Lyr Add: Flora's Lament for Her Charlie

Subject: Lyr Add: FLORA'S LAMENT FOR HER CHARLIE
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 19 Dec 03 - 05:41 PM

Lyr. Add: Flora's Lament For Her Charlie
(precursor of Loch Lomond)

It's yon bonny banks, and yon bonny braes,
Where the sun shines bright and bonny,
Where I and my true love went out for to gaze,
On the bonny, bonny banks of Benlomond.

It's you'll take the high road and I'll take the low
And I'll be in Scotland before you;
For I and my true love shall never meet again,
On the bonny, bonny banks of Benlomond.

It's not for the hardships that I must endure,
Nor the leaving of Benlomond;
But it's for the leaving of my comrades all,
And the bonny lad that I love so dearly.

With his bonny laced shoes and his buckles so clear,
And his plaid o'er his shoulders hung so rarely;
One glance of his eye, it would banish dull care,
So handsome was the look's of my Charlie.

But as long as I live, and as long as I breathe,
I will sing of his memory fairly;
My true love was taken by the arrows of death,
And now Flora does lament for her Charlie.

Mu23-y3:013, Printer Robt. M'Intosh, printed in Calton, no date, Glasgow Broadside Ballads. Also Bodleian Libray, Ballads Catalogue, Harding B11 (4363), Fordyce, W. and T., Newcastle, c. 1832-1842 (referenced by Pavanne, thread 9274, 27 Jul 01). Another copy printed by Sanderson in Edinburgh, 1838, mentioned by Jack Campin in thread 9274.

Mentioned or referenced in more than one thread but never posted, as the precursor of Loch Lomond. It seems convenient to have a copy in the Forum.
See threads 2785, 1194, 7171, 9274 (especially), 17153 and 65319. Some discussion of the tune, which seems to be older, in these threads.

Thread 9274: Lomond

Glasgow Ballads: Glasgow
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