There's an understandable mystery concerning many traditional folk songs. Who wrote them and why? And what age are they? If they are relatively modern, can they still qualify as traditional? Musicologists and folkie gurus could possibly answer these questions, but not myself. Some songs too have a weird tendency to 'borrow' tunes from older songs, and the 'borrowing' does not even have to be from the same country. More than a few songs too have multiple names to throw enquirers off the scent and add to their inherent mystery.
The greatest mystery in this beautiful song is the identity of the male and female protagonists.
The subject of this piece is one such. It's primary (and best) name is 'Busk, Busk, Bonnie Lassie'. It is not an exhortation to send a poor girl onto the streets and play dodgy tunes for hard cash. The word busk, in this context, seems to signify 'prepare' or 'dress (yourself) up'. An alternative title for the song is 'Bonnie Glenshee,' which seems blatantly wrong (and not because I am an Angus bigot) since the song primarily focusses on the Angus glen of Isla and not the neighbouring Perthshire Glenshee, as can be seen from the lyrics below.
There seems little trace of the song, whatever we call it, until the 1950s, when it appeared on an album by the Aberdeen singer Jeannie Robertson. Hamish Henderson sagely pinpointed the song's appeal at the time: 'With the last song, the mood changes. Busk, Busk, Bonnie Lassie is a previously unrecorded love song from the Eastern Highlands; its strange nostalgic words and its superb melody combine to evoke most powerfully the atmosphere of the lonely Angus braes.' It is undoubtedly a haunting evocation of place that richly deserves a wider audience, and indeed it has been recorded quite a few times over the years.
The Stewarts of Blaigrowrie new the tune and may have been instrumental in shaping and preserving it, and many in the 1960s heard their version of the song. The redoubtable Corries covered the song on their 'Live' A Live O set from 1968. It is slightly surprising that they do not seem to have included this lovely yearning tune very much in their later reportoire.
The late Dundonian musician Jim Reid also included a version of the song on his 1984 album I Saw the Wild Geese Fly. (The second set of lyrics below were favoured by him.) Another local singer who recorded it was Joe Aitken from Kirriemuir who recorded it on a 2007 live album. A wonderful, unaccompanied version sung by Iona Fyfe can be found on You Tube. A version collected by Hamish Henderson and performed by Charlotte Higgins can be found on the Tobar an Dualchais wesbite: here
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| Jim Reid |
Some Versions of the Lyrics
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Dae ye see yon high hills,Aa covered ower wi snaw?They hae pairted mony the true love,And they'll soon pairt us twa.Busk, busk bonnie lassie and come awa wi me,And I'll tak ye tae Glen Isla near bonnie Glen Shee.
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As they walk along
With their plaidies pulled aboot them
And their sheep they graze on
Busk, busk, bonnie lassie
And come along wi' me
And I'll take ye tae Glen Isla
Near Bonnie Glen Shee
Oh do you see yon soldiers
As they all march along
Wi' their guns on their shoulders
And their broadswords hanging down
Oh do you see yon high hills
All covered with snow
They hae parted many a true love
And they'll soon part us twa
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