Hey! Donal

AKAHey Donal Ho Donal
Hech Donald, Ho Donald
First Published1903

Writer/composerHarry Lauder and Alex Melville RoudRN6258

Music Hall PerformersHarry Lauder
Folk performancesCollected from the singing of:
Gillespie, Mrs. Margaret; Scotland; 1906
Mathieson, Willie; Scotland : Aberdeenshire; 1952
Stewart, Lucy; Scotland : Aberdeenshire; 1959
Robertson, Stanley; Scotland; 1960-89
Robertson, Jeannie; Scotland : Aberdeenshire; 1974
Stewart, Elizabeth; Scotland : Aberdeenshire; 2004
Anderson, Jonathan; Scotland; no date
From Sheet Music in Irish Sheet Music Archive

It was in the merry month o' May
A bonnie wee lass I met one day,
And all the language she could say
Was "Donal, dinnae miss me!
Hug me, tug me, as ye please.
Watch an' mind ye dinna squeeze.
When ye think that naebody sees,
Donal, come an' kiss me."

"Hey, Donal'! ho, Donal'!
Think upon yer vow, Donal'
Donal you are big and braw,
Kiss me quick and gang awa'!" [TWICE]

Oh, we stood that nicht upon the stair,-
Bletherin' there like any pair.
I kissed her till her gums were sair.
Said she: "You're misbehavin'."
When I tickled her, she said, "That's rash!"
Then she gave me such a bash!
And she said, "Yer whuskers need a wash,
Or else they're needing shaving." 

Each nicht I noo see Miss MacKie-
She's a beauty! So am I!
But let me whisper by the by, 
She's a great provoker.
She'll often say to me
Donal' dear, Hurry up and disappear-
If my mither ken's ye're here
Donald ye're a croaker.

I popped the question to Miss MacKie
She looked shy and so did I 
Then I said I said, said I 
But what aboot your mother
She said My mither’s done too true 
The very same as I’ll do do 
She took my father and I take you 
We’ll both take one another.


[final verse transcribed from Lauder’s 1909 Victor recording]

Lauder’s sheet music for this song and the recordings I can access tend to contain three verses, the last verse of which either starts Each nicht I noo see Miss MacKie or I popped the question to Miss MacKie. I suspect that on stage Lauder sang the four verses given above in order, and that the shorter versions just reflect the limitations of the recording technology at that time.

Harry Lauder co-wrote this parody of a popular early 19th century song with Alex Melville. In turn their song seems to have been the starting point for the popular comic song Donald Whaur’s Yer Troosers – Andy Stewart constructed his song around the line “Donald Whaur’s Yer Troosers!” – which seems to derive its phrasing and tune from the Lauder/Melville song.

Lauder’s Hey! Donal has been collected several times from members of the the Stewart family and others in the important Scots traveller community based in Blairgowrie.

Jim Dixon on Mudcat has suggested that Lauder’s Hey Donal! has the feel of an old or traditional song that has been modified, and provides a link to The Poems and Songs of Robert Tannahill published in Paisley in 1874:

HEY, DONALD! HO, DONALD!
[aka Tho' Simmer Smiles]

Though simmer smiles on bank an' brae,
An' Nature bids the heart be gay,
Yet a' the joys o' flow'ry May
Wi' pleasure ne'er can move me.

Hey, Donald! ho, Donald!
Think upon your vow, Donald;
Min' the heathery knowe, Donald,
Whar ye vow'd tae lo'e me.

It appears that Tannahill, the weaver-poet, wrote these stanzas between 1802 and 1810, though additional stanzas were added by other authors in the 1820s, see for example the entry in the Robert Tannahill Commemoration website. Tannahill’s two stanzas seem to have provided the starting point for the Lauder/Melville song, which might be considered a parody of the original. The similarity is even closer in Lauder’s 1908 recording below in which he doesn’t sing the chorus as published in the official sheet music (given above) but sings the words of Tannahill’s original 2nd stanza.

Just to complicate things further the great singer Mary Brooksbank wrote a different song called Strathmartin Mains (Love and Freedom) with the line Hey Donald! Ho Donald! in its chorus. This has sometimes been confused with the Lauder/ Tannahill parody.

You can here Lucy Stewart sing the Lauder/Tannahill version at the excellent tobarandualchais.co.uk

Harry Lauder’s Edison recording:

Sources:

Last Updated on November 27, 2023 by John Baxter | Published: July 5, 2023

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