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The Rantin Laddie

[ Roud 103 / Song Subject MAS1455 ; Child 240 ; G/D 5:976 ; Ballad Index C240 ; DT RANTNLAD ; trad.]

Alexander Keith: Last Leaves of Traditional Ballads and Ballad Airs

The lady has “played at the cards and dice” with the rantin laddie; now she has a child and is scorned. She sends a letter to the rantin laddie who proves to be the Earl of Aboyne. He takes her home and all are happy. The “rant” is a dance step, now found chiefly in Northumberland and surrounding areas. [Traditional Ballad Index]

Willie Mathieson of Turriff, Aberdeenshire, sang The Bonny Rantin’ Laddie in 1951 to Alan Lomax. The first two verses of this recording were included in 2000 on the Rounder anthology Classic Ballads of Britain and Ireland Volume 2 which is an extended re-issue of the Caedmon/Topic anthology The Child Ballads 2 (The Folk Songs of Britain Volume 5; Caedmon 1961; Topic 1968). The album’s booklet noted:

This was one of the ballads that Robert Burns sent for publication to James Johnson’s Scots Musical Museum at the end of the eighteenth century. Buchan printed it in 1828 and then Gavin Greig came across versions in oral tradition in the 1920s.

Child calls it “a ballad with a difficult history; the story does not seem to belong to any of the Lords of Aboyne”. One of his versions seems to have lost the narrative element entirely. He has four versions and Bronson seven, including Willie Mathieson’s. There is another ballad in Child’s Collection about the Earl of Aboyne (Child No. 235). Greig-Duncan, Vol. 5 (1995) has six variants.

Ewan MacColl sang The Rantin Laddie in 1956 on his and A.L. Lloyd’s Riverside anthology The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (The Child Ballads) Volume I. This and 28 other ballads from this series were reissued in 2009 on MacColl’s Topic CD Ballads: Murder·Intrigue·Love·Discord. He also sang The Rantin’ Laddie in 1961 on his Folkways album The English and Scottish Popular Ballads: Vol. 1—Child Ballads. Kenneth S. Goldstein noted on the first album:

If there is the slightest historical basis for this ballad, research has not yet revealed it. The Earl of Aboyne, the hero and “rantin’ laddie” of the ballad, has not been identified as anyone of the lords of Aboyne who played a large part in Scottish history.

The ballad is rare in America, only one complete text (from West Virginia) having been reported; a fragmentary text, obviously sung as a lullaby, was collected in Maine.

MacColl’s version was learned from his father.

Jean Redpath sang Rantin’ Laddie in 1962 on her Elektra album Scottish Ballad Book. She noted:

The “Young Earl of Aboyne” depicted here cannot be identified as any of the Lords of Aboyne who played a large part in Scottish history. Rare as it is outside Scotland, the ballad has been found in only one complete text in America (West Virginia) and in one fragmentary text, with the story element practically gone, and sung apparently as a lullaby (Maine).

Mrs Ella Ward of Edinburgh was my source for this fresh, lilting variation on a common theme.

Gordon Tyrrall sang The Rantin’ Laddie in 1978 on his Hill & Dale album Farewell to Foggy Hills.

Maureen Jelks sang The Rantin’ Laddie in 2000 on her CD Eence Upon a Time. She noted:

From the singing of Marjorie Sinclair of the group Mirk, also to be found in Greig-Duncan vol. 5, song 976.

Lyrics

Willie Mathieson sings The Bonny Rantin’ Laddie

My father feed me far far awa’,
As far awa’as Kirkcaldy.
He feeds me hame to an aul widow wife,
An’ wi’ her lives a bonny rantin’ laddie.

This side the barn, yon side the burn,
O, but the burnie rins bonny.
This young man promised for to marry me,
If ever he married ony.

If I had been wise I’d taen my love’s advice,
I’d daen as my bonny love bade me.
I micht have been married at Martinmas
And awa’ wi’ the bonny rantin’ laddie.

But I wasna wise nor yet took advice,
Nor did as my bonny lovie bade me.
So I now maun sit in my father’s kitchie nook,
Singin’ ba to my bonny bastard baimie.

My father has come trippin’ doon the stair,
Wi’ shy, shy looks and angry.
Says, “Is’t to a laird or is’t to a lord,
Or is it to a caddie?”

My father is a very proud man,
My mother she’s gone and left me,
My friends and relations they a’ dome forget,
And my father’s servantmen, they hate me.

It ’s nae to a laird nor yet to a lord,
Nor is it to a caddie,
But it is to the young Earl of Aboyne,
Tho’ they ca’ him the bonny rantin’ laddie.

And where will I get a bonny wee boy,
That will carry a letter eannie,
That will mn on to the castle o’ Aboyne,
Wi’ a letter to the bonny rantin’ laddie.

As ye gang up by bonny Deeside,
The banks they are a’ bloomin’ bonny.
O, then ye will spy the castle o’ Aboyne,
Doon among the bushes sae bonny.

As he gaed up by bonny Deeside,
The banks they were bloomin’ bonny.
And there he spied the Earl o’ Aboyne,
Doon among the bushes sae bonny.

“O where are you going, my bonny wee boy,
Where are ye going my caddie?”
“I’m gaen on to the castle o’ Aboyne,
Wi’ a letter to the bonny rantin’ laddie.”

“Ye needna gang farther my bonny wee boy,
Ye needna gang farther, my caddie,
For I am the Earl o’ Aboyne,
Tho they ca’ me the bonny rantin’ laddie.”

He took the letter and he read the letter,
And O but it was bonny,
But lang ere he had the letter far read,
The tears fell thick and many.

“O where will I get twenty-four gentlemen,
And as many of young ladies
That will mount on milk-white steeds
To welcome home my Peggy?”

“O here I’ll get twenty-four young gentlemen,
And as mony ladies,
That will mount on to milk-white steeds
And welcome home your Peggy.”

As we cam thro’ by bonny Aberdeen,
The folks they were a’ makin’ ready,
But said I to them ye needna buckle braw;
To welcome home my Peggy.

“I shall na bide lang at Aberdeen.
Nor yet into this low country.
But I shall run into the castle o’ Aboyne,
To be Aboyne’s young lady.

Ewan MacColl sings The Rantin Laddie

“Oft hae I played at the cards and dice
Wi’ my ain dear rantin laddie,
But noo I maun sit in my faither’s ha’
And sing ba to my bastard baby.

“If I’d been wise as I’ve been nice,
And done what my bonnie lad tauld me,
I’d ha been married a year or mair
And been wi’ my rantin laddie.

“My faither dear, he knows me not,
An’ my mither she ignores me;
My friends and relations a’ slight me
And the servants they quite hate me.

“Gin I had ane horse at my command
As oft times I’ve had mony,
I would ride it on to the gates o’ Aboyne
Wi’ a letter to my rantin laddie.”

“Is your love a laird or is he a lord
Or is he but a caddie,
That ye sae aft ca’ on his name,
Your ain dear raintin laddie?”

Then oot an spak’ a kitchie boy,
Says, “Though I’m but a caddie,
It’s I will run to the gates o’ Aboyne,
Wi’ a letter for your rantin laddie.”

When he was near the banks o’ Dee,
The birds they sang sae bonny,
And there he spied the Earl o’ Aboyne
That they ca’ the rantin laddie.

And when he looked the letter on,
But O, and he was sorry,
“They’ve been cruel and fell unkind
Tae my ain dear rantin lassie.”

“My faither dear, he knows me not,
An’ my mither she ignores me;
My friends and relations a’ slight me
And the servants they quite hate me.”

“Gae get to me five hundred men
And they’ll ride oot sae bonny,
And we’ll bring the bonnie lassie back to Aboyne,
My ain dear rantin lassie.”

When she was up ahint his back,
Wrapped in a hielan’ plaidie,
The birds in the trees sang sae sweet
As the bonnie bonnie rantin lassie.

And they rode on throgh Buchanshire
And Buchan it shone bonnie.
“Rejoice, rejoice, ye bonnie mays
And see that ye be na’ sorry.”

Gin ye lay your love on a lowland lad
Be sure that he’ll betray ye,
But lay your love on a hielan’ lad
He’ll do a’ he can to raise ye.