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This Is No’ My Plaid

[ Roud 6720 ; G/D 5:1063 ; Ballad Index FVS260 ; Mudcat 14478 ; trad.]

Sylvia Barnes sang This Is No’ My Plaid on her and Jim Barnes’ 1991 album Mungo Jumbo.

The Poozies sang Ma Plaid Ma Plaid in 1998 on their Pure Records album Infinite Blue. This track was also included in 2000 on their retrospective Raise Your Head. They noted:

Patsy [Seddon] learned Ma Plaid from Ford’s Vagabond Songs and Ballads of Scotland. This song has a few allusions typical of Jacobite songs but may just be a simple love song.

Aileen Carr sang This Is No My Plaid in 2000 on her Greentrax album Green Yarrow. She noted:

From the Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection. This thinly-disguised ‘Jacobite’ song is a variant of James Hogg’s lovely forgery, This Is Nae My Ain House. Composed, like the majority of such songs, after the Young Pretender was in his grave, it appears in the Songs of the North Gathered Together From the Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland of 1885, edited by A.C. Macleod and Harold Boulton. This remarkable Victorian compilation (which contains the Englishman Boulton’s very own 188’s composition, The Skye Boar Song) has had an extraordinary influence on Scottish song and singers.

Fiona Ross sang This Is No’ My Plaid in 2020 on her and Shane O’Mara’s CD Sunwise Turn. She noted:

I’ve always been impressed by this song—ever since I first heard it sung by Aileen Carr at a session in Edinburgh. While this version can be read as a love song, there are other verses that include the line “although his name I daurna tell”, hinting at a veiled Jacobite song referring to Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Lyrics

The Poozies sing Ma Plaid

Chorus (after every other verse):
This is no’ my plaid, my plaid, my plaid,
This is no’ my plaid, bonnie though the colour be.

The ground o’ mine was mixed wi’ blue
I got it frae the lad I lo’e
He ne’er has gied me cause tae rue
And oh the plaid is dear to me

For mine was silky soft and warm
It wrapped me round fae arm tae arm
And like himsel it bore a charm
And oh the plaid is dear to me

Although the lad the plaid wha wore
Is now upon a distant shore
And cruel seas between us roar
I’ll mind the plaid that sheltered me

The lad that gie’d me it likes me well
Although his name I daurna tell
He likes me just as weel’s himself
And oh the plaid is dear to me

Oh may the plaidie yet be worn
By Caledonians still unborn
Ill fa’ the wretch whoe’er shall scorn
The plaidie that’s sae dear tae me

Frae surly blasts it covers me
He’ll me himsel protection gie
I’ll lo’e him ’til the day I die
And oh his plaid is dear tae me

I hope he’ll no’forget me now
Each often pledged aith and vow
I hope he’ll yet return to woo me
In the plaid sae dear tae me

And may the day come soon my lad
When we will tae the kirk and wed
Weel happit in the tartan plaid
The plaidie that’s sae dear tae me

Aileen Carr sings This Is No My Plaid

Chorus (after each verse):
This is no my plaid
My plaid, my plaid
This is no my plaid
Bonnie tho the colours be

The ground o mine is mixed wi blue
I got it frae the lad I loe
He neer has gi’en me cause tae rue
And O the plaid is dear tae me

For mine is silky soft and warm
It wraps me roun frae arm tae arm
And like himself it bore a charm
And O the plaid is dear to me

Frae surly blasts it covers me
He’ll me himself protection gie
I’ll loe him til the day I dee
His plaid shall aye be dear tae me

The time will come my ain dear lad
When we will tae the kirk and wed
Weel happit in thy tartan plaid
That plaid shall aye be dear to me

This shall then be my plaid
My plaid, my plaid,
This shall then be my plaid
And while I live shall ever be

Fiona Ross sings This Is No’ My Plaid

Chorus (after each verse):
This is no’ my plaid
My plaid, my plaid
This is no’ my plaid
Bonnie tho the colours be

The ground o mine was mixed wi blue
I got it frae the lad I lo’e
He ne’er has gien me cause tae rue
And O the plaid is dear tae me

For mine was silky soft and warm
It wrapped me round frae arm tae arm
And like himself it bore a charm
And O the plaid is dear to me

Frae surly blasts it covers me
He’ll me himself protection gie
I’ll lo’e him til the day I dee
And O the plaid is dear to me

The time will come my ain dear lad
When we will tae the kirk and wed
Weel happit in the tartan plaid
The plaid will aye be dear to me

This will then be my plaid
My plaid, my plaid
This will then be my plaid
And while I live will ever be