It fell upon a day and a bonnie summer day,
When the clans were awa' wi' Charlie,
For there arose a great dispute
Between Argyll and Airlie.

The Duke o' Montrose has ridden fast and hard,
To reach Dunkeld in the morning,
To lead in his troops by the back o' Dunkeld,
To plunder the bonnie hoose o' Airlee.

Lady Ogilvie she looked fae her high castle wa',
O, but she sighed sairly
To see false Argyll and hundreds o' his men
Come the plunder the boonie hoose o' Airlie.

"Come doon, come doon, Lady Ogilvie," he said,
"Come doon and kiss me fairly."
"I wadna kiss ye, ye false Argyll
Though ye wadna leave a stannin' stane in Airlie.

"O, I have reared seven bonnie sons,
The eighth ne'er seen his daddy;
But if I wad hae as mony ower again
They would a' gang and fecht for Charlie."

He took her by the middle sma',
Throwed her on the banks o' Airlie,
O it's tell me, Lady Ogilvie,
Where is your dowry?

Its up and doon and doon and up
It lies in the bowlin' green of Airlie.
For they socht it up and they socht it doon,
They socht it late and early,
And they found it below a bonnie balm tree
That spead ower the bowlin' greens o' Airlie.

If my guid lord had been at hame,
As this nicht he's awa' wi' Charlie,
There's nae Campbells in a' the land,
Wad have burned the bonnie hoose o' AIrlie.



abc | midi | pdf

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Source: MacColl and Seeger, Traveller's Songs from England and Scotland, Routledge And Kegan Paul, 1977

Notes:
MacColl and Seeger wrote:

"The bonnie Hoose o' Airlie", sung by Charlotte Higgins. Bronson comments that 'the earlier form has tended to be supplanted by a plagal tune, melodically akin, and universally familir today the the more moden text of "The Bonny Banks of Loch Lomond".'  It is into this, his B-category, that our tune fits, although his variants all end the first phrase not on the lower V but on the lower VI.

Roud: 794 (Search Roud index at VWML)
Laws:
Child: 199