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On the banks of the Clyde stood a lad and his lassie,
The lad's name was Gordie the lassie's was Jane;
She threw her arms 'round him and cried do not leave me,
For Gordie was going for to fight for his queen.
She gave him a lock of her bright auburn tresses,
He kissed her and pressed her once more to his heart;
Till eyes spoke the love that her lips could not utter,
The last word is spoken they kissed and depart.
Over the burning plains of Egypt,
Under the scorching sun,
When he thought of the stories he'd have to tell his love,
When the fight was won.
He treasured with care that dear lock of hair,
For his own darling Jenny he prayed;
But his prayers were in vain, she will ne'er see him again,
Her lad in the Scots brigade.
Now the ocean divided the lad from his lassie,
And Gordie was forced far away o'er the foam;
His roof was the sky and his bed was the desert,
But his heart with his Jenny was always at home.
Now the morning that dawned on that famed day of battle,
Found Gordie enacting a true hero's part;
Till the enemy's bullet came into his billet,
And it burned, oh, that dear lock of hair on his heart.
Over the burning plains of Egypt,
Under the scorching sun,
When he thought of the stories he'd have to tell his love,
When the fight was won.
He treasured with care that dear lock of hair,
For his own darling Jenny he prayed;
But his prayers were in vain, she will ne'er see him again,
Her lad in the Scots brigade.
On the banks of the Clyde dwelt a heart-broken mother,
They told her of how the great victory was won;
But the glory of England to her brought no comfort,
For glory to her meant the loss of her son.
But Jenny is with her to comfort and shield her,
Together they'll weep and together they'll pray;
And Jenny her daughter will be while she lives,
For the sake of the lad who died far away.
Collected in 1950 from Jack Swain (b.1892) of Calvert, NL, and also as Geordie from Mrs. Maggie Luby (b.1896) of Tors Cove, NL, and published in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).
MacEdward Leach also collected a variant published as #133, The Banks Of The Clyde, in Folk Ballads And Songs Of The Lower Labrador Coast by the National Museum of Canada (Ottawa, 1965) Crown Copyrights Reserved.
A variant was also recorded as A Lad In The Scots Brigade by Tommy Nemec (Songs From The Cape, 2003).
Notes: The British were fighting in the Sudan between 1882 and 1898. This song became popular in Canada and was recorded by the BBC in 1953, but never became popular in England.
