Henry's Songbook

The Laird o' Drum has a-huntin' gane
All in the mornin' early
And he has spied a weel-faur'd maid
A-shearin' her faither's barley

My bonnie maid, my weel-faur'd maid
It's will ye gang wi' me, O
And will ye gang and be Lady o' the Drum
And leave your shearin' a-be, O

I couldnae gang wi' you, kind sir
Nor leave my shearin' a-be, O
For I'm ower low tae be Lady o' the Drum
And your miss I scorn tae be, O

My faither he's a shepherd man
Keeps sheep on yonder hill, O
And ye be gang and speir at him
I'm entirely at his will, O

Drum has tae her faither gane
Keepin' sheep on yonder hill, O
I'm come tae marry your ae dochter
Gin ye'll gie your guid will, O

My dochter can neither read nor write
Nor once she bred at the school, O
But she can work baith oot and in
For I've learned the girlie mysel', O

She'll wark in your barn, aye and at your mill
And brew your malt and your ale, O
And saddle your steed in time o' need
And draw aff your boots hersel', O

Noo I'll learn the lassie tae read and write
And pit her tae the school, O
And she'll never need tae saddle my steed
Nor draw aff my boots hersel', O

But wha will bake my bridal breid
And wha will brew my ale, O
And wha will welcome my lowly bride
That's mair than I can tell, O

Ah but four and twenty gentle knights
Gae'd in at the yett o' Drum, O
And there's never a one has lifted his hat
When the Lady o' the Drum cam' in, O

It's up and spake his brither John
Says, Ye've done us meikle wrang, O
Ye've marriet a wife o' low degree
She's a mock tae all oor kin, O

It's Peggy Coutts is a bonnie bride
And Drum is big and gossie (?)
But ye mecht hae chosen a higher mat'
Than just a shepherd's lassie

It's up and spake the Laird o' Drum
Says, I've done ye nae wrang, O
I've marriet a wife tae wark and win
And ye've marriet ane tae spend, O

Noo, the first time that I took me a wife
She was far abune my degree, O
And I dursnae gang intae the room whaur she was
But my hand below my knee, O

It's twice he kissed her cherry cheek
And thrice her cherry chin, O
And twenty times her comely mou'
And ye're welcome, my Lady Drum, O

And when had eaten and drunken weel
And they were bound for bed, O
The Laird o' Drum and his lady fair
In ae bed they were laid, O

Gin ye had been o' high renown
As ye're o' low degree, O
We mecht hae gae'd doon tae the yett o' Drum
Amang guid companie, O

And o' a' yon four and twenty knights
That gae'd in at the yett o' Drum, O
There ne'er was a one wouldnae lifted his hat
When the Lady o' the Drum cam' in, O

I tell't ye weel ere we were wed
Ye was far abune my degree, O
But noo we're marriet, in ae bed laid
I'm just as guid as ye, O

And when you are dead and I am dead
And baith in ae grave laid, O
Ere seven years are at an end
Weel no' ken ye your dust frae mine, O

(weel-faur'd - well-favoured; miss - mistress)

(as sung by Jock Tamson's Bairns)

[1912:] Alexander Irvine, laird of Drum, married Dec. 7, 1643, Lady Mary Gordon, daughter of Marquis of Huntly and niece to Marquis of Arglyy. He lost much by his fidelity to the Stuart cause, and hence, perhaps, chose for his second wife the wealthy Margaret Coutts, "a woman of inferior birth and manner, which step gave great offence to his relations." (Johnson, Ballads xx)

[1963:] ... a 'true ballad', in every sense of the word, and a local one, for Drum is only nine or ten miles away [from Aberdeen] down the Deeside road. In 1681 Alexander Irvine, Laird of Drum, who had come through the troubled times of the Civil War and the Cromwellian invasion with very depleted worldly fortunes because of his fidelity to the house of Stuart, married as his second wife a sixteen-year-old girl called Margaret Coutts, much to the dudgeon of his relatives because she came of a poor family. Also the Laird was sixty-three, so no doubt they thought he should have known better. The common folk, however, were on the Laird's side, as the popularity of this ballad testifies. (Hamish Henderson, Alias McAlias 38f)

[1968:] [This] is one of the few ballads we can confidently track back to definite events. Alexander Irvine of Drum who had married Lady Mary Gordon in 1643, was brought into penury by his support of the Stuart cause. Not long before he died in 1687, he took a second wife, the young daughter of a shepherd, to the dismay of his family. (Notes 'Back o' Benachie')

[1984:] The ballad-maker naturally rejoiced in the discomfiture of these stuck-up gentry [the Laird's relatives], and produced a noble piece of egalitarian propaganda which went like wildfire through the North-Eastern countryside. (Notes Andy Hunter, 'King Fareweel')

[1986:] The heroine of this spirited tale is not only bonnie, she also possesses an independent mind and a fair stock of wit - and though she is "of low degree" she is more than a match for the Laird himself. As an unmarried girl, she has served as maid-of-all-work on her father's farm, but she puts an end to that state of affairs on her wedding night when she informs her lordly spouse that marriage has made her his equal and not his servant. The tale is beautifully told in a series of witty dialogues. (Notes Peggy Seeger, 'Blood and Roses' vol. 4)