> Folk Music > Songs > Skippin’ Barfit Through the Heather
Skippin’ Barfit Through the Heather
[ Roud 9750 ; DT SKIPBARE ; Mudcat 17792 ; trad.]
Jessie Murray of Buckie, Morayshire, sang Skippin’ Barfit Through the Heather at the Edinburgh People’s Festival on 31 August 1951. This recording made by Hamish Henderson was included in 2006 on the Rounder CD 1951 Edinburgh People’s Festival Ceilidh.
Alison McMorland learned her version of this song from Jessie Murray and recorded it in 1977 for her album Belt Wi’ Colours Three. She also sang it in 2000 on her Tradition Bearers CD Cloudberry Day, and in 2016 live at the Tron Theatre, Glasgow, at a concert celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the TMSA. This concert was released on the TMSA DVD 101 Scottish Songs: The Wee Red Book. Georde McIntyre noted on the second album:
There are many fine variants, both musically and textually, of this class of song, where a high-born lover, out walking or hunting, woos or attempts to woo a country lass. Queen Among the Heather and O’er the Moor Amang the Heather collected by Burns are obvious examples. In Ireland they have Doon the Moor and Heather on the Moor.
Alison has a special affinity with this song and regards it as “a jewel of its type”. In a letter to Hamish Henderson (circa 1976) she wrote, of this song “I think that some songs more than others teach you to sing in a certain way and allow you to feel the sense of other voices having sung and shaped the song”. Alison sings the version from Jessie Murray the Buckie fishwife who was recorded by the School of Scottish Studies in 1951 (see 101 Scottish Songs, edited by Norman Buchan, Collins: Glasgow 1962).
Isla St Clair sang Skippin’ Barfit in her BBC Radio 2 series Tatties & Herrin’, transmitted in 1995. It was included in 1997 on one of the two Greentrax CDs compiled from this programme, Tatties & Herrin’: The Sea.
Gordeanna McCulloch got Skippin Barfit Thro’ the Heather from Norman Buchan’s book 101 Scottish Songs and sang it in 1997 on her Greentrax CD In Freenship’s Name. She noted:
Norman Buchan was stunned by Jessie Murray’s rendition of this haunting song. It was, I am told, one of his favourites and he set his own song, The Auchengeich Disaster, to this tune. I have known it since my school days but have only started singing it in recent years. This one is for Norman, who never heard me sing it. I hope he would have approved.
Rachel Newton of The Furrow Collective sang Skippin’ Barfit Through the Heather on their 2014 album At Our Next Meeting. She noted:
A popular Scottish song, one of a handful in which a high-born gentleman makes an unsuccessful attempt at wooing a country lass. I learned this song from Alison McMorland, who in turn learned it from the singing of Jessie Murray. It is one of my favourite melodies of all time and of course I like the fact that the young woman in the song so strongly knows her own mind!
This video shows The Furrow Collective at The Glad Cafe in Glasgow in February 2014:
Robyn Stapleton sang Skippin’ Barfit Through the Heather in 2015 on her album of songs of the Scottish and Irish folk traditions, Fickle Fortune. She noted:
Aberdeenshire singer, Jessie Murray, performed this song at the First People’s Festival Ceilidh, held in Edinburgh in 1951, where she was recorded by Hamish Henderson. The song conjures up the most beautiful imagery, and describes a young woman who is happily independent, and content with the joys of nature.
Karine Polwart sang and spoke All on a Summer’s Evening, incorporating the first four verses of Skippin’ Barfit Through the Heather in 2017 on her and Pippa Murphy’s Hudson album A Pocket of Wind Resistance.
Lyrics
Jessie Murray sings Skippin’ Barfit Through the Heather
As I was walkin’ doon yon hill,
It was in a summer evenin’,
It was there I spied a bonnie lass
Skippin’ barfit through the heather.
O but she was neatly dressed,
She neither needed hat nor feather;
She was the queen among them a,
Skippin’ barfit through the heather.
“Will ye come wi’ me, my bonnie lass?
Will ye come wi’ me and leave the heather?
It’s silks and satins ye will wear
If ye come wi’ me and leave the heather.”
She wore a gown o’ bonnie blue,
Her petticoats were a pheasant colour,
And in between the stripes were seen
Shinin’ bells o’ bloomin’ heather.
“O young man, your offer’s good,
But sae weel I ken ye will deceive me.
But gin ye tak my hert awa
Better though I’d never seen ye.”
O but she was neatly dressed,
She neither needed hat nor feather;
She were the queen among them a,
Skippin’ barfit through the heather.
Rachel Newton sings Skippin’ Barfit Through the Heather
As I was walkin’ doon yon hill,
’Twas on a summer evenin’,
There I spied a bonny lass
Skippin’ barfit through the heather.
O but she was neatly dressed,
She neither needed cap nor feather;
She was the queen among them a,
Skippin’ barfit through the heather.
Her gown it was a bonnie blue,
Her petticoat of pheasant colour,
And in between the stripes was seen
Shinin’ bells o’ bloomin’ heather.
“O lassie, lassie, will ye come with me?
Will ye come wi’ me and leave the heather?
It’s silks an’ satins you shall have
If ye come wi’ me and leave the heather.”
“Well kind sir, your offer’s good,
But it’s well I ken you’ll deceive me.
Gin I gie my heart awa
Better though I’d never seen you.”
O but she was neatly dressed,
She neither needed cap nor feather;
She was the queen among them a,
Skippin’ barfit through the heather.