> Folk Music > Songs > I Will Lay Ye Doon, Love
I Will Lay Ye Doon, Love
[
Roud 3355
; Ballad Index DTlayedo
; trad.]
Jeannie Robertson sang For I Will Lay You Doon in a recording made by Hamish Henderson at the end of the 1950s on her 1959 EMI/HMV EP of tender and ribald songs of Scotland, Jeannie’s Merry Muse, and on her 1984 Lismor album Up the Dee and Doon the Don.
Enoch Kent and Gordon McCulloch sang I Will Lay Ye Doon, Love in 1966 on The Exiles’ Topic album The Hale and the Hanged. A.L. Lloyd and Gordon McCulloch noted:
A handsome love song from the repertory of Jeannie Robertson. Enoch Kent has added a verse of his own. The tune is a variant of the Gaelic melody sometimes known as Youghal Harbour, which has spawned a whole family of airs, of which The Old Triangle is among the newest and most down-at-heel members.
Norman Kennedy sang I’ll Lay Ye Doon, Love, I’ll Treat Ye Decent in 1968 on his Folk-Legacy album Ballads & Songs of Scotland. Peter Hall noted in the album’s booklet:
Norman learned this apparent fragment from Jeannie Robertson, the great ballad singer from Aberdeen. We have been unable to identify the song.
Jean Redpath sang I’ll Lay Ye Doon, Love in 1973 on her Folk-Legacy album Frae My Ain Countrie.
Five Hand Reel sang Lay Ye Doon, “a Scots version of a theme well known in every country”, in 1979 on their Topic album A Bunch of Fives.
Bram Taylor sang I’ll Lay You Down Love in 1984 on his Fellside album Bide a While and in 2001 on his Fellside CD Fragile Peace. He noted on the second album:
Given to me by my old friend, Nick Caffrey of the Folk Group, The Wassailers, I first recorded this song on my Fellside album Bide a While in 1984. The oral process seems to have really got to grips here, as it started life in Ireland as a humorous song. By the time it ended up in the repertoire of the late great Scots singer, Jeannie Robertson (from whom most versions seem to emanate), it had become simply a beautiful song with an equally beautiful tune.
Old Blind Dogs sang Lay Ye Doon Love on their Lochshore albums Tall Tails (1994) and Live. (1999). Ian F. Benzie noted:
I learned this song by the osmosis method, i.e. it slowly filtered through over a period of several years. Apart from hearing it on cassette, I’ve only heard it sung once in a live situation as sung by Graham Crowe of Stonehaven Folk Club fame, who rendered a memorable version one night at an after gig party.
Jimmy Hutchison sang I’ll Lay Ye Doon Love in 2000 on his Tradition Bearers album Corachree. He noted:
I first heard this from Enoch Kent as a fragment, i.e. first verse and chorus. I added the further two verses (with the help of Rab Noakes in the middle verse) mainly because the chorus is so good and audiences love singing it so much. This is the nearest I’ve ever come to being a song writer. I think Enoch went on to write additional verses to the original fragment as well. The original came from Jeannie [Robertson], although I never heard her sing it.
Claire Hastings sang I’ll Lay Ye Doon on the 2017 TMSA anthology TMSA Young Trad Tour 2016.
Iona Fyfe learned Lay Ye Doon Love from the singing of Jimmy Hutchison. This video shows her in August 2020 at Capture Works, Glasgow, performing for her featured week on Global Music Match. She was accompanied by Jack McRobbie on guitar and Graham Rorie on electric tenor guitar:
Fraser Bruce sang I’ll Lay Ye Doon, Love in 2020 on his Greentrax CD Every Song’s a Story. He noted:
I love nothing more than standing in a crowded room at a folk festival with everybody singing their hearts out. No instruments, other than human voices. This old song is typical of the type of song we would sing with a simple but lovely melody, great chorus and the chance for everybody in the room to try out harmonies. Nobody would we excluded, great singer or not.
Lyrics
Jeannie Robertson sings Lay Ye Doon
For I will lay you doun, love, I’ll treat you dacent,
I will lay ye doun, love, I’ll fill your can;
I will lay ye doun, love, I’ll treat you dacent,
For Bolerl he is a solid man.
For as I strollt out on a summer’s evening,
Down by the waters of the pleasant Bann;
And as I was walking sure I could hear them talking,
And saying, “Bolerl, he’s a solid man.”
I will lay you doun, love, I’ll treat you dacent,
I will lay ye doun, love, I’ll fill your can;
I will lay ye doun, love, I’ll treat you dacent,
For Bolerl he is a solid man.
Norman Kennedy sings I’ll Lay Ye Doon, Love, I’ll Treat Ye Decent
“I’ll lay ye doon, love, I’ll treat ye decent.
I’ll lay ye doon, love; I’ll fill your can.
I will lay ye doon, love. I’ll treat ye decent,
For Bol’ Errol he is a solid man.”
And as I walked oot one mid-May mornin’,
Doon by the banks o’ the pleasant Bann,
And as I was walkin’, sure, I could hear them talkin’,
Sayin’, “Bol’ Errol, he is a solid man.”
Five Hand Reel sing Lay Ye Doon
Chorus (after each verse):
I’ll lay ye doon, love, and I’ll treat you decent,
I’ll lay ye doon, love, and I’ll fill your can,
I’ll lay ye doon, love, and I’ll treat you decent,
For surely he is an honest man.
As I walked out on a summer’s evening,
Doon by the water and the pleasant sand.
And as I was walking I could hear them talking,
Saying, “Surely he is an honest man.”
I have travelled far frae Inverey,
And I have travelled as far as Edinburgh toon,
But I must go, love, and travel further,
And when I return I will lay ye doon.
I must leave ye noo, love, but I’ll return
Tae you, my love, and I’ll hold your hand;
Then no more I’ll roam frae you I’ll wander,
No more tae walk on a foreign land.
Iona Fyfe sings Lay Ye Doon Love
Chorus (after each verse):
I’ll lay ye doon, love, I’ll treat you decent
I’ll lay ye doon love, I’ll fill yer can
I’ll lay ye doon love, I’ll treat ye decent
For surely he is an honest man
Well I gid oot ae simmer evenin’
Down by the banks o’ the pleasant Don
As I went walkin’ I could hear them talkin
Sayin surely he is an honest man
I’m bound away love, and I will leave you
To cross the hills and the bonny sands
But fan I return then we’ll get married
I’ll prove to you an honest man
Well I hae traivelled fae Inverey
And doon as far as Edinburgh toon
Bit I maun gang love and traivel further
But when I return, I’ll lay ye doon
I’ve nae gowd nor gear tae offer
Nae siller rings for yir bonny hauns
But my hairt is true an’ my airms are strang, love
For you I’ll wark like an honest man