1
It was down in a valley near a town in Yorkshire,
I lived at my ease and was free from all care,
I lived at my ease and had sweethearts enew,
Till I met with the lads with their bonnets so blue.
2
Now a regiment of soldiers as you shall soon hear,
From Scotland to Kingston came abroad for to steer;
There was one lad amongst them, I love him so true,
He’s my bonny Scotch lad with his bonnet so blue.
3
His cheeks are like roses, his eyes like two sloes,
He’s proper and he’s handsome wherever he goes,
And besides he’s good-natured and comely to view,
He’s my bonny Scotch lad with his bonnet so blue.
4
It was early one morning I rose from my bed,
And I called out to Nelly my own waiting maid,
‘Come dress me as well as your two hands can do,
For I’m going to see the lads with their bonnets so blue.’
5
When I came to the regiment it was on parade;
I listened intently to hear what was said;
His name is Charles Stewart, I love him so true,
He’s my bonny Scotch lad with his bonnet so blue.
6
My love passed me by with his gun in his hand;
I strove to speak to him but it was all in vain,
I strove to speak to him but by me he flew,
And my heart went along with his bonnet so blue.
7
I said, ‘My dear jewel, I’ll buy your discharge
And I’ll free you from the army and I’ll set you at large,
If you will but love me and always prove true,
For well I do love your sweet bonnet so blue.’
8
He said, ‘My young lady, if you do me discharge
And you free me from the army and you set me at large,
If I should away and along with you go,
Then what would my poor little Scotch lassie do?’
9
‘For I have a sweetheart in my own country,
And I’ll never deny her for her poverty;
The girl that I love has always proved true,
And I’ll ne’er put a stain on my bonnet so blue.’
10
I’ll send for a limner from London to Hull,
And I’ll have my love’s picture drawn out in the full,
And there in my bedchamber oft will I view
My bonny Scotch lad in his bonnet so blue.
Geoff accompanies his singing on Anglo-German concertina.
This is a traditional song about Yorkshire.
By 1800 this song was already very popular if the many broadside printings of that period are any indication. It is quite likely a product of the northern versions of the London pleasure gardens such as Ranelagh and Vauxhall. As one would expect by the subject matter and setting, it was widely printed in the north of England and Scotland, but also most of the London printers of the early nineteenth century picked it up. Evans, Pitts and followers set it in Yorkshire, and Catnach and followers set it in Manchester. Rather ironically Kendrew of York set his version in Liverpool and later Harkness of Preston set his in Hull! Some Scottish and Newcastle versions actually remove the setting to Woolwich in London. This is easily explained as in an earlier Newcastle version the regiment has stopped in Yorkshire in transit from Scotland to Woolwich. Of the versions that set it in Yorkshire most of them don’t specify a town, but those that do give either Kingston upon Hull or the fictitious Kingston upon Waldy. However it is pretty certain that the original was set in Yorkshire as in all versions, in the last stanza she proposes to send for a limner from London to Hull to have his portrait drawn.
This extra stanza in the eleven-stanza variants comes after our third stanza:
When I go to my bed I can find no rest,
The thoughts of my true love still run in my breast,
The thoughts of my true love still run in my view,
He’s my bonny Scotch lad with his bonnet so blue.
Norman Cazden in Folk Songs of the Catskills, State University of New York Press, 1982, p170, succinctly describes the unusual plot of the song, ‘The text seems unique in the way it holds off, to the most dramatic moment, the punch line about the Scotch lassie. If the lady, in her forwardness, showed too great a haste and too little notion of discreet inquiry, her graceful acceptance of the truth helps fulfil a sympathetic character.’
Whilst ballads of girls falling in love with soldiers and becoming camp followers abound, the girls are invariably successful in winning the soldier’s affections, and sometimes actually end up on the battlefield themselves. The unusual nature of this song and some of the language hint that this song probably originated one step above the level of broadside hack.
As one might expect British oral versions pretty much follow one or other of the broadside versions. Geoff’s version is based on the Goathland version printed in Frank Kidson’s Traditional Tunes, 1891, p118, the text of which came from a manuscript c.1805-10. However American versions sometimes vary the occupation of the hero to wagoner or boatman. The song is found all over the English-speaking world but by the twentieth century it was becoming scarce and is only found in a few collections. Not surprisingly Gavin Greig found eleven versions in the early twentieth century in North East Scotland (See The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection, Mercat Press, 1995, Vol. 5, p189f).