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The Bleacher Lass of Kelvin Hall
The Bleacher Lassie of Kelvinhaugh
[
Roud 3325
; G/D 5:1041
; Ballad Index Ord077
; Bodleian
Roud 3325
; trad.]
Jean Mathew sang The Bleacher Lassie to Seamus Ennis in Aberdeen on 18 July 1952. This recording was included in 2012 on the Topic anthology of ballads sung by British and Irish traditional singers, Good People, Take Warning (The Voice of the People Volume 23).
Ewan MacColl sang The Bleacher Lassie of Kelvinhaugh in ca. 1959 on his Riverside album English & Scottish Love Songs and in 1960 on his and Isla Cameron's Topic album Still I Love Him. The Broomielaw and Kelvinhaugh are a street and a neighbourhood in Glasgow. A.L. Lloyd commented in the album notes:
This song of the constant-hearted washer-girl probably began life as a Glasgow street song, but versions are now found in many parts of Scotland. The situation of the returned sailor, unrecognised, who tests his sweetheart and finds her faithful is one that country singers never tire of. Text and tune of this version come from the singing of one of the greatest living bothy-ballad singers, Jimmy McBeath, of Elgin in North-east Scotland. Additional verses are from Willie Mathieson, of Castleton, near Banff.
Isabel Sutherland sang The Bleacher Lassie o' Kelvinhaugh in a recording made by Peter Kennedy at Cecil Sharp House, London, on the 1960 HMV album A Pinch of Salt.
Alex Campbell sang Lass of Kelvinhaugh in 1965 on his eponymous Transatlantic album Alex Campbell.
Nigel Denver sang The Bleacher Lassie o' Kelvinhaugh in 1965 on his Decca album Moving On.
Dave Burland sang The Bleacher Lassie o' Kelvinhaugh in 1971 on his first Trailer album, A Dalesman's Litany. This track was also included in 2005 on the anthology Never the Same: Leave-Taking from the British Folk Revival 1970-1977.
June Tabor sang The Bleacher Lassie of Kelvinhaugh on 26 March 1972 at the Stagfolk Folk Club at Shackleford Social Centre, near Godalming. This concert was released later in the year on the album Stagfolk Live Folk and is the oldest recording I know of her; four years before her first solo album appeared. In 2011, June Tabor returned to this song on her most recent Topic album, Ashore. She commented in her album notes:
For any girl who fell in love with a sailor, long periods of separation were inevitable. This street ballad, collected in both Glasgow and Dundee, shows faithfulness on either side rewarded. Wishful thinking, perhaps, on the part of one or both?
Gordeanna McCulloch sang The Bleacher Lassie of Kelvinhaugh in 1973 on the Topic album The Streets of Glasgow. This track was also included in 1997 on the Fellside CD reissue of her 1978 Topic album Sheath and Knife.
Isabel Sutherland sang The Bleacher Lassie of Kelvinhaugh in 1976 on her eponymous EFDSS album, Isabel Sutherland.
Louis Killen sang The Bleacher Lass of Kelvin Hall at the Seattle Chantey Festival during the American Sail Training Association's 1978 Tall Ships Pacific. This recording was included a year later on the Folkways album Sea Songs Seattle.
Iain MacGillivray sang The Bleacher Lassie of Kelvinhaugh in 1986 on his Fellside album Rolling Home.
Rod Paterson sang The Bleacher Lassie o' Kelvinhaugh in 1987 on his Greentrax album Two Hats.
Alan Reid sang The Bleacher Lassie in 1998 on the anthology Scottish Love Songs.
Dick Gaughan sang Bleacher Lassie of Kelvinhaugh in 2006 on his CD Lucky for Some.
Gordon Easton sang The Bleacher Lassie o Kelvinhaugh at the Fife Traditional Singing Festival, Collessie, Fife in between May 2004 and May 2007. This recording was included in 2007 on his Autumn Harvest CD The Last of the Clydesdales.
Emily Smith sang The Bleacher Lassie o' Kelvinhaugh in 2008 on her CD Too Long Away.
Fiona Hunter sang The Bleacher Lass o' Kelvinhaugh on her eponymous 2014 CD Fiona Hunter. She commented in her liner notes:
The Bleacher Lass is a cheering tale of lovers reunited after a long absence. The ‘Bleaching Fields’ were formerly a huge industry in Glasgow. Up until the late eighteenth century the process of bleaching cotton involved soaking in stale urine and days of exposure to sunlight. In 1799 the process had a radical overhaul when Charles Tennant of Glasgow was granted a patent for bleaching powder. Charles Tennant & Co Ltd still exist today and my father is a former employee.
I learned this song from the singing of Alison McMorland. Alison's husband Geordie McIntyre collected this version in the nineteen sixties from Harry Blake of Cambuslang, Glasgow, and Geordie added some extra verses he found in a broadside.
This videos shown Emma Pollock singing The Bleacher Lassie of Kelvinhaugh at an exclusive session for the Daily Record in 2014:
Josie Duncan sang The Bleacher Lass o' Kelvinhaugh in 2019 on The Tweed Project's eponymous EP The Tweed Project (on the EP only, not on the download album!).
Lyrics
Ewan MacColl sings The Bleacher Lassie of Kelvinhaugh |
June Tabor sings The Bleacher Lassie of Kelvinhaugh |
---|---|
As I was walkin' one fine summer's evening |
As I was a-walking one fine summer's morning |
Says I, “My lassie, is it you that wanders |
Says I, “Fair lassie, why do you wander |
“O lassie, lassie do you remember | |
“O laddie, laddie I do remember | |
Says I, “My lassie will ye gang wi' me? |
“O lassie, lassie if you'll go with me |
“It's sieven lang years that I loo'ed a sailor; | |
“O lassie, lassie, ye are hard-hairted |
“O lassie, lassie, you are hard-hearted |
“It's seven lang years that I've loved my sailor; | |
“O lassie, lassie, ye hae been faithful |
“O lassie, lassie, you have proved faithful |
It's now this couple, it's they've got marr-i-ed |
And now this couple, they have gotten married |
Gordon Easton sings The Bleacher Lassie o' Kelvinhaugh |
|
Ae simmer's evening I went a-walking, | |
Says I, “Fair lassie why dae ye wander | |
“O lassie, lassie if ye'll walk wi me, | |
“For seiven lang years I hae loed a sailor, | |
“O lassie, lassie ye are hard herted, | |
“But lassie, lassie ye dae remember, | |
“And lassie, lassie ye hae been faithfull, | |
So noo that pair they hae gotten married, |
Links
See also the Mudcat Café thread Chord Req: Emily Smith tunes chord request please.