Henry's Songbook

Fare ye weel ye Mormond Braes
Where oftimes I've been cheery
Fare ye weel ye Mormond Braes
For it's there I lost my dearie

As I cam in by Strichen toon
I heard a fair maid mourning
She was making sair complaint
For her true love ne'er returning

There's many a horse has slipped and fa'n
And risen again quite rarely
There's many a lass has lost her lad   
And gotten anither richt early

There's just as guid fish in the sea   
As ever yet was taken
I'll cast my net and try again   
For ne'er will I forsaken

My lad he was a bonnie 'un
Wha'd say he loo'ed me dearly   
Yet noo he's ta'en anither lass
And left me oh sae cruelly

Sae I'll gang doon tae Strichen toon   
Where I was born and bred in
And there I'll get anither sweetheart   
Wha'll marry me in the morning

(as sung by Alex Campbell)

[1958:] The great singing area outside the Gaelic-speaking area is, of course, Aberdeenshire - and the neighbouring Banff and Moray. [...] Their love songs are never of gushing sentimentality nor of the "Verdant Greenery" school beloved of the folk-song "improvers". They are direct, simple, and with a strength of narrative line or with an underlying humorous irony which banished any sentimentality. The young heroine of this song doesn't waste much time grieving over misfortune. (Norman Buchan, Weekly Scotsman, Aug 14)

[1961:] Aberdeenshire ballad telling the story of a rejected but defiant love. The lassie is determined to erase the memory of her old love with the attentions of at least one new one. (Robin Gray, notes 'By Mormond Braes')

[1995:] Mormond Hill lies some 45 miles north of Aberdeen, west of Fraserburgh, at the foot of which lies the small town of Strichen. The song is well known in folk circles worldwide and I learned my version through my parents during my childhood. (Ian Benzie, notes Old Blind Dogs, 'Legacy')

[2000:] This characteristic song from the Buchan countryside of north east Scotland was a favourite of Daisy's - the Mormond Hill beside Strichen is a prominent landmark of the area and within sight of her birthplace. Gavin Greig took great delight in the song when he first heard it and he included it in his serial story Logie o' Buchan, and gave it pride of place in the first of his weekly articles in the Buchan Observer in December 1907.
There are 44 instances in Roud [The Folk Song Index / The Broadside Index], all from Scotland, but only three other sound recordings - by John Strachan (Folktracks 60-066 - the BBC recording), Davie Stewart (Folktracks FSA 180) and Jimmy McBeath (Folktracks 60-059). (Rod Stradling, notes Daisy Chapman, 'Ythanside')