7E. Will Ye Gang Love, or, Rashy Muir; Roud 6261 (Rashie Moor; Wad ye Gang, Love and Leave me Noo?; Rashy Moor, For Love)
A. "The Rashy Muir" sung by George F. Duncan of Glasgow about c.1875. From: The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection - Volume 8 - page 440, by Patrick N. Shuldham-Shaw, Emily B. Lyle - 2002.
B. "For Love," sung by Willie Mathieson (1879-1958) of Ellon, Aberdeenshire about 1894. From a recording in the Collection- School of Scottish Studies; Track ID - 15020; Original Tape ID - SA1952.002.
C. "Rashy Muir," from Murison MS ff. 46-47, 7 verses, 1896. First stanza in Fairies and Folk: Approaches to the Scottish Ballad Tradition - page 272 by Emily B. Lyle - 2007.
D. "Rashie Moor," sung by Mrs. Grieve, of New Deer about 1907, collected by Greig, no tune. From: The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection, by Patrick N. Shuldham-Shaw, Emily B. Lyle - 2002.
E. "Rashy Moor," composite, new stanzas 8-10 from Mrs Cruickshank, Greciehill, New Deer - collected by Greig. Stanzas 1-7 by Mrs. Greive. Greig-Duncan #1215E.
F. "Will Ye Gang Love?" sung by Andrew Robbie of Strichen, Aberdeenshire on February 3, 1960. Recorded by Prof. Kenneth Goldstein. From: School of Scottish Studies. Original Tape ID - SA1960.150.151.
G. "Wad ye Gang, Love and Leave me Noo?" sung by Isla St Clair of Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire in 1973. Learned from her mother, who got it from her mother. Recorded by Hamlish Henderson. An earlier recording was made in 1971 by Fred Kent. From: School of Scottish Studies, two recordings of St Clair: 1971, Original Tape ID - SA1971.195 and 1973, Original Tape ID - SA1973.016.
H. "Will Ye Gang, Love?" as sung by Archie Fisher on the album- "Will Ye Gang, Love." Topic 1976. From Archie Fisher's album- "Will Ye Gang, Love." Topic 1976, track 5. Re-release 1993, Green Linnet.
A Rashy Muir in Scotland
[This is a traditional Scottish love song with the "rejected female lover" theme which shares stanzas with the "Died for Love" songs. The first line of the chorus clearly shows the maid's insecurity of her relationship with her false lover: "Will ye gang, love, and leave me noo?" (Will you go, love, and leave me now). No extant print version has been found and I've dated this late 1700s to early 1800s and before c.1850. One of its two opening stanzas appeared in the c.1860 English broadside "I Am a Rover":
As I crossed over Dannamore," [yon dreary moor]
There I lost sight of my true love's door;
My heart did ache, my eyes went blind,
As I thought of the bonny lass I’d left behind.
In "I Am a Rover" the stanza is subordinate and appears as the fourth or fifth stanza. The appearance of this stanza in southern England shows the ballad has some circulation outside of Scotland and may have originated from a lost print version probably issued in Scotland. The only extant print in Scotland with a similar stanza is The Irish Boy, a broadside issued by Poet's Box, 80 London Street, Glasgow; 1872:
As I was crossing you rushy moor,
and leaving sight of my darling's door
I turned round, and I bade farewell,
And I took my journey where no one can tell.
This stanza properly uses "rushy moor" instead of the corrupt "dannamore" found in "I am a Rover." Another broadside of The Rover, Firth c.26(30)), is titled "Rashiemoor, a new song." There's no imprint or date and Steve Garham dated it c.1850 while I supposed it to be c. 1830. Here are the first two stanzas:
"The Rashiemuir, a new song," a broadside
1. I am a rover, 'tis well known,
I am gone to leave my home;
To leave my home as you can plainly see,
Let all the world judge of me.
2. Its I went over yon rashiemuir,
Leaving the sight of my true love's door,
My heart was sore my eyes got blind,
Leaving my true love so far behind.
The excerpts above from two London broadsides of The Rover and a Scot broadside, The Irish Boy, show that one of the main opening stanzas of "Rashy Muir" was known by the early 1800s. It raises the possibility of similar antecedents and suggests a print version of "Rashy Muir" was made but is missing.
Although the two titles, "Will Ye Gang Love" and "Rashy Muir," are somewhat interchangeable, the "Rashy Muir" opening stanza, as collected by Greig-Duncan from the late 1800s and early 1900s, is considerably different than the standard "Will Ye Gang, Love" opening stanza:
Rashy Muir (opening stanza Grieg-Duncan D)
As I cam' thro' yon rashie moor
Fa spied I in my true love's door?
My hairt grew sair, and my eyes grew blin',
To see my bonnie love leave me ahin'.
This opening is essentially the same as the stanza printed in "I Am a Rover." Rashy[1], also rashie, is Scottish for rush, a type of tall grass-like plant that grows in the moor. Rushy (rashy) would be an adjective describing the rushes growing on the moor, a flat, often wet, lowland area unsuitable for housing. The standard Rashy Muir opening stanza told in 1st person can be translated from the Scottish:
As I was coming across the rushy moor,
I spied another lover in my true love's door;
My heart grew sore and my eyes grew blind,
To see my bonny love leaving me behind.
This opening stanza in Rashy Muir is considerably different in the various "Will Ye Gang Love" variants. In the "Will Ye Gang" opening stanza she admires her love's curly blond hair, as he stands by the door but she wonders if her love is true:
For Love (from Willie Mathieson, Aberdeenshire c. 1894)
My lovie stands in yon stable door
A combing doon his yellow hair.
His curly locks they enticed me
But I'll never tell you who is he.
The last two lines of B, Willie Mathieson's "For Love" are unique[2] and probably corrupt. The usual last lines of the "Will Ye Gang Love" opening are:
His curly locks I like to see
I wonder if my love minds on me[3].
In the Rashy Muir versions, the chorus is present, but its role may be not as a chorus but as a stanza, as in A. In the standard chorus the rejected lover sings: "Will you go and leave me now? (2X) Will you forsake you're own true love and go with a lass you never knew?" The chorus usually appears:
And will ye gang love and leave me noo
Will ye gang love and leave me noo?
Will ye forsake your own true love
And gang wi' a lass that you never knew?[4]
The questions posed by the rejected lover serve as a prediction of her fate. For she finds, as in the Died for Love songs, he has left her for another woman who he now takes on his knee. The other Died for Love stanzas reveal other possible dilemmas that a maid could face:
1) she is pregnant and wishes she was a maid again
2) that she wishes her babe could be born
3) that she wishes she was dead and buried under the green, green grass.
4) Upon her impending death, she instructs; "Go dig a grave. . ." the standard Died For Love ending.
As in B, F, and G, after the opening stanza and chorus, many of the remaining stanzas are usually comprised of standard "Died for Love" stanzas with one or two other stanzas added from other sources. One of the stanzas from other sources is the 1770 broadside, The Unfortunate Swain, from which the following stanza is borrowed:
I set my back against an oak,
I thought it was a trusty tree,
But first it bent and then it broke
So did my false Love to me[5].
A, "The Rashy Muir" was sung by George F. Duncan of Glasgow about c.1875. It is considerably different than the standard versions sung today--there is no chorus, and, although the chorus is present as a stanza, it's sung from the male perspective. George F. Duncan, born 1860, was the son of William Duncan and brother of Rev. J. B. Duncan (of the Grieg-Duncan Collection). This was learned from his mother and copied down by George in an MS book. He was a school teacher in different parts of Scotland. This is sung from the man's perspective which the informant perhaps changed (it was taken from his mother) since it's usually sung by from a woman's perspective -- as are all the "Died for Love" songs. The usual chorus is stanza 6, stanza seven is a floating stanza found in the "Waly, Waly" songs. Stanza 8 is a quite different take on the "Dig a grave" ending common in the "Died for Love" songs.
The Rashy Muir- learned by George F. Duncan from his mother's singing[6] in 1875, Greig-Duncan #1215A
1. As I came through yon rashy moor
How spied I in my true love's door
My heart grew sair an my eyes grew blind
To think my bonnie love left me behind.
2. As we came through the water wan
The brig's being broken at yon mull dam
I boued my body an took her through
But alas she's gone an she's left me noo.
3. As we came our yon hill sae high
The nicht wis dark an my love took fleig
I took her in my arms twa
An we lay there till it wis day.
4. And in the morning when we arose
I helped her on wi her clothes
First her stockings an then her sheen
It was bit my duty when a wis dene.
5. But when I came in at yon town end
I saw another did my love attend
I took aff my hat an I said Hough hon
The best o my weel days are done.
6. O are ye gone lovey are ye gone
O are ye gone an left me noo
Wid ye forsake a' yere former vows
An break the heart o a lover true?
7. I lent my back against an oak
I thought it was a trusty tree
But first it bowed an then it break
And so has my false love to me.
8. Now since all my days are done,
I'll have it written on my grave stone,
Here lies a young man that died for love
Because his mistress wid not approve.
B, "For Love" sung by Willie Mathieson, has the standard "Will Ye Gang, Love" opening stanza with chorus. The last 5 stanzas and the title are taken from "Died for Love." The second stanza is taken from "Picking Lillies," a version of "The Unfortunate Swain." Willie Mathieson of Ellon, Aberdeenshire learned his version about 1894 from Annie Massie, a maid at East Toddlehills.
For Love- sung by Willie Mathieson (1879-1958) of Ellon, Aberdeenshire about 1894. Willie learned it from Annie Massie, a maid at East Toddlehills. This is a version of "Will Ye Gang Love" with 5 stanzas and the title from the "Died for Love" songs.
My lovie stands in yon stable door
A combing doon his yellow hair.
His curly locks they enticed me
But I'll never tell you who is he.
Chorus: Oh will ye gang love and leave noo
Oh will ye gang love and leave me noo
Will ye forsake a lover true
And go with the one ye never knew.
I was in the garden the other day
I pulled a rose baith fresh and gay,
I pulled the violets as they grew blue
But I little kent[1] what love can do.
I was standing at the door one day
I saw my love go across the moor
My heart grew sick and my eyes grew dim
To think my bonnie love left me ahin
As lang as my apron it did bide low
He followed me through frost and snow
But noo its up aye tae my chin
My love gangs by but he comes nae in.
There is a Tavern in the toon
My love gaes in and he sits him doon
He taks anither girl on his knee
And isna that a grief to me.
A grief to me and I'll tell you why
Because this girl has more gold than I.
But her gold it will waste and her beauty fade
And this poor girl she will be like me.
But I'll tak aff my hose and sheen
And I'll follow him through Aberdeen,
But I'll scorn him as he scorned me
But I'll never tell you who is he.
You'll dig my grave both wide and deep
Put a marble stone at my head and feet
And in the centre two turtle doves
To let them know that I died for love.
C, "Rashy Muir," is from Murison MS ff. 46-47, 7 verses, 1896. The first stanza in given in Fairies and Folk: Approaches to the Scottish Ballad Tradition - page 272 by Emily B. Lyle - 2007:
One evening as I stood in the door,
An' look-ed down thro' yon rashy muir,
My heart grew sore, an' my eyes grew blind
To think my true love left me behind.
Here's a two stanza fragment from The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection- Volume 8- page 262 by Patrick N. Shuldham-Shaw, Emily B. Lyle, published 2002. In this variant the first stanza is 'Rashy Muir' and the second is Alehouse[7].
Grieg K, "The Alehouse," sung by Mrs. Duncan, New Deer, Aberdeenshire. Collected by Ernest Coutts given to Gavin Grieg, around 1907.
1. My love stands on yonder stair
Combin' down his yellow hair,
His curly locks an' I long to see
But I winner gin my love min's on me.
2. There is an alehouse in yonder town
My love gings in an' he sets him doon,
He taks a stranger on his knee,
Oh isna a' that a sair hert to me.
Three excellent versions by third generation singers were recorded in the 1960s and 70s:
F. "Will Ye Gang Love?" sung by Andrew Robbie of Strichen, Aberdeenshire on February 3, 1960. Recorded by Prof. Kenneth Goldstein. From: School of Scottish Studies. Original Tape ID - SA1960.150.151.
G. "Wad ye Gang, Love and Leave me Noo?" sung by Isla St Clair of Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire in 1973. Learned from her mother, who got it from her mother. Recorded by Hamlish Henderson. An earlier recording was made in 1971 by Fred Kent. From: School of Scottish Studies, two recordings of St Clair: 1971, Original Tape ID - SA1971.195 and 1973, Original Tape ID - SA1973.016.
H. "Will Ye Gang, Love?" as sung by Archie Fisher on the album, "Will Ye Gang, Love." Topic 1976, track 5. Re-release 1993, Green Linnet. No source given, "learned while Archie live at Torbain Farm Cottages, just outside Kirkcaldy in Fife, probably in the late 1960s."
Both Robbie's version and St. Clair's are essentially one stanza and chorus with the rest of the text ("I wish, I Wish," etc.) from Died for Love. Here's my transcription of St. Clair's version:
Wad ye Gang, Love and Leave me Noo? sung by Isla St Clair of Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire in 1971, 1973. Learned from her mother, who got it from her mother. Transcribed from recording by Hamlish Henderson, 1973. An earlier recording was made in 1971 by Fred Kent.
My love stands in yon chaumer door
Cambing back his yellow hair
His curly locks I lang to see
I wonder if my laddie minds on me.
Chorus: Wad ye gang, love, and leave me noo?
Wad ye gang, love, and leave me noo?
Wad ye forsake your ain love true
To ga' off with a lassie that ye never knew?
As lang as my apron did bide doon
He followed me frae toon tae toon
But noo it's up abein[6] my knee
He passed by but kens nae me.
I wish, I wish, but I wish in vain,
O that I were a maid again,
But a maid again I will never be
Till an apple grows on a rodden tree.
I wish, I wish my babe was born,
And sittin' on mather's knee
And I mysel was deid and gane
The long green growin' over me.
CHORUS: Oh he's gang, gang, he's left me noo
He's gang, gang, he's left me noo
He has forsook his ain love true
To ga' off with a lassie that he never knew.
St. Clair's version, although attributed to her grandmother, is very similar to Robbie's and may be arranged from it. The archaic "chaumer" for "chamber" but meaning "an added room usually for male family members or workers on the farm," as well as the "rodden" (Rowan) tree indicate that this is an old version.
"Will Ye Gang Love," or, "Rashy Muir" is closely related to the Died for Love songs and their extended family. Most of the recent recordings after 1976 seem to be derivative arrangements from either Robbie, St. Clair or Fisher. Even St. Clair and Fisher's versions may be arrangements.
R. Matteson 2017]
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Footnotes:
1. "Rashy" is perhaps best explained by Duncan Williamson: " . . .where they stayed was a rashie moor where all the rushes, we call them 'rashes,' they grew very high, five foot high." [A Thorn in the King's Foot: Folktales of the Scottish Travelling People]. The Black Brothers whose version was taken from Archie Fisher call "rashy muir," "rushy wood."
2. Willie Mathieson's last two lines have not been found in other versions.
3. From "Will Ye Gang Love?" sung by Andrew Robbie of Strichen, Aberdeenshire on February 3, 1960. Recorded by Prof. Kenneth Goldstein. From: School of Scottish Studies. Original Tape ID - SA1960.150.151.
4. Ibid.
5. The "trusty oak" stanza from "The Rashy Muir" sung by George F. Duncan of Glasgow about c.1875. Also found in Archie Fisher's version.
6. Roud lists this from Duncan's sister who surely knew the version.
7. Alehouse is a version of Died for Love and this fragment is listed there as well.