> June Tabor > Songs > The Bleacher Lassie of Kelvinhaugh

The Bleacher Lassie of Kelvinhaugh

[ Roud 3325 ; Ballad Index Ord077 ; trad.]

Ewan MacColl sang The Bleacher Lassie of Kelvinhaugh in ca. 1959 on his Riverside album English & Scottish Love Songs. The Broomielaw and Kelvinhaugh are both in Glasgow.

Isabel Sutherland sang The Bleacher Lassie o' Kelvinhaugh in a recording by Peter Kennedy at Cecil Sharp House, London, on the 1960 HMV album A Pinch of Salt.

Alex Campbell sang Lass of Kelvinhaugh in 1965 on his eponymous Transatlantic album Alex Campbell.

Nigel Denver sang The Bleacher Lassie o' Kelvinhaugh in 1965 on his Decca album Moving On.

Dave Burland sang The Bleacher Lassie o' Kelvinhaugh in 1971 on his first Trailer album, A Dalesman's Litany. This track was also included in 2005 on the anthology Never the Same: Leave-Taking from the British Folk Revival 1970-1977.

June Tabor sang The Bleacher Lassie of Kelvinhaugh on Sunday March 26, 1972 at the Stagfolk Folk Club at Shackleford Social Centre, near Godalming. This concert was released later in the year on the album Stagfolk Live Folk and is the oldest recording I know of her; four years befre her first solo album appeared. In 2011, June Tabor returned to this song on her most recent Topic album, Ashore.

Dick Gaughan sang Bleacher Lassie of Kelvinhaugh in 2006 on his CD Lucky for Some.

Lyrics

Ewan MacColl sings The Bleacher Lassie of Kelvinhaugh

As I was walkin' one fine summer's evening
A-walkin' doon by the Broomielaw
It was there I met wi' a fair young maiden
She'd cherry cheeks and a skin like snaw.

Says I, “My lassie, is it you that wanders?
All alone by the Broomielaw?”
“Indeed it's the truth I'll tell ye,
I'm a bleacher lassie on Kelvinhaugh.”

“Oh lassie, lassie do you remember
The ships that sailed by the Broomielaw,
And the sailor laddies they all admired
The bleacher lassie on Kelvinhaugh?”

“Oh laddie, laddie I do remember
The ships that sailed by the Broomielaw
And the sailor laddies they all got tipsy
With the bleacher lassie on Kelvinhaugh.”

Says I, “My lassie will ye gang wi' me?
I will dress you in fine satins braw.”
“Indeed kind sir, I can plainly tell ye
I've a lad o' my ain and he's far awa.

“It's sieven lang years that I loo'ed a sailor;
It's sieven lang years that he gaed awa
And anither sieven I will wait upon him
And bleach my claes here on Kelvinhaugh.”

“Oh lassie, lassie, ye are hard-hairted
I wish your face I never saw;
For my heart's aye bleedin', baith nicht and mornin'
For the bleacher lassie on Kelvinhaugh.

“Oh lassie, lassie, ye hae been faithful
And thocht on me when far awa';
Twa hairts will surely be rewarded,
We'll pairt nae mair here on Kelvinhaugh.”

It's now this couple, it's they've got marr-i-ed
And they keep an ale-house atween them twa
And the sailor laddies, they all come drinkin'
To see that lassie on sweet Kelvinhaugh.