Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
When I Look to Yon High Hills / My Ain Sailor Boy (Roud No. 23902) (1982) - Performed by Heather MacGregor at a ceilidh of the Travelling Stewart family of Blair. From the documentary "Gypsies Sing Long Ballads" (1982). Filmed and recorded by John Cohen in Blairgowrie, Perthshire, Scotland.
The complete movie can be watched here:
folkstreams.net/films/gypsies-sing-long-ballads
I extracted the songs and used my knowledge on video editing to share them on Youtube in the highest possible quality, I used manual video upscaling (no AI was used!) for this, to further document variants of traditional ballads and songs which has been my hobby for many years. I claim no ownership of the video, all the rights belong with John Cohen.
Note about the film:
Scotland’s Travellers have lived outside mainstream society for more than 500 years. Although some of the Travelling People still live by the sides of roads, most live today in houses and are under pressure to abandon their culture. This film celebrates their traditional music, especially the long unaccompanied ballads that date back hundreds of years and have been handed down by memory through the generations.
Note by Kevin W.:
I was delighted to discover this video documentation of Scotland's greatest tradition bearers. The often poorly treated Scottish Travellers honor the memories of their ancestors through songs, music and storytelling. They are proud of their culture and kept old traditions alive for hundreds of years. Many of our most gifted traditional singers and storytellers are Travellers.
Scottish Travellers are an indigenous ethnic minority in Scotland who live or traditionally lived a nomadic lifestyle and for centuries were unfairly shunned by the settled population. For that reason the singing culture of the Travelling people had not been well documented before the 20th century when non-Travellers with an interest in folklore visited and befriended Travellers and started recording their songs, music and stories.
Song transcription:
It's a pink and blue cravat for my love I'll prepare
In the cold nights of winter for my laddie to wear
And when he returns I'll be his bride with joy
And I'll kiss the dear lips of my ain sailor boy
It's a bunch of white roses to my love I'll present
To live with my laddie ah I'll be content
And when he returns I'll be his bride with joy
And I'll kiss the dear lips of my ain sailor boy
Well I look to the high hills and my laddie's no there
I'll look all around me and my laddie's no here
I'll look to the salt sea and a tear blinds my ee
For the lad I love dearly lies a distance frae me
[Belle Stewart]
Well my children went to school in a hard, hard time because the word wasn't travelling people at that time, it was tinker, and it was tinky, tinky, tinkian. Well they wouldn't play with them on the playground. They wouldn't sit beside them if they could possibly help it in the classroom. When they grew up a bit too, they couldn't go to dancing or anything. Nobody would dance with them because they were tinkers.
When I Look to Yon High Hills / My Ain Sailor Boy (Roud No. 23902) (1982) - Performed by Heather MacGregor at a ceilidh of the Travelling Stewart family of Blair. From the documentary "Gypsies Sing Long Ballads" (1982). Filmed and recorded by John Cohen in Blairgowrie, Perthshire, Scotland.
The complete movie can be watched here:
folkstreams.net/films/gypsies-sing-long-ballads
I extracted the songs and used my knowledge on video editing to share them on Youtube in the highest possible quality, I used manual video upscaling (no AI was used!) for this, to further document variants of traditional ballads and songs which has been my hobby for many years. I claim no ownership of the video, all the rights belong with John Cohen.
Note about the film:
Scotland’s Travellers have lived outside mainstream society for more than 500 years. Although some of the Travelling People still live by the sides of roads, most live today in houses and are under pressure to abandon their culture. This film celebrates their traditional music, especially the long unaccompanied ballads that date back hundreds of years and have been handed down by memory through the generations.
Note by Kevin W.:
I was delighted to discover this video documentation of Scotland's greatest tradition bearers. The often poorly treated Scottish Travellers honor the memories of their ancestors through songs, music and storytelling. They are proud of their culture and kept old traditions alive for hundreds of years. Many of our most gifted traditional singers and storytellers are Travellers.
Scottish Travellers are an indigenous ethnic minority in Scotland who live or traditionally lived a nomadic lifestyle and for centuries were unfairly shunned by the settled population. For that reason the singing culture of the Travelling people had not been well documented before the 20th century when non-Travellers with an interest in folklore visited and befriended Travellers and started recording their songs, music and stories.
Song transcription:
It's a pink and blue cravat for my love I'll prepare
In the cold nights of winter for my laddie to wear
And when he returns I'll be his bride with joy
And I'll kiss the dear lips of my ain sailor boy
It's a bunch of white roses to my love I'll present
To live with my laddie ah I'll be content
And when he returns I'll be his bride with joy
And I'll kiss the dear lips of my ain sailor boy
Well I look to the high hills and my laddie's no there
I'll look all around me and my laddie's no here
I'll look to the salt sea and a tear blinds my ee
For the lad I love dearly lies a distance frae me
[Belle Stewart]
Well my children went to school in a hard, hard time because the word wasn't travelling people at that time, it was tinker, and it was tinky, tinky, tinkian. Well they wouldn't play with them on the playground. They wouldn't sit beside them if they could possibly help it in the classroom. When they grew up a bit too, they couldn't go to dancing or anything. Nobody would dance with them because they were tinkers.
