“Heather Down the Moor (Among the Heather; Down the Moor)”

Description

The singer wanders "down the moor" and meets a beautiful girl. He courts her "the live-long day," and she stays with him even as her flocks wander. At the end, she leaves him. He wishes he could find her again and make her his "queen among the heather"

Notes

This song is very close to "Queen among the Heather" (Kennedy #141, etc.); they have similar plots and occasional common lyrics. There will be versions where it is almost impossible to tell which is which. I thought about listing them as one song.

But on consideration, this song has two characteristics rarely seen in "Queen among the Heather." First, this song tends to follow a complex stanza pattern:

One morn in may, when fields were gay,

Serene and pleasant was the weather.

I chanced to roam some miles from home

Among the bonnie bloomin' heather

Down the heather

O'er the moor and through the heather.

I chanced to roam some miles from home

Among the bonnie bloomin' heather

Down the moor.

"Queen among the Heather" usually has simple four-line stanzas.

"Heather down the Moor" also tends to end with the lines

But if I were a king, I would make her a queen,

The bonnie lass I met among the heather

Down the moor. - RBW

Cross references

References

  1. SHenry H177, pp. 271-272, "O'er the Moor amang the Heather" (1 text, 1 tune)
  2. Morton-Ulster 3, "Heather on the Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
  3. OLochlainn-More 6, "Doon the Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
  4. DT, HTHRMOOR*
  5. Roud #375
  6. BI, HHH177

About

Author: unknown
Earliest date: 1914 (Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society, according Morton-Ulster)
Found in: Ireland