Lass o' Bennochie, The

DESCRIPTION: "Twas at the back o' Bennochie... There I fell in love wi' a bonnie lass." Her wealthy father, despising the lad, forces him into the army. He returns to claim the girl. Father and uncle pursue, but the soldier beats them off. They live happily
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1876 (Christie)
KEYWORDS: love courting poverty soldier separation reunion father
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #8, pp. 1-2, ("I fell in love wi' a bonnie lass") (1 text)
Greig/Duncan5 1012, "The Lass o' Benachie" (15 texts, 12 tunes)
Ord-BothySongsAndBallads, pp. 438-441, "The Lass o' Bennochie" (3 texts, very diverse; the second is mixed with "Locks and Bolts" [Laws M13] and the third is "The Bonnie Lass o' Benachie")
DT, LASBENCH
ADDITIONAL: W. Christie, editor, Traditional Ballad Airs (Edinburgh, 1876 (downloadable pdf by University of Edinburgh, 2007)), Vol I, pp. 36-37, "Twas at the Back o' Bennochie" (1 tune)
Roud #406
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bonnie Lass o' Benachie" (plot)
cf. "Locks and Bolts" [Laws M13] (theme: girl locked away by father) and references there
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Fury
The Banks o' Bennachie
NOTES [178 words]: Roud lumps this with "Locks and Bolts" (Laws M13), and indeed Ord-BothySongsAndBallads's second version includes several whole verses from that song. And Ord's other versions, particularly the third, are so different that it might be reasonable to classify #3 as a separate song and place #2 with "Locks and Bolts."
Nonetheless the similarity of Ord's #1 and #2, and the overall distinctness of the pair from "Locks and Bolts," causes me to split them. This apparently follows Laws, who does not list the Ord texts with M13. Best to see both songs, however - RBW
Greig: "Tradition says that 'The Bonnie Lass o' Benachie' was a Miss Erskine, heiress of Pittodrie, an estate close to Benachie in the parish of Chapel of Garioch. She was born about 1747 and married to her soldier lover about 1770. There is another and better known ballad ["Locks and Bolts"] which is said to refer to the same love episode." Greig then goes on to note "certain chronological difficulties to be faced."
All of the Greig/Duncan5 versions are the same song as the second Ord version. - BS
Last updated in version 2.6
File: Ord438

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