Uploaded May 2021 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Bonny Ythanside (Roud No. 3783) - Sung by Frank Steele of Banff, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Recorded by Hamish Henderson at a People's Festival ceilidh in honour of Hugh MacDiarmaid's 60th birthday in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1952.
I've appended a second performance, taken from a 1968 radio broadcast titled "The Song Carriers". The intro was spoken by Ewan MacColl. Unfortunately I don't know the date of this recording but I assume it must have been sometime during the 1950s as well.
Song transcription to be corrected:
As I cam' in by Ythanside
Where gently flows the rolling tide
A fair maid there stood by my side
Her looks did me ensnare.
Oh but she was a beauty bricht,
That iver trod the braes o' Gight,
I could hae spent a leelang nicht
Wi her on Ythanside.
I turned my back on Fyvie's bells,
An my poor heart gave mony a knell,
An I spiered the wey be Saint John's wells,
An hame be Ythanside.
The maid replied without delay,
She turned tae me an this did say,
“I only go two miles that way,
Young man, I'll tell ye plain.”
She took me 'til her father's hame,
Sae bashfully as we gaed ben,
The auldwife, she took oot a seat,
An bad ma 'til sit doun.
I sat doon the auld folks tae please,
They treated me wi breid an cheese,
The bairnies aa aroon ma knees,
It wis a blythesome sicht.
Nine o'clock began tae strick,
An I bad them aa a blythe sweet nicht,
An I spiered the wey be Mains o' Gight,
An hame be Ythanside.
She showed me til the barn door,
Oh, but oor twa herts were sore;
We parted there to meet no more,
Wi her on Ythanside.
When he came back it was into Spring,
An on her finger he placed a ring,
An frae her hame he haes her taen,
On bonnie Ythanside.
Noo this couple's mairried noo,
They've as muckle grund's would keep a coo,
An they hae bairnies—quite a few,
An dwell on Ythanside.
Bonny Ythanside (Roud No. 3783) - Sung by Frank Steele of Banff, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Recorded by Hamish Henderson at a People's Festival ceilidh in honour of Hugh MacDiarmaid's 60th birthday in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1952.
I've appended a second performance, taken from a 1968 radio broadcast titled "The Song Carriers". The intro was spoken by Ewan MacColl. Unfortunately I don't know the date of this recording but I assume it must have been sometime during the 1950s as well.
Song transcription to be corrected:
As I cam' in by Ythanside
Where gently flows the rolling tide
A fair maid there stood by my side
Her looks did me ensnare.
Oh but she was a beauty bricht,
That iver trod the braes o' Gight,
I could hae spent a leelang nicht
Wi her on Ythanside.
I turned my back on Fyvie's bells,
An my poor heart gave mony a knell,
An I spiered the wey be Saint John's wells,
An hame be Ythanside.
The maid replied without delay,
She turned tae me an this did say,
“I only go two miles that way,
Young man, I'll tell ye plain.”
She took me 'til her father's hame,
Sae bashfully as we gaed ben,
The auldwife, she took oot a seat,
An bad ma 'til sit doun.
I sat doon the auld folks tae please,
They treated me wi breid an cheese,
The bairnies aa aroon ma knees,
It wis a blythesome sicht.
Nine o'clock began tae strick,
An I bad them aa a blythe sweet nicht,
An I spiered the wey be Mains o' Gight,
An hame be Ythanside.
She showed me til the barn door,
Oh, but oor twa herts were sore;
We parted there to meet no more,
Wi her on Ythanside.
When he came back it was into Spring,
An on her finger he placed a ring,
An frae her hame he haes her taen,
On bonnie Ythanside.
Noo this couple's mairried noo,
They've as muckle grund's would keep a coo,
An they hae bairnies—quite a few,
An dwell on Ythanside.
