Traditional Scottish Songs
- Leezie Lindsay



A song about Leezie Lindsay being enticed by a rich Highland lord has been around for a long time and there are various versions in most Scottish song collections - Robert Burns recorded a fragment which forms the basis of the first verse in many of these. The attractive tune accompanying the song has ensured that the song remains popular to this day.

In the two versions below, Robert Allan of Kilbarchan (1774-1841) added to the first verse and wrote (or remodelled) the words in the other stanzas. In the first version, there is no response from Leezie, but in the second set of words there is more of a dialogue between the two.


      Leezie Lindsay

Will ye go to the Highlands, Leezie Lindsay,
   Will ye go to the Highlands wi' me?
Will ye go to the Highlands, Leezie Lindsay,
   My pride and my darling to be.

O ye are the bonniest maiden,
   The flow'r o' the west countrie;
O gang to the Highlands, Leezie Lindsay,
   My pride and my darling to be.

I've goud and I've gear, Leezie Lindsay,
   And a heart that lo'es only but thee;
They shall be thine, Leezie Lindsay,
   Gin ye my lov'd darling will be.

She has gotten a gown o' green satin,
   And a bonny blythe bride is she,
And she's aff wi' Lord Ranald MacDonald,
   His pride and his darling to be.

      Leezie Lindsay (2)

"Will ye gang tae the Heilands, Leezie Lindsay?
   Will ye gang tae the Heilands wi' me?
Will ye gang tae the Heilands, Leezie Lindsay,
   My bride and my darling tae be?"

"To gang to the Heilands wi' you, Sir,
   I dinna ken how that may be,
For I ken nae the road I am gaeing,
   Nor yet wha I'm gaun wi'."

"O, Leezie, lass, ye maun ken little,
   Syne ye dinna ken me;
For I am Lord Ronald MacDonald,
   A Chieftain o' high degree."

"Oh, if ye're the Laird of MacDonald,
   A great ane I ken ye maun be;
But how can a chieftain sae mighty
   Think o' a puir lassie like me?"

She has gotten a gown o' green satin.
   She has kilted them up tae her knee,
And she's aff wi' Lord Ronald MacDonald,
   His bride and his darling tae be.

Meaning of unusual words:
gang=go
goud=gold
Gin=if
ken=know
maun=must
Syne=since

Return to the Index of Traditional Scottish Songs




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