Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Will You Go, Lassie, Go? - sung by The Clancy Brothers with Tommy Makem

Here is another song for poetry month. This is also known as Wild Mountain Thyme, and Purple Heather. You may read about its origins here, and see the long list of people who have recorded it. I first heard it in the 1970s sung by the wonderful Jean Redpath. I didn't even know what thyme was then! I can't find a video of her singing it live, but came upon this perfect, perfect version by The Clancy Brothers with Tommy Makem.  It brings tears to my eyes. There's just something in a song like this that goes right to my heart. Please do sing along.



Oh, the summer time is coming
And the trees are sweetly blooming
And the wild mountain thyme
Grows around the blooming heather
Will you go lassie, go?

And we'll all go together
To pluck wild mountain thyme
All around the blooming heather
Will you go lassie, go?

I will build my love a bower
Near yon pure crystal fountain
And on it I will pile
All the flowers of the mountain
Will you go lassie, go?

And we'll all go together
To pluck wild mountain thyme
All around the blooming heather
Will you go lassie, go?

If my true love she were gone
I would surely find another
Where wild mountain thyme
Grows around the blooming heather
Will you go lassie, go?

And we'll all go together
To pluck wild mountain thyme
All around the blooming heather
Will you go lassie, go?

Oh, the summer time is coming
And the trees are sweetly blooming
And the wild mountain thyme
Grows around the blooming heather
Will you go lassie, go?

And we'll all go together
To pluck wild mountain thyme
All around the blooming heather
Will you go lassie, go?

22 comments:

  1. Oh one of my favorite songs! Baez did it well also. Yes, tears in the eyes.
    Mary

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  2. This is one of my absolute favourite Scottish folk tunes. Unfortunately I can't listen to it right now as my grand-daughter is asleep in the next room but I shall come back and have a listen tomorrow.

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    1. This is a really lovely version. What a sweet thing to have her sleeping in your house. No feeling like it.

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    2. It's playing right now. Gosh, it *is* a lovely version. Appeals to my Scottish heritage. :-) You're so right, Nan, there is no feeling like having a grandchild staying. Ruth is 16 now, rapidly heading for 17, and we keep thinking she won't want to come and stay much longer but it hasn't happened yet. We've just been book and art supplies shopping together and I find it a joy to be honest.

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    3. I'm sure it is a joy. It's just like when I first became a mother I felt I was in a club I had never known existed. Same thing being a grandparent. The love is so deep. Your child's child. The best. I have Scottish heritage too. I think my father's ancestors were 'cleared' out of Scotland and settled in Belfast, Northern Ireland before coming to Canada, and then the US. My mother's side came from Ireland.

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  3. So beautiful! And how it takes me back to long ago and far away........

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    1. I think that's true of so many Scottish and Irish songs. They tell such stories, and make me feel I'm in a time long gone, but maybe, just maybe still possible to find. Like that wonderful play and movie called Brigadoon.

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  4. I haven't heard this in so, so long. It brings sweet tears to my eyes. Thank you for posting this rendition with the Clancy Brothers. I think I first heard this sung by a local Chicago group called Arranmore some years ago.

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    1. I looked them up, but I couldn't find anything recent. I wonder if they disbanded. The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem can tear the heart out. How I miss them.

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  5. Well! That was lovely Nan; thank you for posting.
    I clicked in to see who else had recorded it, and now I've got Tge Irish Rovers and John Allen Cameron on my mind. Again, thanks!

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    1. So very pleased you came over to hear this. Thanks.

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    2. Oh, I *love* this song. I heard it on a pub/folk evening with my husband-to-be and it takes me right back. Plus, it's a really beautiful song.

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    3. What a nice memory! Thanks for coming by and sharing it.

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    1. It sure was. I think this is my favorite version.

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  7. I've never heard this before so enjoyed it very much here. Hauntingly beautiful, especially with their lovely dialect. I was always told we were Irish when I was growing up but then came to find out that we also were Scots by way of Ireland.

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    1. I am so happy you liked it. I think that's me, as well. Scots-Irish.

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  8. LOVE that header photo. That donkey looks like he's just about to speak.

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  9. Thanks for the idea on the whirligig things -- I'll have to look into that!

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  10. One of my favourite songs. Bill Nighy sings it in a pub scene in the new movie, Their Finest. It's about a film production unit in London during WWII. I enjoyed it very much.

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