Rigs o Rye

On Springthyme SPRCD 1038
Jane Turriff - Singin is Ma Life

Sung by Jane Turriff in the Church Hall during the TMSA's Kinross Festival in 1979.

Thirty-five versions of Hamish Henderson's favourite Jane Turriff song appear in the Greig-Duncan collection, including this fine verse: 'This couple they are married noo, And they have bairnies one or two, And live in Brittany the winter through, And in Montrose in summer'. (GD 1054, Ord 31)

Jane: Oh it's a great song, it's a great song. It's ma grandma's song I learned aff o ma Ma.

1: It wis in between twa rigs o rye,
When I heard two lovers talkin;
"I hear my love you are going away,
An no longer here you mean to stay."
 
2: "I will give to you, five hundered pounds
If you'll marry me a poor stranger;
Let mammy weep, let daddy frown,
Let sister's words fall to the ground;
But I will lay down five hundered pounds,
If you'll marry me a poor stranger."
 
3: For it wis in between twa rigs o rye
When I heard two lovers talkin;
"I hear my love you are going away,
No longer here you mean to stay;
But I will lay down five hundred pounds
If you'll marry me a poor stranger."
 
4: The tears came fallin from her eye,
Like a heavy shower in summer bloom;
But he held his hankie rollin fine
And he kissed her cheeks and dimples fine.
 
5: I hear my love you are going away,
No longer here you mean to stay,
But I will lay down five hundered pounds,
If you'll marry me, a poor stranger."

Recorded by Allan Palmer, Church Hall, Kinross Festival 1979

Traditional arranged Jane Turriff
Springthyme Records © 1996.