Lyr Req: Glenisla / Bonny Glenshee

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Lyr Req: Glenisla / Bonny Glenshee

12 Oct 00 - 07:31 PM (#317624)
Subject: Glenisla
From: Tattie Bogle

Please can someone post the words of "I'll tak ye tae Glenisla by bonnie Glenshee"? I've got the Gaberlunzie tape but can't quite make out all the words of the first and last verses. (Diction and enunciation as my last drama producer kept saying!!) Maybe Bradypus who kindly posted "Sam the Skull"? Thanks, Tattie B

12 Oct 00 - 11:15 PM (#317811)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Glenisla
From: GUEST,Barry Finn

Try a search of the DT using BONNY GLEN SHEE also knoww as Busk Busk Bonnie Lassie which will also turn it up. Good luck. Barry

12 Oct 00 - 11:23 PM (#317817)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Glenisla
From: GUEST

Hi Barry, how are you ?

This is a gorgeous song , I have sung it for years. But I have to confess I have never known exactly what "busk " means. (Enter stage right thousands of Mudcatters who DO know ......)

Murray

12 Oct 00 - 11:23 PM (#317818)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Glenisla
From: GUEST,Barry Finn

Hi Murray, you still there, beginning to wonder about what they're doing to you down there in all that heat. Drop back up north for a chill & a song. Take care. Barry

12 Oct 00 - 11:26 PM (#317820)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Glenisla
From: GUEST,Barry Finn

I was told it meant "quickly". Haven't sung it in yrs either, it's great for 2 voices, what'd ya say. Barry

12 Oct 00 - 11:37 PM (#317828)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Glenisla
From: jacko@nz

Busk is more of, get ready, quickly

12 Oct 00 - 11:57 PM (#317846)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Glenisla
From: GUEST,Murray MacLeod

Boston in winter ? No thank you I am fully acclimatized here Barry. But you are very welcome to come here and stay with us in February, when we are having Martin Simpson play for us in Homestead as the featured artist in our Festival. It is going to be one seriously good weekend !

Miuray

16 Oct 00 - 04:22 PM (#320074)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Glenisla
From: Tattie Bogle

Thanks to all responders: The DT didn't recognise Glenisla it seems: Glenshee would have been better! Special thanks to Zebedee (boing!!) also for replies re the Red Flag tune: amazing what education you can get here on Mudcat: you'll have sussed out I'm fairly new to the experience! tattie B

17 Oct 00 - 03:42 PM (#321084)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Glenisla
From: Scabby Douglas

Busk can mean to get dressed, or to be arrayed.. so it can be used to mean "dress up in"

Cheers

12 Feb 12 - 02:14 PM (#3307044)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Glenisla
From: GUEST

Hi Im the copyright owner of that song and you will get that words from me or my grandmother, undrer Maggie Stewart. Go into the Internet and tipe in to The Kirst O Riches,tipe in Maggie Stewart's ballad, or James Stewart, or tipe Maggie Stewart's Ballads,Bust to Go.

29 Jul 20 - 05:52 AM (#4066385)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Glenisla / Bonny Glenshee
From: Richard Mellish

Refreshing this thread, and passing over the 12 Feb 12 unidentified GUEST's implausible claim to copyright of a song that has been in the tradition at least since Gavin Greig's time;
Often only three verses are sung:
Dae ye see you high hills (etc)
Dae ye see yon shepherd (laddies) (etc)
Dae ye see yon sodgers (etc)

Maureen Jelks also sang (and latterly Iona Fyfe sings)
Dae ye see yon laverock
As it scurries along,
And d'ye hear yon Blackbird
As it sweetly sings its song?
and
Then I will gang wi' ye
For your ae on my mind
It was never my intention
For tae leave ye behind.

That last verse fits as the last verse of the song, but needs something to lead into it. The need is partly satisfied by a verse from Stanley Robertson:
Fain I wad gang wi' ye
But free* I daurna' go
Fain I wad gang wi' ye
For I love ye so
*That word is unclear on the recording

It is also not totally clear exactly what is going on. The laddie says that the hills will "soon pairt us twa", apparently at the same time as inviting the lassie to "come awa wi' me". Is she reluctant, until the last verse? Or he is reluctant to take her with him? There's maybe a hint of the songs where he is one of the soldiers who are going off to war and he is either encouraging her to come with him (High Germany) or discouraging her (Banks of the Nile, etc), but in this instance his destination is Bonnie Glenshee, so presumably he's not off to war. In the last verse it would seem to be the lassie who says "I will gang wi' ye" but the laddie who says "It was never my intention For tae leave ye behind".

Can anyone add more verses and/or more thoughts?

29 Jul 20 - 07:22 AM (#4066392)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Glenisla / Bonny Glenshee
From: Georgiansilver

My favourite version of Busk Busk Bonnie Lassie.

30 Jul 20 - 05:20 AM (#4066523)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Glenisla / Bonny Glenshee
From: GUEST,jim bainbridge

Mention of this lovely song brings back happy memories!- of many fine Scottish singers, but also of my late friend Denis Rowan of Elwick, Co Durham, the song was in his repertoire.
We were regulars at the Red Lion club in Trimdon until it closed in 1975. Denis was a fine singer- he also wrote songs & his friend Bert (spoons) Draycott of nearby Fishburn sang some of them, notably 'There's nee netties doon the pit'.
Anyway, it was decided that with remaining club funds, an LP should be made & we all went to the studio. Denis decided 'Bonnie Glenshee' would be his contribution, and did so in his usual relaxed manner, leaning on a studio piano.
He must have moved with the song, and just as he finished the phrase...
'to Bonny Glenshee' the piano fell over with a huge crash! **
The recording engineer visibly leapt in his seat, but when he'd recovered his hearing, said he'd treasure the recording forever!

We all collapsed laughing of course & couldn't continue so sent out for fish and chips & beer before resuming....
....thanks for the memories!!
ps Denis did record it & it's on the LP- 'Trimdon', but not the version described above.

30 Jul 20 - 06:00 AM (#4066528)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Glenisla / Bonny Glenshee
From: GUEST,John Moulden

This song has been dear to me ever since I first heard it in Blairgowrie from Belle, Cathy or Sheila Stewart in 1967. Personally, it reminds me of a time spent in Glenisla Youth Hostel and beginning to learn to ski at Glenisla when I nearly kissed the first girl with whom it might have meant something.
Songs accrue memories and with them meanings. As songs move or as time passes, they tend to lose meaning and are changed so that it is re-established, sometimes they are changed deliberately. Their meaning alters with time, place and experience.
Sometimes it's interesting to try to unpack the layers. I'm not going to do it (so I'm left with my romantic feelings that I have no wish to change) but the earliest reports, Greig, Ord, and the recordings of Charlotte Higgins, Jeannie Robertson and Belle Stewart, could be ordered. I'd be a bit surprised if they contained the contradictions pointed above. I expect the line will be "They hae pairted mony a true love but they'll ne'er pairt us twa" - and the verse Maureen Jelks sings about the lav'rock, won't be there at all. The fun starts when we try to explain why!

30 Jul 20 - 06:02 AM (#4066529)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Glenisla / Bonny Glenshee
From: GUEST,John Moulden

Silly - I was learning to ski at Glenshee!

31 Jul 20 - 01:35 PM (#4066729)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Glenisla / Bonny Glenshee
From: Tattie Bogle

Great to hear your story, Jim Bainbridge!
Gobsmacked to see that I started this thread back in 2000 when I was very new to Mudcat and had only started finding my way around Scottish music sessions and festivals. Of course, I did learn the song and have sung it many many times since. It is so uplifting when you start it and the whole universe joins in!

31 Jul 20 - 02:01 PM (#4066736)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Glenisla / Bonny Glenshee
From: leeneia

Georgiansilver, thanks for the link. That's beautiful.

01 Aug 20 - 07:26 AM (#4066833)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Glenisla / Bonny Glenshee
From: Georgiansilver

Pleasure Leeneia.

01 Aug 20 - 09:30 AM (#4066847)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Glenisla / Bonny Glenshee
From: leeneia

I've listened carefully to the version by the Corries, and I have the following thoughts.

I think it's a song about a young man who needs to leave his family and start earning a living. He loves a lassie and wants her to go with him to the place where he's starting - Glenila by bonnie Glenshee. The Corries sing the verse about the snow-covered high hills first, as a way of putting the song in context: answering who and where are these people. It's the nearby hills that will part them, not the sea nor a journey to England to work, so he's not going far.

Why do I think it's about his first job? Because of the verses about men - a shepherd walking, his flock nearby, and soldiers marching, their weapons at the ready. They are men whose place in the world is established, and he wants to be like them. (I can remember times in my younger years, when unemployed and living cheaply on savings, I watched people confidently going about their jobs and felt the same way.)

The verse about the laverock doesn't sit well with me. If the high hills (not just the peaks) are all covered with snow, are birds apt to be about? I doubt it. "Ae" should be "ay", for ae means one and ay means forever. The word "intention", while perfectly legal, jars on my ear as too Latinate. The Corries don't sing this verse, and I'm with them on that. They end the song by repeating the first verse.

I have made sheet music of their version - notes only, no lyrics. If trusted catters want it, you can PM me. Say whether you want it in D (pretty low) or F (flute and recorder-friendly.)

01 Aug 20 - 11:06 AM (#4066859)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Glenisla / Bonny Glenshee
From: Richard Mellish

Leeneia, thanks for the correction of "ae" to "ay". I was dubious about that, but it's hard to be sure of Scots orthography and "aye" (which would be a valid spelling in English) seemed wrong.

Thanks also for your plausible backstory.

01 Aug 20 - 12:25 PM (#4066871)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Glenisla / Bonny Glenshee
From: Allan Conn

There is no firm standard spelling system in Scots and the spellings 'aye' and 'ay' are completely interchangeable for not only the English word "yes" but also for the word "always" There is a definite different pronunciation whether you are saying 'yes' or 'always'. Certainly here in the Borders.

The Concise Scots Dictionary gives 'aye' as first spelling for 'always' and 'ay' as the alternate spelling. And vice versa for 'yes'

The Scots Language Society's "Recommendations For Writing In Scots" agrees and gives the following recommendations.

'Ay' is used for 'yes' and is distinguished from 'aye' meaning 'always'

Saying that both spellings are acceptable for both words. And when writing in Scottish Standard English rather than Scots I suppose folk are used to 'aye' also meaning 'yes' in English.

01 Aug 20 - 07:08 PM (#4066918)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Glenisla / Bonny Glenshee
From: Tattie Bogle

Having an alto voice, my chosen key to sing it would be A (lowest note being A below midfle C, highest being A above it.) If any tenors protest, I can just about stretch to C, but D would be too high, and F either too high or too low, depending which octave you are in.

02 Aug 20 - 04:46 PM (#4067045)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Glenisla / Bonny Glenshee
From: leeneia

I could make you a copy in A, Tattie, but you have to PM me and provide an e-mail address. The lowest note will be the G-sharp below middle C.

Or how about B flat, which is not quite so far down in the basement?

I remember a song our choir sang in concert once. It started out in the neighborhood of low G and went fine in rehearsal. But at the concert, people tensed up, and we could not sing the low G's and A's. The song started with three measures of silence from the choir, even though we were all moving our lips.

04 Aug 20 - 09:15 AM (#4067253)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Glenisla / Bonny Glenshee
From: Jim McLean

Yes Allan, there is a definite difference in pronunciation or 'yes' and 'always'. There is also the other word 'ayeways', all ways, at least in Paisley.