but there are two sets of words, both attributed to Tannahill, and can be found in R A Smith's Scottish Minstrel, pages 49 and 89., Vol ll, 1821. The version printed above appears on page 89 to the air The Three Carles o Buchanan and I cannot find any one who has sung this tune. Hamish Henderson said it is the air John McDonald, The Singing Molecatcher of Morayshire, Topic 1974, sings but it is not. McDonald sings the McPeakes' melody to The Wild Mountain Thyme!! The version on page 49 says 'Will ye go' and says 'bloomin' heather' instead of 'Highland heather' but uses the tune usually associated with Tannahill's Braes o Balquidder, published in various books during the 19th centuary and found in Norman Buchan's 101 Scottish Songs, 1962. This tune is slight variant on that used by Burns for 'An' I'll kiss ye yet', Johnson's Musical Museum, which is also a slight variant of the very old dance tune called The Braes o Balquhidder. John Hamilton's song 'The Braes o Bowhether, 1796, uses the same tune as Burns did in 1788. I would think Hamilton's lyrics came before Tannahill's so it looks as if Tannahill did a bit of rewriting!

Subject: Lyr Add: BRAES O' BALQUHITHER (Robert Tannahill)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 25 Feb 07 - 08:48 AM

This version is given in "The Scottish Songs" edited by Robert Chambers, Edinburgh: William Tait, 1829. It can be viewed at Google Book Search. Note there is no chorus. I have boldfaced the differences in wording between this version and the one posted by Bruce O above; beyond that, the only differences are in spelling and punctuation.

THE BRAES O' BALQUHITHER.
Robert Tannahill

LET us go, lassie go
To the braes of 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
On the braes o' Balquhither.

I will twine thee a bower
By the clear siller fountain,
And I'll cover it o'er
Wi' the flow'rs o' the mountain.
I will range through the wilds,
And the deep glens sae drearie,
And return wi' the spoils
To the bower o' my dearie.

When the rude wintry win'
Idly raves round our dwelling,
And the roar o' the linn
On the night-breeze is swelling,
So merrily we'll sing,
As the storm rattles o'er us,
Till the dear sheiling ring
Wi' the light lilting chorus.

Now the summer is in prime,
Wi' the flow'rs richly blooming,
An' the wild mountain thyme
A' the moorlands perfuming.
To our dear native scenes
Let us journey together,
Where glad Innocence reigns
'Mang the braes o' Balquhither.

[Another old volume says: AIR--"The Three Carls o' Buchanan."]

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Braes o' Balquidder
From: Jack Campin
Date: 20 Feb 07 - 07:18 PM

Balquhidder is the modern spelling. It predates Henryson, but in between there have been many more conventionally phonetic variants, particularly in the 18th century. Balweder, Bowhether, Balwidder, etc.

The oldest one I know of is from a collection by John Hamilton, published in Edinburgh in 1796.
It's been posted in a related thread. Tannahill improved on it but didn't write it from scratch (and I doubt if Hamilton did either, the tune is decades older and presumably went with a song).

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Braes o' Balquidder
From: leeneia
Date: 20 Feb 07 - 06:53 PM

Balquhidder, pronounced Balwhither, takes me down memory lane.

Forty years ago I came across the Scottish poet Robert Henryson. fl 1500 (?) Henryson tried to write in such a way as to to bridge the language gap between England and Scotland. One way he did this was to use on the Latin "qu" for question words. Thus "qu" appeared where "wh" would appear today.

Although it has nothing to do with questions, Balquhidder seems to be the same phenomenon.

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Braes o' Balquidder
From: Dave Wynn
Date: 20 Feb 07 - 03:23 PM

Bernard does a lovely version of this when we let him !! (He knows what I mean.)

Dave Wynn (A.K.A. Spot the Dog)

Subject: RE: Braes o' Balquhidder
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 20 Feb 07 - 03:20 PM

Okay, I linked into this from "Wild Mountain Thyme".
It seems to have gone uncommented,but the songbook linked above in Bernard's last post has the spelling "Balquhidder" in both the title and the lyrics.
So I'm posting this message here and elsewhere to make it 'searchable'

CHEERS
Nigel

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Braes o' Balquidder
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 04 Dec 00 - 10:25 PM

...which (I swear it!) worked 5 minutes ago, but now just goes to a generic page.  Something strange going on there...

Malcolm

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Braes o' Balquidder
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 04 Dec 00 - 10:16 PM

Bob:  the link still works for me, so I suspect that your employer is just trying to stop you doing naughty un-corporate things in your spare time!  Just in case it's any use at all, here is a direct link to the image file:  Braes of Balquidder

Malcolm

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Braes o' Balquidder
From: Bernard
Date: 04 Dec 00 - 09:57 PM

Try this:

Link

or this:

Thread

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Braes o' Balquidder
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 04 Dec 00 - 09:41 PM

G'day Bill D,

Hey what sort of company do your images keep?

I am looking in on Mudcat during my lunchtime, here in Sydney, and I clicked on your 'Blue Clicky' ... and immediately got a corporate screen accusing me of attempting to access an illegal site, contrary to corporate standards and ehthics (and warning me that my interest in such evils had neen noted on my staff file for further action!).

On the other point, I often send GIFs of sheet music, usually scanned at high resolution to print flawlessly, but rarely more than 50kB in black and white (1 bit). These can appear too large on screen, if you only have some kludgy net viewer, but I want them to print well. I must ask John in Brisbane about just what (?)Longview, mentioned above by Mary in Kentucky, will do for recipients who don't have the sophisticated image programs I am used to.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Braes o' Balquidder
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 04 Dec 00 - 09:22 PM

Mary:  Any image-editing program will allow you to re-size image files to fit your screen; you can even do it in Word.  Bill was concerned, not about the size at which his file would display, but the amount of room it might demand in memory, or download time.

Malcolm

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Braes o' Balquidder
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 04 Dec 00 - 08:35 PM

BillD,

John in Brisbane sent me some gifs of songs that were only 50-100K and quite readable. The only problem I had reading them was that most were two screens wide and two screens long. So John then sent me a neat program called Longview (or something like that) that enabled me to put the gif on one screen, and still read the notation. If you're interested in all his tricks, talk to him.

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Braes o' Balquidder
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 04 Dec 00 - 07:55 PM

Search earlier threads as 'mountain thyme'. There's an earlier song that Tannahill borrowed from, and he didn't use the original tune, although Robert Burns did (but not for a version of this song).

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Braes o' Balquidder
From: DanMulligan
Date: 04 Dec 00 - 07:39 PM

Hmmm- A little searching and I find that the McPeakes were indeed an Ulster Ireland family.
It is not clear at all, however, that Frank Mcpeake wrote "Wild Mountain Thyme," he was quoted as saying, in 1957, that it was a song that his father used to sing. I have the feeling that perhaps the song was handed down through the generations of singing McPeakes and the song naturally evolved from "Balquidder" to "Wild Mountain Thyme." Purely speculation, but a great illustration of the folk process at work, eh?

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Braes o' Balquidder
From: DanMulligan
Date: 04 Dec 00 - 07:25 PM

The Origins?
As Bruce said in the beginning...The great Robert Tannahill wrote it. It is interesting to note that it is one of the few songs by Robert Tannahill wrote that the Tannahill Weavers have recorded. It is kind of like forming an American folk group called "The Guthrie Singers" and never singing any Woody Guthrie songs. But I suppose that they named the group as an homage to the great scottish songwriter, not as a group that covers his music.

Bruce- Are you sure that "wild Mountain Thyme" is irish? I thought it was also Scottish. I have always seen it listed as Scottish. I have seen "Wild Mountain Thyme" described as.... "Frank McPeak's reworking of Robert Tannahill's ' Brae's O' Balquidder' "

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Braes o' Balquidder
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Dec 00 - 06:26 PM

There's a lot in other threads. Anyone remember what the other threads were called? Wild Mountain Thyme might be one.

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Braes o' Balquidder
From: GUEST,Alex Roan
Date: 04 Dec 00 - 06:21 PM

Can you tell me more about the origins? I thought it was a Burns' poem.

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Braes o' Balquidder
From: GUEST,celticblues5
Date: 16 Oct 00 - 11:02 AM

One of my favorite songs - wonderfully done by Jock Tamson's Bairns, with vocals by the fabulous Rod Paterson. He strikes just the right note of gentle, nature-drenched seduction.

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Braes o' Balquidder
From: Bill D
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 06:46 PM

so, I will add me cut'n paste here too...

I promised I'd get this to Jeri awhile back, so here is my opportunity....This is a digital photo from Songs of Scotland ...edited by George Farquhar Graham..circa 1850...(Child lists this book as one of his sources)

I am experimenting to see if digital photography is good enough to share stuff like this...WARNING..this is a BIG file..329,000 bytes...I will see if I can get readable files with less size. But I think it is good enough to see the tune and verses..plus some notes.

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Braes o' Balquidder
From: McMusic
Date: 22 Apr 99 - 05:59 PM

Wolfgang, Thanks, my friend. I was close, but close ain't good enough. I've been wracking my brains forever trying to figure out the pronunciation. Now I can give what remains of my brain a rest. Long health to you.

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Braes o' Balquidder
From: Wolfgang
Date: 22 Apr 99 - 03:10 AM

for McMusic:
'Surprisingly, over the years we have done very few songs from the pen of Robert Tannahill, so here's one more to add to that short list. The Braes o' Balquhidder (pronounced 'Balwhither')'.
copy&pasted from The Tannahill Weavers Website . They should know.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Braes o' Balquidder
From: McMusic
Date: 21 Apr 99 - 08:43 PM

If someone could be od help: how do you pronounce "Balquidder"? I've got the Tannehill Weavers recording of it and I just can't make out the pronunciation--sounds like he's singing "Balwether". Any help would be greatly appreciated and in admiration I will builda cathedral in honor of the one who can provide the needed info. Cheers.

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Braes o' Balquidder
From:
Date: 04 Dec 97 - 11:07 PM

Also recorded by the Tannahill Weavers on their Capernaum album (Green Linnet GLCD 1146). Pete

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: Braes o' Balquidder
From: Bill D
Date: 03 Dec 97 - 07:17 PM

I have a version on an old Topic LP by John MacDonald-"The Singing Molecatcher of Morayshire"...I think it is almost identical to the words in Graham, et al...(a fine book!)I have actually sung the song a time or two in song circles, but I am afraid I haven't learned it as well as I'd like...The notes on the album are by Hamish Henderson, who says it is sung to 'an old air "The Three Carles o' Buchan"'

....hm..., there is a sing this Friday on 'courting', that might just be appropriate to practice this for...

Subject: Lyr Add: THE BRAES O' BALQUIDDER^^
From: Bruce O.
Date: 03 Dec 97 - 05:36 PM

THE BRAES O' BALQUIDDER.

Will ye go, lassie go,
To the braes o' Balquhidder?
Where the blaeberries grow,
'Mang the bonnie blooming heather;
Where the deer and the rae,
Lightly bounding together,
Sport the lang summer day
'Mang th braes o' Balquihher.
[Chorus] Will you go, lassie, go,
To the braes o' Balquhidder?
Where the blaeberries grow,
'Mang the bonny bloomin' heather.

I will twine thee a bower
By the clear siller fountain,
An' I'll cover it o'er
Wi' the flowers o' the mountain;
I will range through the wilds,
An' the deep glens sae dreary,
An' return wi' their spoils
To the bower o' my deary
Will ye go, &c.

When the rude wintry win'
Idly raves round our dwellin',
An' the roar o' the linn
On the night breeze is swellin',
Sae merrily we'll sing,
As the storm rattles o'er us,
Till the dear sheeling ring
Wi' the light liltin' chorus.
Will ye go, &c.

Now the summer is in prime,
Wi' the flowers richly bloomin',
An' the wild mountain thyme
A' the moorlands perfumin',-
To our dear native scenes
Let us journey together,
Where glad innocence reigns
'Mang the braes o' Balquidder.
Will ye go, &c.

This is Robert Tannahill's original from Graham's/Wood's 'Songs of Scotland'. Frank McPeake's Irish version of this, "Wild Mountain Thyme", is in DT. A little known traditional Scottish version was sung on a 33 1/3 recording, Folk-Lyric FL 116, by Betsy Miller (Ewan MacColl's mother).

^^