Busk, Busk, Bonnie Lassie

DESCRIPTION: Singer asks girl to go with him. He points to shepherds and soldiers marching, and the snowy hills, which parted many lovers and will part them. Refrain: "Busk, busk, bonnie lassie, and come alang wi me/I will tak' ye tae Glenisla near bonnie Glenshee"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1963 (collected from Charlotte Higgins)
KEYWORDS: courting love travel parting
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
MacColl/Seeger-TravellersSongsFromEnglandAndScotland 33, "Busk, Busk, Bonnie Lassie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Porter/Gower-Jeannie-Robertson-EmergentSingerTransformativeVoice #34, pp. 173-174, "Bonnie Glenshee" (1 text, 1 tune)

Roud #832
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Oh! No, No" (lyrics)
NOTES [29 words]: No relation to "Lass of Glenshee." - PJS
To busk, in this context, is to prepare to travel. - PJS, RBW
Roud lumps this song together with "Oh! No, No" (Ord136) in his Index. - DGE
Last updated in version 5.3
File: McCST033

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography

The Ballad Index Copyright 2023 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.