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The Laird o'the Dainty Downbye
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This is an old Scots song with many variants, and here I have assembled a story using some of the verses I like best.
singer songwriter acoustic folk british guitarist song celtic traditional fingerstyle scottish scotland guitar kelso
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Solo singer-songwriter and tunesmith playing British fingerstyle steel and nylon string guitar, and historic instruments. Scots and Irish influences.
I've been writing and playing songs and tunes since teenage years in folk clubs and pubs. I co-organise the Kelso Friday night live music sessions at the Cross Keys (hosted singaround 7.45-10pm) and Cobbles Inn (10-12pm open mic with The Cobbles Band) with the help of many friends. All welcome! Visit us at kelsofolkandlive co uk. It is worth clicking on the tab because the sound quality of my tracks is far higher than the auto player on this page. Many can be streamed or downloaded at 320KBps and the enhancement for solo guitar/voice far exceeds the benefit you get for highly compressed band recordings. My recordings are full dynamic, not compressed. Just select Hi-Fi for the first song, and an MP3 high bitrate window will open - you will still get a sequence of songs. Most of my downloads are free, but some 320KBps tracks are paid-for. These are selected because they make up my main instrumental album. I now have a YouTube page and have started doing some video recordings for fun: @daviddkilpatrick I have mainly played Lowden guitars since 1999. I current play a 1985 S5FN (nylon string), 1986 S22 (jumbo O-size mahogany/cedar), and 1995 S32 (small body rosewood/spruce). I also play my own 1997-built Martin 'kit' Grand Auditorium rosewood/spruce, a Sigma OM-T, Furch Little Jane, Tacoma Papoose, Guild 8-string baritone, Vintage V880 parlour guitar and Gordon Giltrap signature model, a Troubadour mahogany/spruce classical and an Adam Black 12-string. And that's just the guitars... also viola, mandolin, mandola, waldzither, bouzouki, Appalachian dulcimer, low D whistle, keyboards.
Song Info
Genre
Acoustic • Acoustic Folk
Charts
Peak #10
Peak in subgenre #3
Author
David Kilpatrick
Rights
David Kilpatrick 2004
Uploaded
November 13, 2007
Track Files
MP3
MP3 3.8 MB • 128 kbps • 4:11
Story behind the song
The versions found in the Grieg-Duncan Collection of traditional songs (c.1900) along with some of the tune variants provided the basis for my collation of 'Dainty Down-by', 'Dainty Downbie', 'Dounbie' (etc). I don't know the origins of the story or the significance of the name Downbie. I now can't find where I wrote down this version, or whether I did. I recorded it in 2004, and in 2007 it popped up on my iPod, where it must have got stored. I never uploaded it in 2004, and I don't know exactly why. Also, it only exists as an mp3 file, where most of my recordings have AIFF masters. I think it was just a 'notepad' for the song, but in retrospect, I quite like the result, so here it is.
Lyrics
Once there was a farmer who was widowed and alone And he had an only daughter that he could call his own And by the bright May moon she was wont to roam In the lands of the Laird of the Downbye And it's up and came the laird saying, lass are you alone? And why by the moonlight through my lands do you roam? Let me take you by the hands and I'll take you to my home And I'll make you the lady of Downbye Oh no kind sir you know that would never do I'm but a farmer's daughter and I'm no match for you But I'll lie in your arms in the cool morning dew In the lands of the Laird of Downbye And he's taken her by the hand, and he's taken her by the waist And he's laid her in a green, a green and grassy place And he did not do it slowly, nor made he much haste Did the laird of the Dainty Downbye And when six months they were passed and were gone Her fair, fair colours were turned pale and wan And the farmer said, daughter, I feel you are undone For you've lain with the Laird of the Downbye Then came the Laird he was knocking at the door Saying, farmer get you daughter, let her stand upon the floor That her fair, fair colours I may see once more That I saw in the Dainty Downbye And the farmer took his daughter and he led her by the hand And out on the boards he has made her stand And her colours were fair that yet had been wan When she saw the Laird of the Downbye And he's taken by the hand and he's taken her by the waist And he's led her to his lands and her's led her to his place And he's dressed her in silk and he's dressed her in lace And he's made her the lady of Downby The Laird o'the Dainty Downbye
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ozfan
Nov 30, 2007
Great accent adds authenticity to this song. Well done.