Lyr Req: My Ain Folk

Subject: Lyric Req: My Ain folk
From: Marie Teven
Date: 19 Jan 97 - 05:56 PM

I'm looking for the lyrics to an old Scottish song, My Ain Folk. Any ideas??? Thanks in advance... Marie

Subject: RE: Lyric Req: My Ain folk
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 21 Jan 97 - 01:04 AM

Hi- Titles aren't much help---there are too many possibilities. Do you remember any other words or phrases?

One possibility is Westering Home, which has the phrase: Home to my ain folk at Isla.

Subject: RE: Lyric Req: My Ain folk
From: Lynn
Date: 16 Feb 97 - 04:11 PM

Is this the one you want?

Far frae my hame I wander
But still my thoughts return
To my ain folk ower yonder
In the sheiling by the burn
I see the cosy ingle
And the mist abune the brae
And joy and sadness mingle
As I list some auld-warld lay.

And it's Oh but I'm longing for my ain folk
Tho they be lowly, puir and plain folk
I am far beyond the sea
But my heart will ever be
At hame in dear auld Scotland wi' my ain folk.

(100 Great Scottish Songs, Waltons, Dublin)

Subject: RE: Lyric Req: My Ain folk
From: Anne Cormack
Date: 17 Feb 97 - 10:03 PM

Marie, this is a very popular song in Scotland and has been recorded many times by the likes of Moira Anderson, hKenneth McKellar, Andy Stewart and the Alexander Brothers.

Here is the second verse:

2. A bonnie lassie's greetin' though she tries to stay the tears,
And sweet will be our meeting after mony weary years,
How my mother will caress me when I'm standing by her side,
Now she prays that heaven will bless me though the stormy seas divide.

CHORUS: And it's Oh! but I'm longing for my ain folk,
Tho' they be but lowly puir and plain filk,
I am far across the sea, but my heart will ever be,
At hame in dear auld Scotland wi' my ain folk.

Enjoy

Anne

Subject: RE: Lyric Req: My Ain folk
From: Teru
Date: 19 Feb 97 - 10:20 PM

I found another version of the lyrics to "My Ain Folk" in my collection. It is like the second verse above, but a bit different. Actually, it contains more Scottish words. Here it is:

O' their absent ane they're telling
The auld (old) folk by the fire:
And I mark the swift tears welling
As the ruddy flame leaps high'r.
How the mither (mother) wad (would) caress me
were I but by her side:
Now she prays that Heav'n will bless me,
Tho' the stormy seas divide.
And it's oh! but I'm longing for my ain folk:
I am far beyond the sea
But my heart will ever be
At home in dear auld Scotland, wi' my ain folk.

Subject: RE: Lyric Req: My Ain folk
From: Ken McGirr
Date: 20 Feb 97 - 07:51 AM

the words you want and 50 more scottish songs are at http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/1690/

look for the scottish lyrics link

Subject: RE: Lyric Req: My Ain folk
From: GUEST,Doug Morton
Date: 26 Feb 06 - 06:10 PM

Does anyone know the chords?

Subject: Lyr Add: OUR AIN FOLK (Henry Scott Riddell)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 May 09 - 06:41 PM

Not quite the same song, but it looks like it would fit to the same tune:

From Poems, Songs and Miscellaneous Pieces by Henry Scott Riddell (Edinburgh: Sutherland and Knox, 1847):


OUR AIN FOLK.

I wish we were hame to our ain folk,
Our kind and our true-hearted ain folk,
Where the gentle are leal,
And the semple are weal,
And the hames are the hames o' our ain folk.
We've met wi' the gay and the guid where we've come,
We're courtly wi' mony, and couthy wi' some,
But something's still wanting we never can find,
Sin' the day that we left our auld neebers behind.

Oh! I wish we were hame to our ain folk,
Our kind and our true-hearted ain folk,
Where daffin and glee,
Wi' the friendly and free,
Made our hearts aye sae fond o' our ain folk.
Some tauld us in gowpens we'd gather the gear,
Sae soon as we cam' to the rich mailens here,
But what is in mailens, and what is in mirth,
If 'tis not enjoyed in the glen o' our birth?

Oh! I wish we were hame to our ain folk,
Our kind and our true-hearted ain folk,
Where maidens and men,
In the strath and the glen,
Still welcomed us aye as their ain folk;
Though spring had its trials, and summer its toils,
And autumn craved pith ere we gathered its spoils,
Yet winter repaid a' the toil that we took,
When ilk ane crawed crouse at his ain ingle-nook.

Then I wish we were hame to our ain folk,
Our kind and our true-hearted ain folk,
But deep are the howes,
And as heigh are the knowes,
That keep us away frae our ain folk;
The seat at the door, where our auld fathers sat,
To tell o'er their news, and their views, and a' that,
While doon by the kale-yard the burnie rowed clear,
Is mair to my liking than aught that is here.

Then I wish we were hame to our ain folk,
Our kind and our true-hearted ain folk,
Where the wild thistles wave
O'er the beds o' the brave,
And the graves are the graves o' our ain folk;
But happy gae lucky, we'll trodge on our way,
Till the arm waxes weak, and the haffet grows grey,
And tho' in this warl' our ain still we miss,
We'll meet them at last in a warl' o' bliss,
And then we'll be hame to our ain folk,
Our kind and our true-hearted ain folk,
Where far yond the moon, in the heavens aboon,
The hames are the hames o' our ain folk.

Subject: Lyr Add: MY AIN FOLK (Mills/Lemon)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Oct 18 - 09:40 AM

From the sheet music found at Indiana University:


MY AIN FOLK: A Ballad of Home
Words by Wilfrid Mills, music by Laura G. Lemon.
Published by Boosey & Co., New York & London. ©1904.

1. Far frae my hame I wander;
But still my thoughts return
To my ain folk ower yonder,
In the sheiling by the burn.
I see the cosy ingle
And the mist abune the brae;
And joy and sadness mingle,
As I list some auld warld lay.

CHORUS: And it’s oh! but I’m longing for my ain folk,
Tho’ they be but lowly, puir, and plain folk:
I am far beyond the sea,
But my heart will ever be
At hame in dear auld Scotland, wi’ my ain folk!

2. O’ their absent ane they’re telling—
The auld folk by the fire:
And I mark the swift tears welling,
As the ruddy flame leaps high’r.
How the mither wad caress me
Were I but by her side:
Now she prays that Heav’n will bless me,
Tho’ the stormy seas divide. CHORUS

3. A bonnie lass is greeting,
Tho’ she strives to stay the tears:—
Ah! sweet will be our meeting
After mony weary years.
Soon my fond arms shall enfold ye,
As I ca’ you ever mine—
Still abides the love I told ye
In the days of auld lang syne.

LAST CHORUS: And it’s oh! but I’m longing for my ain folk,
Tho’ they be but lowly, puir, and plain folk:
I am far across the sea,
But soon again I’ll be
At hame in dear auld Scotland, wi’ my ain folk!


The Internet Archive has 2 recordings: by the Imperial Quartet from 1915, and Marjorie Lawrence from 1941.