Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Young But Growing / The Bonny Boy / Lady Mary Ann / Long A-Growing / The Trees They Grow So High (Roud No. 31) (1982) - Sung by Mary Townsley, a Traveller of Dundee, Angus, Scotland. 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:
Oh dear father, dear father watch what you have done
You've wed me to a bonny boy, a boy who's far too young
You have wed me to a bonny boy, a boy who's far too young
He's my bonny boy, he's young but he's growing
Oh dear father, dear father I'll tell you what I'll do
I'll send him off to college for another year or two
And it's only because he's bonny I will tie a bunch of blue
Just to let the ladies know that he's married
At the age of sixteen he was a wedded man
At the age of nineteen he was the father of a son
At the age of twenty-one his grave was growing green
And that put an end to his growing
Young But Growing / The Bonny Boy / Lady Mary Ann / Long A-Growing / The Trees They Grow So High (Roud No. 31) (1982) - Sung by Mary Townsley, a Traveller of Dundee, Angus, Scotland. 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:
Oh dear father, dear father watch what you have done
You've wed me to a bonny boy, a boy who's far too young
You have wed me to a bonny boy, a boy who's far too young
He's my bonny boy, he's young but he's growing
Oh dear father, dear father I'll tell you what I'll do
I'll send him off to college for another year or two
And it's only because he's bonny I will tie a bunch of blue
Just to let the ladies know that he's married
At the age of sixteen he was a wedded man
At the age of nineteen he was the father of a son
At the age of twenty-one his grave was growing green
And that put an end to his growing
