Lyr Req: My Ain Country / My Ain Countrie

Subject: lyric request - my ain country?
From:
Date: 05 Jan 97 - 10:15 AM

all i think i remember is " a gladness comes to many, a sadness comes to me" and a very nice tune. I think it's Scotch. I'd very much like the lyrics. The song speaks powerfuly to the need for homelands.

Subject: Lyr Add: MY AIN COUNTRIE (sung by Jean Redpath)
From:
Date: 05 Jan 97 - 12:22 PM

I learned this song from my mother as a child. She learned it from an old Jean Redpath record. I think they call this the oral tradition. As I remember it:

The sun rises bright in France and fair sets he
But he has lost the look he had in my ain countrie

It's gladness comes tae mony but sorrow aye tae me
As I look o'er the ocean braid tae my ain countrie

It's no my ain ruin that saddens aye my een
But the love I left in Gallowa' and my bonnie bairnies three

My hairt it ??? ??? Bonnie and smiles my fair Marie
But I left my hairt behind me in my ain countrie.

The bird comes back in summer and the blossom tae the tree
But I’ll gang back ??? Never tae my ain countrie

I'm leal tae high heaven which will be leal tae me
And there I’ll meet ye all richt soon in my ain countrie.

It's traditional (as far as I know) and I've always thought it a Jacobite song--perhaps the voice of Prince Charlie himself, but who knows. The tune is lovely as well, but I don't remember the album title, and it may well be out of print anyway.

Daniel

Subject: RE: lyric request - my ain country?
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 14 Jan 97 - 11:26 PM

Oddly enough, the album title was In My Ain Countrie, as I remember.

Subject: RE: lyric request - my ain country?
From: will bason
Date: 18 Jan 97 - 05:23 AM

Thank you very very much! '

Subject: RE: lyric request - my ain country?
From:
Date: 23 Sep 01 - 10:03 PM

Surprised to not find this in the DT. ^^ (click)

Subject: RE: lyric request - my ain country?
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 23 Sep 01 - 10:11 PM

It has, of course, been discussed a little more recently than in this long-dead and lately resurrected thread.  See:  THE SUN RISES BRIGHT IN FRANCE^^

Subject: RE: lyric request - my ain country?
From:
Date: 23 Sep 01 - 11:08 PM

Ah! So that's why my search didn't come up with the title "My Ain Country" in the database

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Ain Country / My Ain Countrie
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Apr 13 - 07:10 AM

Jacobite song of exile.

The sun rises bright in France, and fair sets he,

But he has lost the look he had, in my ain countrie

Though gladness comes to many, a sorrow comes to me

As I look o'er the ocean wide tae my ain countrie



It's no my ain ruin that saddens aye my ee

But the love I left in Gallowa wi bonnie bairnies three

My hamely hearth burns bonnie an smiles my sweet Marie

I left my heart behind me, in my ain countrie



The bird wins back tae summertime, and the blossom tae the tree

But I'll win back, no never, tae my ain countrie

I'm leal tae high heaven, that will prove leal tae me

An I will meet ye aa aricht soon, frae my ain countrie

Subject: Lyr Add: THE SUN'S BRIGHT IN FRANCE
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 20 Apr 13 - 12:25 PM

Here's the oldest printed copy I can find through Google Books. Note that this version is shorter than the version commonly attributed to Allan Cunningham. I am inclined to think Cunningham took a traditional song and wrote additional lines for it.

From Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song by R. H. Cromek (London: T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1810), page 178:


THE SUN'S BRIGHT IN FRANCE.
    (from Miss Macartney.)

After the battle of Culloden the wretched fugitives were driven among the woods and mountains of Scotland, where many perished with hunger and fatigue. Some took refuge in foreign countries; and there are many affecting fragments of song which seem to have been the composition of those exiles. As it was treason to sing them, the names of their authors were concealed beyond a possibility of discovery, and it is probably owing to this circumstance that they are now passed away and forgotten. The following gives a simple and touching picture of the feelings of an exile.

The sun rises bright in France,
    And fair sets he;
But he has tint the blythe blink he had
    In my ain countrie.

It's nae my ain ruin
    That weets ay my ee,
But the dear Marie I left a-hin',
    Wi' sweet bairnies three.

Fu' bonnolie lowed my ain hearth,
    An' smiled my ain Marie;
O, I've left a' my heart behind,
    In my ain countrie.

O I am leal to high heaven,
    An' it'll be leal to me,
An' there I'll meet ye a' soon,
    Frae my ain countrie!


[Does anybody else find it annoying that the song has "a-hin' " in verse 2 and "behind" in verse 3? Maybe this is simply a reflection of the fact that poets and singers are often somewhat bilingual, and tend to mix idioms, but I like my dialect "pure" or not at all.]

Subject: Lyr Add: MY AIN COUNTREE (Allan Cunningham)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 20 Apr 13 - 12:47 PM

This is Cunningham's version, but see the above version for comparison.

From Sir Marmaduke Maxwell, a Dramatic Poem; The Mermaid of Galloway; The Legend of Richard Faulder; and Twenty Scottish Songs by Allan Cunningham (London: Taylor and Hessey, 1822), page 176:


MY AIN COUNTREE.

        1.
The sun rises bright in France,
    And fair sets he;
But he has tint the blythe blink he had
    In my ain countree.
O! gladness comes to many,
    But sorrow comes to me,
As I look o'er the wide ocean
    To my ain countree.

        2.
O! it's not my ain ruin
    That saddens aye my ee,
But the love I left in Galloway,
    Wi' bonnie bairns three;
My hamely hearth burn'd bonnie,
    And smiled my fair Marie,—
I've left a' my heart behind me,
    In my ain countree.

        3.
The bud comes back to summer,
    An' the blossom to the bee,
But I win back—oh never!
    To my ain countree.
I'm leal to the high heaven,
    Which will be leal to me;
An' there I'll meet ye a' soon,
    Frae my ain countree.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Ain Country / My Ain Countrie
From: Gutcher
Date: 20 Apr 13 - 08:46 PM

A Scots gospel song of the same title was recorded by William MacEwan of Glasgow in 1911. The 1st. verse is:----

I am faur frae ma hame an aa wearie aften whiles
For the langed for hame bringin an ma faithers welcome smiles
An I"ll nae be fu content until ma een dae see
The gouden gates o heaven an ma ain countrie
For the earth is decked wi floors mony tinted fresh an gay
The birdies warble blythly for ma faither made them sae
But these sichts and these souns will as naethin be tae me
When aa hear the angels singin in ma ain countrie.

Although written and sung in broad Scots it was actually composed by an American lady around 1850. As far as is known the lady never visited Scotland, the connection being that she had been brought up by a Scots nanny