The Bonnie Woods o Hatton
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1953.238.A6
Original Tape ID
Summary
In this song, a ploughman named Sandy laments his misfortune in love and relates his story: he courted Molly for a year, and fell in love with her in Hatton Woods. He asked her when they would be married, but she left him soon after. Although she rejected him, he bears her no ill will, hoping that she will one day change her mind.
Sheila Stewart mentions having learned the lyrics for this song from her brother-in-law [Jimmy Higgins, married to Sheila's sister, Cathie]; she put the song to an old tune.
Item Notes
Five verses of four lines; sung to the tune of 'Tramps and Hawkers' (Roud Folk Song Index no. 1874). Sheila Stewart elsewhere states that Jimmy Higgins learned the song from a friend, who learned it from an Irishman.
Hatton, once a farm, is now a small hamlet of cottages located 1.5km south-east of Luther Water in Marykirk parish. The Caddam Mill and Lowther Mill in the song are the local pronunciations of Caldhame and Luther.
See:
'Tocher' 44 (1992) pp. 122-123
'Bothy Songs & Ballads' (J. Ord, 1930) p. 185
'Come Gie's a Sang' (S. Douglas, 1995) pp. 52-53
'Queen Amang the Heather' (S. Stewart, 2006) pp. 111-112
'Till Doomsday in the Afternoon' (E. MacColl & P. Seeger, 1986) pp. 231-233
National Library of Scotland, Broadside Ballad collection, L.C.Fol.70(32a) (Poets' Box, Dundee, 1880-1900)
Recording Location
County - Perthshire
Parish - Blairgowrie
Village/Place - Blairgowrie
Item Location
County - Kincardineshire
Parish - Marykirk
Village/Place - Hatton
Language
Scots
Genre
Collection
Classification
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Fair