Piper MacFarlane
AKA | Bonnie Wee Lassie frae Gouroch, The |
First Published | 1906 |
Writer/composer | Harry Lauder and Gerald Grafton | Roud | RN5212 |
Music Hall Performers | Harry Lauder |
Folk performances | Collected from the singing of: Stewart, Sheila; Scotland : Perthshire; 1954 Stewart, Belle; Scotland : Perthshire; 1976 |
From Francis & Day's 2nd Album of Harry Lauder's popular songs O! A'm Piper MacFarlane and A’m on the beer But still A’m in love wi’ a bonnie wee dear Ye’d like her yersel’ if ye only could see her Her faither’s a grocer in Gourock The first time I met her I’ll never forget The rain it was raining the weather was wet I kiss'd her and told her that she was a pet This bonnie wee lassie frae Gourock O! she’s a bonnie wee beautiful thing; I’ve popp’d her the question and bought her the ring A’m goin’ tae get married sometime in the Spring But I dinna like to askin’ her faither O! I took her tae London I did by-the-by Tae spend a few days wi’ my auld freen’ Mackie Mac “Who’s the lady?” “D’ye no ken?” said I “That’s the bonnie wee lassie fra Gourock” Mac started tae tickle her under the chin When who but his wife, Missis Mac, should come in She shifted his whuskers and half o’ his chin Thro' this bonnie wee lassie fra Gourock O! I borrow’d twa pounds frae my auld freen Mackie And I took my wee sweetheart to dine at the Cri When a masher he started a winkin’ his eye At my bonnie wee lassie frae Gourock Her temper it rose - she fair played the deuce! She walloped his neck wi’ the leg o’ a goose She hunted the masher all over the hoose Twas a glo-rious vict’ry for Gourock O! I bought my wee lassie a nice bit of lace And a hat and some powder tae puff on her face We caused a sensation all over the place Me and my lassie frae Gourock I treated her handsomely just like a swell Took her roon’ tae the back o’ a first class hotel Put her nose tae the window to smell the nice smell She’d ne’er smelt a smell like it in Gourock
A Harry Lauder song which was later sung by traditional singers in the Stewart family.
Steve Byrne points out that finding snatches of Lauder songs in the Scots Traveller repertoire is not unusual occurrence… Belle Stewart’s repertoire contained the Harry Lauder piece “Piper MacFarlane” long misidentified as “The bonnie wee lass frae Gourock“.
I am compiling a list of Music Hall songs and song fragments that have ended up in the Scots Traveller repertoire here .
You can hear Jeannie Robertson sing it at Tobar an Dualchais / Kist o Riches
Sources:
- Entries in the Roud Indexes at the Vaughn Williams Memorial Library: https://archives.vwml.org/search/all:single[folksong-broadside-books]/0_50/all/score_desc/extended-roudNo_tr%3A5212
- Kilgarrif Sing Us
- Lyrics and Sheet Music: Francis & Day’s 2nd Album of Harry Lauder’s popular songs (personal copy)
- Sheet music cover: SirHarryLauder.com
- Steve Byrne (2010) “Riches in the Kist: the living legacy of Hamish Henderson” in Eberhard Bort Ed. Borne on the carrying stream : the legacy of Hamish Henderson, p287