Will Ye Go Lassie Go?
Lyrics
Verse 1
Oh, the summer time is come,
And the trees are sweetly blooming,
And the wild mountain thyme
Grows around the blooming heather.
Chorus
* Will you go, lassie, will you go?
And we’ll all go together
To pull wild mountain thyme
All around the blooming heather,
Will you go, lassie, go?
Verse 2
I will build my love a bower
By yon clear and crystal fountain,
And on it I will pile,
all the flowers of the mountain
Chorus
* Will you go, lassie, will you go?
And we’ll all go together
To pull wild mountain thyme
All around the blooming heather,
Will you go, lassie, go?
Verse 3
I will range through the wild
and the deep glen sae dreary,
And return wi’ my spoils
to the bower of my dreams.
Chorus
* Will you go, lassie, will you go?
And we’ll all go together
To pull wild mountain thyme
All around the blooming heather,
Will you go, lassie, go?
Verse 4
If my true love, she were gone,
Then I’d will surely find another
Whenre the wild mountain thyme
grows around the blooming heather..
Chorus
* Will you go, lassie, will you go?
And we’ll all go together
To pull wild mountain thyme
All around the blooming heather,
Will you go, lassie, go?
Sing Along
History
“Wild Mountain Thyme” (also known as “Purple Heather” and “Will Ye Go, Lassie, Go?”) is a Scottish/Irish folk song. The lyrics and melody are a variant of the song “The Braes of Balquhither” by Scottish poet Robert Tannahill (1774–1810) and Scottish composer Robert Archibald Smith (1780–1829), but were adapted by Belfast musician Francis McPeake (1885–1971) into “Wild Mountain Thyme” and first recorded by his family in the 1950s.
The original version of the song, published in 1957, closely paraphrases the Tannahill version, which was published posthumously in 1822. Tannahill’s original lyrics include a number of phrases that McPeake carried over into his song, including the lines “Let us go, lassie, go” and “And the wild mountain thyme” as he rewrote the song.