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Blythe Was She

[ Roud 6123 ; Ballad Index BrdBlWSh , RCBBMWS ; Robert Burns]

Wendy Weatherby sang a medley of An o for Ane and Twenty Tam, Wha My Babie Clouts, and Blythe, Blythe in 1997 on the Linn anthology The Complete Songs of Robert Burns Volume 3.

Barbara Dymock sang a medley of The Gallant Weaver and Blythe Was She on her 2011 album Hilbert’s Hotel. She noted:

Two songs by Robert Burns. I substituted another trad tune for the usual weaver’s one.

Lyrics

Wendy Weatherby sings Blythe, Blythe

Chorus (after each verse):
Blythe, blythe and merry was she,
Blythe wa,i s he but and ben.
Blythe by the banks of Erm.
And blythe in Glenturit glen!

By Oughertyre grows the aik,
On Yarrow banks the birken shaw;
But Phemie was a bonier lass
Than braes o’ Yarrow ever saw.

Her looks were like a flow’r in May,
Her smile was like a simmer morn;
She tripped by the banks of Ern,
As light’s a bird upon a thorn.

Her bonie face it was as meek
As onie lamb upon a lea;
The evening sun was ne’er sae sweet
As was the blink o’ Phemie’s e’e.

The Highland hills I’ve wander’d wide.
As o’er the Lawlands I hae been;
But Phemie was the blythest lass
That ever trode the dewy green.

Barbara Dymock sings Blythe Was She

Chorus (after each verse):
Blythe, blythe and merry was she,
Blythe was she but and ben,
Blythe by the banks o Ern,
And blythe in Glenturit glen!

By Oughtertyre grows the aik,
On Yarrow banks the birken shaw;
But Phemie was a bonier lass
Than braes o Yarrow ever saw.

Her looks were like a flow’r in May,
Her smile was like a simmer morn:
She tripped by the banks o Ern,
As light’s a bird upon a thorn.

The Highland hills I’ve wander’d wide,
As o,er the lawlands I hae been,
But Phemie was the bonniest lass
That ever trod the dewy green.