Lyr Req: Lady Keith's Lament

Subject: need lyrics
From:
Date: 23 Mar 98 - 05:40 PM

I have a cassette of Connie Dover "If I Ever Return", and am trying to learn the lyrics to "Lady Keith's Lament", obviously an old Scottish Jacobite song. Any takers on transcribing this? Can't get a lot of the words I'm afraid. Many thanks - Claymore

Subject: RE: need lyrics to
From: Bruce O.
Date: 23 Mar 98 - 06:14 PM

It's in J. Hogg's 'Jacobite Relics' (reprinted), and suspicion is that Hogg wrote it himself. It's also reprinted in one of Robert Chamber's books with the tune ["Boyne Water", earlier called "Playing among the Rashes" (1694) if I remember correctly.)]

Subject: RE: need lyrics to
From: Bruce O.
Date: 23 Mar 98 - 06:18 PM

Robert Chambers, 'The Songs of Scotland Prior to Burns', p. 100 (reprinted). Chambers was suspicious that Hogg wrote it.

Subject: Lyr Add: LADY KEITH'S LAMENT^^^
From: Anne Cormack
Date: 24 Mar 98 - 03:09 AM

Here are the words:

LADY KEITH'S LAMENT

Verse 1
I may sit in my wee croo hoose, wi' my rock and my reel tae toil, fu' dreary,
And I may think on the day that's gane, and will sigh and sab till I am weary,
I ne'er could brook, I ne'er could brook, a foreign loon tae own or flatter,
But I will sing a rantin' sang, that day oor King comes o'er the water.

Verse 2
Oh I hae seen the guid auld day, the day o' pride and chieftain's glory,
When Royal Stuart bare the sway, ans we ne'er heard tell o' Whig or Tory,
Tho' lyart be my locks and gray, auld age has crook't me doon, what matter,
I'll dance and sing ae ither day, that day oor King comes o'er the water.

Verse 3
Oh gin I live tae see the day, that I hae begged and begged frae heaven,
I'll fling my rock and reel away, and I'll dance and sing frae morn till even,
For there is ane I widnae name, wha comes the beengin' byke tae scatter,
And I will put on my bridal goon, that day oor King comes o'er the water.

Verse 4
A curse on dull and drawlin' Whig, the whinin' rantin' low deceiver,
Wi' heart sae black and look sae big, and cantin' tongue o' clishmaclaver,
My faither was a guid Lord's son, my mither was and Earl's daughter,
And I will be Lady Keith again, that day oor King comes O'er the water.


Regards
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Subject: RE: need lyrics to
From: Jon W.
Date: 24 Mar 98 - 10:32 AM

What does the second half of this line mean in English?

"For there is ane I widnae name, wha comes the beengin' byke tae scatter "

Subject: RE: need lyrics to
From: Bruce O.
Date: 25 Mar 98 - 05:49 PM

That's actually in the 2nd of Hogg's verses (whose song isn't so "Scottified" as this version)

For there is ane I winna name,
That comes the beingin bike to scatter;

Hogg's title for it was "When the King comes o'er the Water", vol. I, 1819.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lady Keith's Lament
From: GUEST,Moosejoy
Date: 24 May 11 - 01:52 PM

"For there is ane I widnae name, wha comes the beengin' byke tae scatter "

There is one I will not name who comes this hive of bees to scatter.

Don't ask me why bees. Pehaps the author was comparing the buzzing of bees to the idle chatter ("clishmaclaver")of the Whigs.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lady Keith's Lament
From: GUEST,kenny
Date: 24 May 11 - 03:21 PM

I recommend Rod Paterson's version on the 2nd "Jock Tamson's Bairns" recording, "The Lasses' Fashion". I think their first 2 LPs were re-released together on the 1 CD, but could be wrong about that. In any case, some of the best Scottish traditional music I've ever heard.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Lady Keith's Lament
From: GUEST,David
Date: 03 Feb 21 - 06:27 PM

A Byke, in modern Scots usage, is a wasps nest. The Scottish National Dictionary gives bees or wasps or ants nest in the 1800s. Wild bees would be no more welcome a neighbour that wasps, but are now rare. I've always taken it as a wasps nest, which makes complete sense of the song.