SATB, unaccompanied
This folk song has it’s roots in Scotland and Ireland. In this version, it describes three phases of a life-long true love.
PROGRAM NOTE
This song, in its various evolving forms, has been a staple of folk singers for hundreds of years. This arrangement takes the ending in a different direction than what we have come to expect in recent years. I treat these three verses as three phases in a life-long true love. We start with that first thrill of discovery, move to the deeper joy of creating a life together, then face the inevitability of loss. Like the life of a flower, we have that first, tenuous, bright burst of color and fragrance, growing into the opulence of the full bloom. At the last, the withered petals fade and drop.
NOTES ON PREPARATION AND PERFORMANCE
The humming drone that that underlies the other parts should be very soft, almost imperceptable.
Each verse has it’s own particular attitude and color, make them quite distinct from each other.
A case can be made for singing it in an Irish accent, but it is not necessary.
TEXT
Oh, the summer time is coming,
And the hills are sweetly bloomin’,
And the wild mountain thyme
Grows around the blooming heather.
Will ye go, lassie, go?
And we’ll all go together
To pull wild mountain thyme
All around, the blooming heather,
Will ye go, lassie, go?
I will build my love a bower
By yon clear crystal fountain,
And on it, I will pile
All the flowers of the mountain.
Will ye go, lassie, go?
And we’ll all go together
To pull wild mountain thyme
All around, the blooming heather,
Will ye go, lassie, go?
If my true love, she must leave me,
I will never find another
No more wild mountain thyme
grows where she lies below the heather.
Must ye go, must ye go?
Will ye go? Will ye go?