> A.L. Lloyd > Songs > Farewell to Tarwathie

Farewell to Tarwathie

[ Roud 2562 ; G/D 1:15 ; Ballad Index DTtarwat ; George Scroggie (1826-1907)]

Norman Buchan: The Scottish Folksinger Ewan MacColl: Folk Songs and Ballads of Scotland Peggy Seeger, Ewan MacColl: The Singing Island

Farewell to Tarwathie is a poem by George Scroggie about the ca. 1850 West Greenland right whale fishing, from his book The Peasant’s Lyre, A Collection of Miscellaneous Poems (Strichen, Aberdeenshire, printed by William Bennett, 1857, p. 73).

According to Peggy Seeger’s and Ewan MacColl’s book The Singing Island, A.L. Lloyd learned Farewell to Tarwathie “from John Sinclair, a native of Ballater, in Durban, South Africa, 1938”. His verses are quite different from Scroggie’s poem.

Ewan MacColl recorded Farewell to Tarwathie ca. 1956 for his and A.L. Lloyd’s Riverside album Thar She Blows! (reissued in the 1960s on the Washington label as Whaling Ballads). He also sang it in 1971 on The Critic Group’s album As We Were A-Sailing.

A.L. Lloyd sang Farewell to Tarwathie in 1967 on his Topic album Leviathan! Ballads & Songs of the Whaling Trade. Here he was accompanied by Alf Edwards on English concertina. This track was reissued on the Fellside compilation CD Classic A.L. Lloyd. Lloyd noted:

The stereotype of the oldtime whalemen is a hairychested ring-tailed roarer, hard worker, hard drinker, hard fighter. No doubt the description fitted many of them; nevertheless they often showed a strong liking for gentle meditative songs. Perhaps alone among all the songs on this record, Farewell to Tarwathie was made not by a whaleman, but by a miller, George Scroggie of Federate, near Aberdeen, around the middle of the 19^th century. The tune is an old favourite, best known in connection with the song called Green Bushes.

Gordon McIntyre sang Farewell to Tarwathie in 1966 on Martyn Wyndham-Read, Danny Spooner and his Australian album A Wench, a Whale and a Pint of Good Ale. The album’s sleeve notes commented:

Written about the middle of the last century by a Scot, George Scroggie, this song, gentle and reflective but tinged with bitterness, is one of the most beautiful of all sea songs.

The Ian Campbell Folk Group sang Farewell to Tarwathy in 1967 on their Transatlantic album New Impressions. Ian Campbell noted:

A gentle song from the days of whaling under sail and, if I remember correctly, we found it in The Singing Island by Ewan MacColl. When we were in the north-east of Scotland recently we looked for the place mentioned in the song. Crimond and Mormond Hill we found, but no sign of Tarwathy. [There is a hamlet Tarwathie north-west of Mormond Hill, between Strichen and New Aberdour in Aberdeenshire.]

Union Folk sang Farewell to Tarwathie in 1969 on their Traditional Sound album A Basketful of Oysters.

White Hart sang Farewell to Tarwathie in 1969 on their Traditional Sound album In Search of Reward.

Judy Collins sang Farewell to Tarwathie, accompanied by humpback whales recordings, on her 1970 album Whales and Nightingales. This track was also included in 1972 on her anthology Colors of the Day.

The Wayfarers sang Farewell to Tarwathie in 1970 on their Folk-Heritage album Take 2.

Timoneers sang Farewell to Tarwathie on the Brum Folk 76 Souvenir Album.

The Clutha sang Farewell tae Tarwathie at a concert at Lowell House, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA on 3 October 1981. A recording of this concert was released in 2019 on their CD Live From Harvard.

Isla St Clair sang Fareweel tae Tarwathie on her 1993 CD Inheritance. She also sang it 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. She noted on the first album:

During the years of the mid-nineteenth century the North East coast of Scotland was the centre of a thriving whaling industry alongside that of fishing. From Dundee, Aberdeen, Peterhead and Fraserburgh, fleets embarked for the deep cold waters of the Arctic Circle in search of the Greenland whale. The long, arduous voyages were fraught with danger and hardship that we today can scarcely imagine. Brave were the resolute men who set out, brave too, were the wives and families who waited and prayed for their safe return. Fareweel tae Tarwathie, describes vividly the thoughts and feelings of one such whaler upon leaving home and loved ones for those hostile waters. The original words are ascribed to George Scroggie, a well known 19^th century local bard from the Grampian village of New Deer. The melody is traditional, the arrangement is atmospheric and compelling.

The Gaugers sang Fareweel tae Tarwathie on their 1994 City of Aberdeen Libraries cassette / 1999 Sleepytown CD Awa Wi the Rovin Sailor.

George Murray sang Fareweel to Tarwathie on the 1997 Springthyme cassette of new recordings from the North East Folklife Archive, North East Tradition I. The liner notes commented:

The evocative melody of the great whaling song followed by a strathspey—played on the ‘moothie’. For the song see Greig/Duncan 15 and for a moving rendition of it, the Gaugers’ CD Awa Wi the Rovin Sailor.

Danny Spooner sang Farewell tae Tarwathie on his 2002 CD Launch Out on the Deep. He noted:

Whaling at any time was a hard caper but in the days of sail it was a particularly rough and tough trade which required a tough breed of men. Yet a song like Farewell to Tarwathie reminds us that even the toughest of men might be touched by gentleness especially when separated from loved ones.

Brian MacNeill sang Farewell to Tarwathie at a Feast of Fiddles concert at Huntingdon Hall, Worcester, on 31 March 2006. This was included in the following year on their CD Still Live.

Burgess, Ådin & Wingård sang Farewell to Tarwathie on their 2007 CD Doggerland. They noted:

George Scroggie, a miller from Aberdeenshire, wrote the words in 1857. The song sprang to fame in 1970 when Judy Collins recorded it on her album Whales and Nightingales, complete with whale noises. We use a clarinet.

Sinsheen (Barbara Dymock and Christine Kydd) sang Farewell to Tarwathie on their 2009 CD Lift. They noted:

George Scroggie, born 28 March 1826 in Old Deer, Aberdeenshire and one-time miller at Federate in the Parish of New Deer, wrote this song in the early 1850s. Tarwathie is about two miles from Strichen, Aberdeenshire. The melody is known in connection with the older song called Green Bushes or The Waggoner’s Lad, and Bob Dylan used it as the basis for his song Farewell Angelina..

Matthew Byrne sang Farewell to Tarwathie on his 2017 album Horizon Lines. He noted:

My uncle Pat Byrne sang this one for years and I’ve always loved its beautiful imagery. It was written in the mid 1800s by George Scroggie—a miller who lived near Aberdeen, Scotland. Perhaps not the most likely fella to write a poignant whaling ballad.

Joshua Burnell sang Farewell to Tarwathie on 16 September 2017 in his “a folk song a week” song cycle. He released this recording in 2018 on his album Songs From the Seasons and in 2021/22 on his album Seasons Vol. 3 Summer. He noted:

Whilst rummaging in the record shop in Haworth where I first discovered Shelagh McDonald’s Stargazer […], I also found a record by a band called Fungus. It is such a wonderfully obscure album, featuring two sides of folk-rock; one in English and the other in Dutch. I love it—particularly the Dutch songs. I wanted to use something from the album, but as I can’t speak, let alone sing, in Dutch, I picked something from the other side. Farewell to Tarwathie struck me as an aptly poignant farewell song to close Summer.

It was written by a miller from Aberdeenshire called George Scroggie and is about a whaler feeling homesick as he prepares to sail to the inhospitable coasts of Greenland. I always get a vivid mental image of the boat leaving the shore, silhouetted against the glow of one of the last summer sunsets. It reminds me of Frodo and Gandalf sailing off on the last boat from the Grey Havens to go to the undying lands.

At the Songs From the Seasons album launch at The Crescent in York, we closed the show with this one, just as it closes the album. After we played it, someone came up to me and said, “I loved that Judy Collins cover!” Unbelievably, I had managed to record, release, rehearse and perform a version of the Farewell to Tarwathie without even knowing Judy Collins had sung the most well-known version of it. I’m not sure if it is a testament to how folk songs transcend ownership by any individual artist, or my inability to Google things. Judy did a terrific version, arranged for solo voice and whale.

Lyrics

Farewell to Tarwathie in George Scroggie: The Peasant’s Lyre

Farewell to Tarwathie—
Adieu, Mormon Hill—
Land of my fathers
I bid you farewell.

Your hills and your valleys,
Your mountains of heath—
Still dear to my heart
Is the land of my birth.

Adieu to my comrades—
May God bless you all;—
My friends and relations
I bid you farewell.

For a while I must leave you
And go to the sea—
Heaven prosper the bonny ship
That I will go wi’.

May He who never slumbers
From danger us keep,
While viewing his wonders
On the mighty deep.

Our ship she is rigged
And ready to sail,
Our crew they are anxious
To follow the whale.

Where the icebergs float,
And the stormy winds blow;
Where the land and the ocean
Is covered with snow.

The cold clime of Greenland
Is barren and bare;
No seed time nor harvest
Is ever known there.

The birds here sing sweetly
On mountain and dale;
But the songsters are mute
In the land of the whale.

There is no habitation
For man to live there—
The king of that country
Is the fierce Greenland bear.

But when I am sailing
Upon the wide main,
Be cheerful and happy
Till I come again.

And you my dear mother,
O weep not for me,
But trust in His mercy
That ruleth the sea.

Who saves on the ocean
As well’s on the land,
For we are all guarded
By His mighty hand.

He rides on the billows
And walks on the wave—
His arm is powerful
To sink or to save.

And though I be absent
You need never fear;
There’s no place so distant
But God will be there.

I will pray night and morning,
Dear parents, for you;
For the hope of returning
Takes the sting from adieu.

A.L. Lloyd sings Farewell to Tarwathie

Farewell to Tarwathie, adieu Mormond Hills,
And the dear land of Crimond, I bid ye farewell.
We’re bound out for Greenland and ready to sail,
In hopes to find riches in hunting the whale.

Adieu to my comrades, for a while we must part,
And likewise the dear lass who first won my heart,
And the cold ice of Greenland my love will not chill,
And the longer the absence, more loving she’ll feel.

Our ship is well-rigged and she’s ready to sail.
Our crew they are anxious to follow the whale,
Where the icebergs do float and the stormy winds blow,
Where the land and the ocean is covered with snow.

Oh, the cold coast of Greenland is barren and bare,
No seedtime nor harvest is ever known there.
And the birds here sing sweetly on mountains and dale,
But there isn’t a birdie to sing to the whale.

There is no habitation for a man to live there
And the king of that country is the fierce Greenland bear,
And there’ll be no temptation to tarry long there.
With our ship bumper full we will homeward repair.

Judy Collins sings Farewell to Tarwathie

Farewell to Tarwathie, adieu Mormond Hill
And the dear land of Crimond, I bid you farewell.
I’m bound out for Greenland and ready to sail
In hopes to find riches in hunting the whale.

Farewell to my comrades, for a while we must part,
And likewise the dear lass who first won my heart.
The cold coast of Greenland my love will not chill
And the longer my absence, more loving she’ll feel.

Our ship is well rigged and she’s ready to sail,
The crew they are anxious to follow the whale
Where the icebergs do fall and the stormy winds blow,
Where the land and the ocean is covered with snow.

The cold coast of Greenland is barren and bare,
No seed-time nor harvest is ever known there.
And the birds here sing sweetly in mountain and dale
But there’s no bird in Greenland to sing to the whale.

There is no habitation for a man to live there
And the king of that country is the fierce Greenland bear.
And there’ll be no temptation to tarry long there
With our ship bumper full we will homeward repair.

Farewell to Tarwathie, adieu Mormond Hill,
And the dear land of Crimond, I bid thee farewell.
We’re bound out for Greenland and ready to sail
In hopes to find riches in hunting the whale.

Acknowledgements

The lyrics were taken from the Leviathan! sleeve notes.