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The Lads That Were Reared Amang Heather

[ Roud 5127 ; Ballad Index RcLTRATH ; trad.]

Willie Scott, Alison McMorland: Herd Laddie o’ the Glen

Willie Scott sang The Lads That Were Reared Amang Heather on his 1968 Topic album, The Shepherd’s Song. This track was also included in 1998 on the Topic anthology on the life of rural working men and women, Come All My Lads That Follow the Plough (The Voice of the People Volume 5). Maurice Lindsay noted:

Willie says this was popular around the turn of the century. It comes from Dumfriesshire, though it has also been found in Peeblesshire. It is one of those self-congratulatory songs of the “here`s tae us, wha’s like us” sort not unknown in Scottish folk-song. Here, however, the self-congratulators are Highlanders who equate the Lowlands with superior class-consciousness, saying away with:

Your soirees and concerts and balls,
For a dance in the barn is worth ten in the halls
To the lads that were reared amang heather.

There is a certain social irony, too, in the line:

When a king wants guid sodgers he kens where tae send.

More than one king knew “where to send”, and did, as the disproportionate Highland losses in the First World War testify. The tune is related to The Limerick Rake.

Jock Anderson sang The Lads That Were Reared Amang Heather on the 2003 Kyloe anthology of ballads, songs and tune from the Scottish Borders and collected by Mike and Emma Yards in 2000-2003,, Borderers.

Robyn Stapleton sang The Lads That Were Reared Amang Heather in 2015 on her album of songs of the Scottish and Irish folk traditions, Fickle Fortune. She noted:

The Lads That Were Reared Amang Heather is a traditional song from Galloway. It was collected from the singing of Robbie Murray, a shepherd, fiddler and walking stick maker—just about everyone in Galloway knew Robbie. It’s a song about a young girl who has no interest in fine dining or fancy frocks; she just wants to have a good time dancing in the barn with the lads. A lassie efter ma ain hairt!

Jo Miller and Robyn Stapleton sang Lads That Were Reared Amang Heather on Jo’s 2023 album A’ the Way to Galloway. She noted:

From the songbook of Robbie Murray (1907-1987) of the Forrest Glen, near St John’s Town of Dairy. A rather different version of this well-known song appears on a broadside of 1875, celebrating the exploits of British soldiers at the battles of Alma (1854) and Lucknow (1857).

Lyrics

Robyn Stapleton sings The Lads That Were Reared Amang Heather

Come all ye young lassies, whar hae ye been?
Sae droosy and sleepy, I can tell by your een.
In a’ this wide world, I ne’er had a freen
Like the lads that were reared amang heather.

Chorus (after each verse):
Gae awa wi yer silks, yer satins and shalls,
Yer soirees and pairties and yer elegant balls.
For a dance in the barn is worth ten in the halls
Wi the lads that were reared amang heather.

O’ poets we’ve plenty tae this present day
That can sing just as sweet as the birdies in May.
There’s some o’ them deid, but I’m prood for tae say
They were lads that were reared amang heather.

Tak a walk roon yer cities, grand buildings ootside,
And gaze on the grandeur we speak o’ with pride.
Fine ships hae been built on the banks o’ the Clyde
By the lads that were reared amang heather.

Noo England can boast o’ the sweet-scented rose
And Ireland is prood o’ the shamrock she grows.
But gie me the land where the clear water flows
And the mountains high covered wi heather.

Jo Miller and Robyn Stapleton sing Lads That Were Reared Amang Heather

O come a ye braw lasses, say whour hae ye been?
Sae droosy an sleepy, Ah ken by yer een.
On earth noo believe me, 1 ne’er had a freen
Like the lads that were reared among heather.

Gae awa wi yer silks, yer satins an shawls,
Yer soirees an concerts an yer elegant balls.
For a dance in the barn is worth ten in the hall
Wi the lads that were reared among heather.

O poets we’ve plenty tae this present day
That can sing jist as sweet as the birdies in May.
There’s some o them deid, but I’m prood for tae say
They were lads that were reared among heather.

Tak the world-famous Burns, Tam Campbell and Scott,
Tannyhill, Willie Penman, may they ne’er be forgot.
And Erchie McKee frae auld Kilmarnock,
Fine sons that were reared among heather.

Tak a walk doon oar cities, gran buildings ootside,
An gaze on the grandeur we speak o wi pride.
Fine ships that were built by the side a the Clyde
By the lads that were reared among heather.

O England may boast o her sweet-scented rose
An Ireland is prood o the shamrock that grows,
But I’m in the land where the clear water flows
An the mountains high covered wi heather.

Gae awa wi yer silks, yer satins an shawls,
Yer soirees an concerts an yer elegant balls.
For a dance in the barn is worth ten in the hall
Wi the lads that were reared among heather.