Up a Wide and Lonely Glen

Original Track ID

SA1960.139.A10

Original Tape ID

SA1960.139

Summary

In this song, a man encounters the fairest girl he has ever seen herding cows among the heather. He tries to woo her, offering her silks and satins, but she rejects his advances, saying he is probably a rich squire's son and she is only a shepherd's daughter.

Item Notes

6 verses of 4 lines.

This song is a broadside derivative of a piece by James Hogg (1770–1835) entitled 'Song I' and published by him in 1801. In discussing 'The Queen Among the Heather', Hamish Henderson remarked on Hogg's piece but assumed it was a transitional form modelled on an old ballad; it seems more likely that Hogg's song was loosely inspired thematically by other traditonal songs, but was essentially an original composition. The broadside press of the 19th century regularly lifted songs from poets' publications and amended the language for wider appeal, making them easier to sing and better in keeping with the popular folk idiom. This is evident when comparing Hogg's song to a broadside called 'The Shepherd's Daughter', published in Dundee in the late 19th century. Chris Wright presents a detailed discussion of this process of adapting songs from poets to sell as street literature, including several songs to be found on this website.

See:

James Hogg, 'Song I', 'Scottish Pastorals, Poems, Songs, etc., Mostly Written in the Dialect of the South (Edinburgh: John Taylor, 1801), pp. 56-58.

Hamish Henderson, notes to 'The Stewarts Of Blair' LP (Topic RecoSrds 12T138, 1966)

'The Shepherd's Daughter' (Dundee: Poet's Box, before 1885), Dundee City Library Local History Centre, Lamb Collection 421(60).

Chris Wright, 'Forgotten Broadsides and the Song Tradition of the Scots Travellers' in 'Street Ballads in Nineteenth Century Britain, Ireland, and North America', Steve Roud and David Atkinson (eds) (Farnham: Ashgate, 2014), pp. 77-104.


See also:

'Greig-Duncan vol. 5, pp. 83-84
'Bothy Songs & Ballads' (J. Ord, 1930) p. 433
'Come Gie's a Sang' (S. Douglas, 1995) p. 111
'Herd Laddie o the Glen' (A. McMorland, 2006) p. 79
'Folksongs Sung in Ulster' (R. Morton, 1970) pp. 5-6
'Songs of Scotland' vol. 3 (G. F. Graham, 1854) pp. 30-31
'Folksongs of Britain & Ireland' (P. Kennedy, 1975) p. 318
'More Irish Street Ballads' (C. O Lochlainn, 1978) pp. 12-13
'Scottish Songs Ancient & Modern' (J. Gilchrist, 1865) pp. 97-98
'Songs of Scotland Prior to Burns' (R. Chambers, 1862) pp. 440-441
'Sam Henry's Songs of the People' (G. Huntington, 1990) pp. 271-272
'Till Doomsday in the Afternoon' (E. MacColl & P. Seeger, 1986) pp. 199-201
'The Scots Musical Museum' vol. 4 (J. Johnson & R. Burns, 1853) p. 338, no. 328
'Folk-Song of the North-East' (G. Greig, K. Goldstein & A. Argo, 1963 reprint) art. XLIV

Recording Location

Language

English, Scots

Genre

Song

Collection

SoSS

Classification

R375 GD962

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Fair