>
Shirley Collins >
Songs >
Ca' the Ewes
>
Louis Killen >
Songs >
Ca' the Yowes
>
Steeleye Span >
Songs >
Ca' the Ewes
Ca' the Ewes to the Knowes / Lovely Molly
[
Roud 857
; G/D 5:1014
; Henry H175
; Ballad Index K124
; Robert Burns]
Ca' the Ewes to the Knowes is one of Robert Burns' best-known poems. He wrote two quite different versions in 1789 and in 1794.
First Robert Burns version
Shirley Collins sang Burns' first version of Ca' the Ewes in 1969 on her and her sister Dolly's album Anthems in Eden.Louis Killen sang Ca' the Ewes in 1978 on his LP Old Songs, Old Friends. He commented in his sleeve notes:
Another friend who traded me many songs was Laurie Charlton, borderer, gunsmith, art teacher, ballad singer, and fisherman, who ran Folksong and Ballad in Newcastle after I took off for London in 1961. But well before that he taught me Ca' the Yowes. I couldn't resist dubbing in the harmony of the chorus—that was the way we used to sing it at our “ploys” in the Tyne Cruising (boozing?!) Club.
Gordeanna McCulloch sang Cae the Yowes on her 1978 Topic album Sheath and Knife. The album's sleeve notes commented:
This version is based on the traditional song as known to Burns. Verses 1, 2 and 3 were added by him before he contributed the song to Johnson's Scots Musical Museum.
Caw the yowes tae the knowes: drive the sheep to the hills,
dool: grief
Beryl Graeme learned Ca' the Yowes from her mother and sang it in 1999 on her CD Moth to a Flame.
Second Robert Burns version
Robin Hall and Jimmie MacGregor recorded the second version of Ca' the Ewes to the Knowes in 1962 for their album Two Heids Are Better than Yin!.
The Tannahill Weavers sang Ca' the Yowes in 1976 on their Plant Life album Are Ye Sleeping Maggie.
Andy M. Stewart sang Ca' the Yowes to the Knowes on his 1991 album Songs of Robert Burns. The liner notes commented:
Mrs Burns, who was fond of singing this song, used to point out that the second verse and the closing verse were by the poet. Burns remodelled it for Thomson's Collection, which is the version used on this album. Tibbie Parks of Muirkirk is the reputed authoress of the old set amended by Burns.
Steeleye Span sang Ca' the Ewes live during their 1991 tour and published this on their CD Tonight's the Night.
The Wilson Family sang Ca' the Yowes live in 1996 at some venue “during the 1996 Festival Season”. This was released in 1997 on their CD Stocking Tops. They commented in their liner notes:
This condensed version of the much longer Robbie Burns' classic provides a clever precis giving the general gist of the song in just four verses! To be honest, we have been offered a lot more verses since we first learned the song but we still prefer it short and sweet.
Sue Brown and Lorraine Irwing sang Ca the Yowes on their 1997 WildGoose CD Call & Cry. They noted:
The words of this beautiful love song are by Burns, who also collected the tune.
Ian Bruce sang Ca' the Yowes in 1997 on the Linn Records anthology The Complete Songs of Robert Burns Volume 3.
Elspeth Cowie sang Ca' the Yowes on the 1998 anthology Scottish Love Songs.
Kerfuffle got their version of Ca' the Ewes “from an old Oxford Scottish Song Book” and recorded it in 2004 for their second album, K2.
Jon Boden sang Ca' the Ewes as the 9 August 2010 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day. He commented in the project blog:
Mick Henry, a wonderful Irish singer resident in Oxford, was very encouraging of my version of this song (which I got off a Steeleye Span album as it happens). He remembers his mother singing it when he was young and says there are several other verses that would be worth learning. Like Kipling, in fact more so, Burns manages to pull off the literary polish without losing touch with the earthiness of traditional song.
Maz O'Connor learned Caw the Yowes “from Karine Polwart during the Folkworks Youth Summer School in 2009”. Her recording on her 2012 album Upon a Stranger Shore, also included on the anthology Folk Awards 2013, starts with this song but then segues into Over Yon Hill There Lives a Lassie (Roud 5121).
The Yowe Lamb / Lovely Molly
According to Robert B. Waltz in the Traditional Ballad Index, The Yowe Lamb or Lovely Molly “is apparently the original of the Burns song Ca' the Ewes to the Knowes, but he changed it so substantially that they must be considered separate songs, and the reader must be careful to distinguish.”
Patsy Seddon sang Lovely Molly in 1984 on Sprangeen's eponymous album, Sprangeen, that uses the Ca' the Yowes line in the refrain only. They commented in their liner notes:
A strange song about a young man who tricks an old shepherd into parting with his daughter instead of a sheep … from Robert Ford’s Vagabond Songs and Ballads of Scotland.
Gillian Frame sang Lovely Molly in 2016 on her CD Pendulum. She commented:
From the Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection Vol. 5. This great song was taught to me at a ballad workshop by Anne Neilson and Gordeanna McCulloch more than a few years ago.
Landless sang Ca' the Yowes on their 2018 CD Bleaching Bones. They noted:
Words by Robert Burns, published in the Scots Musical Museum, Vol. 2, 1790
Ruth Notman and Sam Kelly sang Caw the Yowes on their 2019 CD Changeable Heart.
Lyrics
Robert Burns' first version | Shirley Collins sings Ca' the Ewes |
---|---|
Chorus (repeated after each verse): |
|
As I gaed down the water-side, |
As I went down the water-side, |
Will ye gang down the water-side, Ye sall get gowns and ribbons meet, |
Will ye come down the water-side, |
If ye'll but stand to what ye've said, |
If you'll but stand to what you've said, You shall get gowns and ribbons meet, |
While waters wimple to the sea, |
While waters wimple to the sea, |
Robert Burns' second version | Steeleye Span' sing Ca' the Ewes |
Chorus (repeated after each verse): |
Chorus: |
Hark the mavis' e'ening sang, |
Hark, the mavis' evening sang, |
We'll gae down by Clouden side, |
We'll gae down by Clouden side, |
Yonder Clouden's silent towers, | |
Ghaist nor bogle shalt thou fear, |
Ghaist nor bogle shalt thou fear, Chorus |
Fair and lovely as thou art, |
Fair and lovely as thou art, Chorus |
Sprangeen sing Lovely Molly | |
As Molly was milking her yowes on a day, “Oh where is your father?” the young man he said, “My father’s a shepherd has sheep on yon hill, “Good morning old man, you are herding your flock, “Go down to yon meadow, choose out your own lamb, He’s down to yon meadow, taen Moll by the hand, “Oh was e’er an auld man so beguiled as I am, |
Acknowledgements
Robert Burns' poems copied from Robert Burns Country.