Lyr Req: Green Plaid/Minorca

07 Oct 03 - 11:15 PM (#1031561)
Subject: Lyr Req: Green Plaid/Minorca
From: GUEST,[e-mail]

Many thanks for help with "For the Sake of Somebody", one more request for lyrics and origins/time period of below song....

Green Plaid (Pronounced "Plade") a.k.a. Minorca

Starts out....On the 26th of July.....

...and I'll roll you in my green plaid as we dance along the sea.

sorry for such minimal info. any help would be appreciated.
thanks...

Green Plaid/Minorca

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08 Oct 03 - 06:51 AM (#1031680)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Green Plaid/Minorca
From: Jeri

If it helps, 'Green Plaid' is on Battlefield Band's There's a Buzz and After Hours. I'm pretty sure I have the latter somewhere, but will have to do a bit of searching.

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08 Oct 03 - 10:24 AM (#1031766)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Green Plaid/Minorca
From: Sorcha

Suzanne has it listed in her songbook, but not as a link. That often means she has the lyrics, but is not sure of them.

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08 Oct 03 - 09:28 PM (#1032101)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Green Plaid/Minorca
From: Susanne (skw)

I'll have to copy it from the Battlefield Band song book, so give me a few days, please!

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10 Oct 03 - 03:17 PM (#1033311)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE GREEN PLAID (from Battlefield Band)
From: Susanne (skw)

Here you are:

THE GREEN PLAID
As recorded by The Battlefield Band on "There's a Buzz" (1982)

On the twenty-sixth of July, Lord Lennox' men came here.
They dazzled all our lassies' eyes, their armour shone sae clear.
They dazzled all our lassies' eyes when they met them in the street,
But when they met them in the lane, they kissed them sae sweet.

Will you go along wi' me, my bonnie, bonnie lass?
And I'll roll you in my green plaid while we lie upon the grass.
If I were to go along wi' you and gie to you my hand,
Yer colonel he would part us before we left the land.

Never mind our colonel; he loves you as his life,
But he gave to us an order each man should hae a wife—
Each man to hae a wife, my dear, to keep him company,
And I'll roll you in my green plaid while we sail on the sea.

What would my mam and daddie think if they knew I were wi' thee,
A-rollin' in your green plaid and dandlin' on your knee?
Never mind your mam and dad; for what do you repine?
If I had you in Minorca, 'tis you would drink the wine.

You would drink wine and brandy and bear right company,
And I'll roll you in my green plaid while we sail upon the sea.
Now they've gone to Minorca and they've left the girls behind,
And they've gone to Minorca for the sake of Spanish wine.

And some o' them were sorry and some o' them right glad,
But I wish that I'd gone with him rolled up in his plaid;
And if ever they return again, how happy I will be,
A-rollin in his green plaid and dandlin' on his knee!

[1983:] The song refers to the 25th Regiment on Foot who were stationed in south west Scotland during the late eighteenth century, prior to being sent to Minorca. There, Lord Lennox, their Commander felt obliged to complain about the quality of the wine. No doubt the vintage from the vineyards of Kirkcudbright was better! (Notes Battlefield Band, 'There's A Buzz')

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14 Oct 03 - 08:55 PM (#1035803)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Green Plaid/Minorca
From: GUEST,[e-mail]

Suzanne....(et.al)Thank you so very much for all your help tracking down lyrics and origins for Green Plaid. Perfect!!
Luisa

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14 Oct 03 - 11:33 PM (#1035845)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Green Plaid/Minorca
From: Malcolm Douglas

I can add, a little belatedly, that this song is number 5793 in the Roud Folk Song Index. I don't know whether the Battlefield Band credited their source, but it appears to be the set noted by James Bruce Duncan from Isaac and Alexander Troup in 1908 (Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection, I, 1981, 223), with some minor alterations made (plus the puzzling change of Minorca to Majorca). The Troup brothers had learned the song from their mother, "long ago", and knew it as Lord Lennox' Men. There are a further two tunes given (close variants) and one text. The editors comment:

"Cf. the second item in the chapbook L.C. 2898:21 Young Grigor's Ghost, in three parts. To which is added, another new song, called, The Scots Grey Plaids. (Falkirk, n.d.) The 25th Regiment of Foot (The Edinburgh Regiment), under the command of Lord George Henry Lennox, was based in Dumphries, Annan, and Kirkcudbright from the middle of 1767 until February 1768. In the latter year it embarked for Minorca where it served until 1775. The wine there must have proved a disappointment after the expectations expressed in the song for Lord Lennox quarrelled with the Governor of Minorca over the poor quality of the wine served to the men. The dress of this regiment included a type of grey plaid called a maud. See R.T. Higgins, The Records of The King's Own Borderers (London, 1873), pp. 142-7, and Robert Woollcombe, All the Blue Bonnets, The History of The King's Own Scottish Borderers (London and Melbourne, 1980), p. 28."

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17 Oct 03 - 02:27 PM (#1037410)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Green Plaid/Minorca
From: Susanne (skw)

Sorry, Malcolm, the above is all the Batties say about the song. No origins! So thanks for your additions.

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17 Oct 03 - 07:53 PM (#1037541)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Green Plaid/Minorca
From: GUEST,[e-mail]

Thank you Malcolm. More good info...
Luisa

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18 Oct 03 - 08:56 PM (#1037853)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Green Plaid/Minorca
From: Susanne (skw)

One further point: I've now checked the lyrics from the Battlefield Band songbook (posted above) against the album and found they actually sing 'Minorca' wherever the printed version gives 'Majorca'. Much more logical, of course!

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