> Folk Music > Songs > The Rashy Moor

The Rashy Moor / Will Ye Gang, Love

[ Roud 6261 ; G/D 6:1215 ; Ballad Index GrD61215 ; DT GANGLOVE ; Mudcat 94094 ; trad.]

Ian Campbell sang Will Ye Gang, Love in 1965 on the Campbell Family’s Topic album The Singing Campbells. Peter A. Hall and Arthur Argo noted:

The task of collecting in Aberdeenshire was not only taken up by scholars, for this song appears in the collection of Willie Mathieson, a farm servant. Proud of the local tradition, Willie started collecting while still a schoolboy and eventually amassed over 600 songs, half of them with tunes. Not until 1952 when he was discovered by Hamish Henderson had he ever ventured farther than Stonehaven, a fishing burgh, 15 miles south of Aberdeen. Ian’s version is very similar to that of Willie Robbie, the well-known North-east singer.

Gordeanna McCulloch sang Will Ye Gang, Love in 1965 on the Topic anthology New Voices from Scotland. This track was also included in 1997 as a bonus track on the Fellside CD reissue of her 1978 Topic album Sheath and Knife. Arthur Argo and Peter Hall noted:

It is easy to see why this lament of a girl left forsaken and pregnant should have a wide appeal. It appears under numerous titles including A Foolish Young Girl, What a Voice and I Wish, I Wish in Scotland. To add the unusual feature of the present variant is that it has a chorus.

Isla St Clair sang Will Ye Gang Love in 1972 on her Tangent album Isla St Clair Sings Traditional Scottish Songs. Hamish Henderson noted:

An enchanting variation of the ubiquitous Died for Love theme. Gavin Greig dubbed this song-family I Wish, I Wish, because of the stanza which almost invariably appears in individual members of the wide-scattered clan. From her mother, who got it from her mother.

Archie Fisher sang Will Ye Gang, Love in 1976 as the title track of his Topic album Will Ye Gang, Love. This track was also included in 1996 on the Topic anthology Scottish Voices. He noted on his album:

A beautiful variant of the universal “I Wish I Wish” theme. Relations of this song appear under many different titles, including The Foolish Young Girl, Died for Love, What a Voice, Rashy Moor and The Water Is Wide.

Dick Gaughan sang The Rashy Moor in 1976 on the Folk Review magazine fundraiser album The Second Folk Review Record.

Heather Heywood sang Wid Ye Gang Love as a bonus track on the 1995 CD issue of her 1987 Greentrax album Some Kind of Love. She noted:

Another song which seems to have just appeared in my memory. There are a lot of variants of this song, often with a Died for Love title.

This track was recorded for the original album but wouldn’t fit on— the wonders of modern technology!

Sangsters sang Will Ye Gang Love with new words written by Falkirk’s Jacqui Lauder on their 1993 Greentrax album Begin.

Billy Ross sang Rashie Moor in 2000 on his Greentrax album Shore Street. He noted:

This song appears in Norman Buchans 1962 publication of Scottish songs and is obviously related to songs like Waly Waly. It is a song that I first heard sung by Archie Fisher.

Gillian Frame sang Will Ye Gang Love?, “a moving ballad from the singing of Anne Neilson”, on her 2001 CD Gillian Frame & Back of the Moon.

Ian Smith sang Will Ye Gang, Love in 2004 on German bodhrán player Guido Plüschke’s Liekedeeler album Bodhrán World. This track was also included in 2011 on Plüschke’s and Rolf Wagels’ Liekedeeler anthology Bodhrán Insight. He noted:

This traditional song has a fairly uneven rhythm. If you listen closely, you will notice that it shifts every now and again. I played a Hedwitschak GPS Double Skin bodhrän with very subtle JazzRods made by Ralf Siepmann. This makes the sound unobtrusive and at the same time powerful in the bass: ideal for songs. It was very important for me to maintain the private atmosphere of Ian Smith’s songs, and to create a kind of “jazz club” feeling. The other percussion is played by Yogi Jokusch.

Barbara Dickson sang Will Ye Gang Love? in 2011 on her Greentrax album Words Unspoken.

Emma Spiers sang The Rashie Moor live at St Andrew’s in the Square, Glasgow, during Celtic Connections 2018. A recording of this concert was released in the same year on the TMSA DVD 101 Scottish Songs: The Wee Red Book 3.

Rachel Newton sang For Love, “based on the version by Willie Mathieson on Tobar an Dualchais”, on her 2018 album West.

Lyrics

Archie Fisher sings Will Ye Gang, Love

As I cam’ in by yon Rashy moor,
Wha’ spied I at my true love’s door?
My heart grew sair and my een grew blind,
To see my bonnie love leave me behind.

Chorus (after every other verse):
And will ye gang, love, and leave me noo?
Will ye gang, love, and leave me noo?
Wad ye forsake your ain love true
And gang wi’ a lad that you never knew?

And as I came in by yon Lenten main
I saw another my love attend.
I bowed my head and I cried, “Ochone!
The best of my good days are done.”

And I will tell you the reason why,
Because he has more gowd than I.
And I will tell you the reason true,
The sweeter taste of a love that’s new.

And I leaned my back up against an oak,
Thinking it was a trusty tree.
And first it bent and then it broke,
And so has my love done unto me.

But if you love me we’ll never part
And instead of gold you can hae my heart.
You can hae my heart wi a richt guid will,
You’re a bonnie lass and I love ye still.

Sangsters sing Will Ye Gang Love

My love he stands in yon bookie’s door
A-kaimin’ back his greasy hair
That baldie heid I lang tae see
Cos the dirty wee keech has just abandoned me

Chorus 1:
Wad ye gang love and leave me noo
O wad ye gang love and leave me noo
Jist wait till I get a haud o’ you
Cos there’s a side tae me that ye never knew

When ah wiz young and in full bloom
He followed me fae toon tae toon
But noo ah’m hittin thirty-nine
Well he’s traded me for a younger quine

Chorus 2:
Wad ye gang love and leave me noo
ø wad ye gang love and leave me noo
Jist wait till your Access bill comes through
Cos there’s a side tae me that ye never knew

Ah’ve got yer hoose, an ah’ve got your car
Yer Sky TV an’ yer built-in bar
Yer golf-clubs ye will never see
Till alfalfa grows on the eichteenth tee

(Chorus 2)

Noo fin ye left my hert it broke
So ah grassed ye aff tae the Poll Tax folk
D’ye mind Dubai in Seventy-Two?
Well sae does the Inland Revenue

(Chorus 1)

I’ve got a freen, he’s twenty-three
He’s really awfu’ nice tae me
Ah’ll bring ye back some duty free
Ye’ll need tae get up early tae win ower me

Chorus 3:
Sae ye’ve gaen love an left me noo
Sae ye’ve gaen love an left me noo
If ye think ye’ve left me sad and blue
There’s a lot aboot me that ye never knew

Billy Ross sings Rashie Moor

As I gaed in by yon rashie moor
Wha spied I at my true love’s door
My hairt grew sair my ee’n grew blin’
To see my bonnie love leave me behind

Chorus (after each verse):
And will you gang love and leave me noo
O will you gang love tae leave me noo
Would you forsake your own love true
And gang wi the laddie that ne’er ye knew

And as gaed in by yon river wan
The brig was broken at yon mill dam
I bent my back I took her through
But O she’s gone and she’s left me noo

And I will tell the reason why
She’s got another and that’s the way
And I will tell the reason why
She’s gone wi’ a laddie wi’ more gold than I

I bent my back against an oak
I thought it was a trusty tree
But first it bent and then it broke
Sae has my bonny lassie done tae me