Rantin' Laddie
Traditional, Scots
I first heard this in the late 1960s on the radio, sung by the great collector, singer and writer Ewan MacColl. Soon after, I ran across the words and learned it, and taught it to Cindy when we met in the early 1980s. The chords and bouncy rhythm are ours, but I'd still call this Ewan's version.
G: 12- String C: steel 6-string
Oft have I played at the cards and dice
With my bonnie Rantin' Laddie
But now I'm sitting in my father's hall
Singing ba to my bastard baby
Oh, if I'd been wise as I've been nice
And done what my bonnie lad told me
I'd have been married a year or more
To my bonnie Rantin' Laddie
Oh, my father dear, he knows me not
My mother she ignores me
My friends and relations slight me all
And the servants, they quite hate me
Is your love a lord or is he a laird
Or is he but a caddie
That you so oft call on his name
Your bonnie Rantin' Laddie
If I had a horse at my command
As oft times I've had many
I'd ride away to the gates of Aboyne
To my bonnie Rantin' Laddie
Then up and spake a kitchen boy
Saying, though I'm but a caddie
It's I will run to the Gates of Aboyne
With a letter to your Rantin' Laddie
And as he ran through Buchanshire
And Buchan shone so bonnie
It's there he spied the Earl of Aboyne
That they call the Rantin' Laddie
And when he looked the letter on
Oh, but he was sorry
They've been cruel and fell unkind
To my bonnie Rantin' Lassie
Oh, my father dear…
Go get thee out 500 men
And see that they ride so bonny
We'll bring the lassie back to Aboyne
The bonnie Rantin' Lassie
When she was up behind his back
Wrapped in her hieland plaidie
The birds in the trees sang never so sweet
As the bonnie Rantin' Lassie
And they rode on through Buchanshire
And Buchan shone so bonnie
Rejoice, rejoice ye bonnie maids all
An see that ye be not sorry
If you lay your love on a lowland lad
Be sure that he'll betray ye
But lay your love on a hieland lad
He'll do all that he can to raise ye
Rantin' Laddie is recorded on the album Neighbors