The Bonnie Lass of Cambuslang

 A Reformer reader, from Cumbernauld no less, has kindly sent this ancient song which expounds the beauty of at least one of the female population of Cambuslang in days gone by. Mrs M Abercrombie, discovered the song in an old newspaper cutting while rummaging in her attic. Entitled “The Lass O’ Cambuslang”, the song originally appeared in a book of Scottish songs over a hundred years ago.

  In a cosy white cottage upon a hill side,
That cheerily looks on the green Vale o’ Clyde,
There lives a braw lassie wi’ sunny brown hair,
An’ a face like the morning, so ruddy and fair.

 I lo’ed her fu’weel when I saw her wee smile,
An’ I thocht in my heart, she look’d kindly the while,
She is gently and gleesome, and free frae a pride,
She’s the bonniest lass on the banks o’ the Clyde.

 O Clyde! though are bonnie while flowing between
The thick twinning branches o’ soft dewy green;
Yet they laneness sae deep was aye dowie to me,
Though the sun briefly lay on ilk wee flower an’ tree.

 The thick twining branches of soft dewy green,
Yet they laneness sae deep was aye dowie to me,
Though the sun briefly lay on ilk wee flower an’ tree.

But the laneness is gane, and thy beauties appear
Like a vision o’ hope  through a sorrowfu’ tear;
Lika soun’ that I hear, an’ lika flower that I see,
Seem happier noo sin’ my love smiles on me.

 When clear merry Kirkburn first meets thy embrace,
A tremulous ripple steals over thy face;
In a moment ‘tis gone—then the gither ye run,
Gaily sparkling’ alang in the licht o’ the sun.

Sae my heart has been flichterin aye sin, the day
I first met my love on the lane Hawthorn Way;
But our hearts mingled aince, then thegither we’ll glide,
 through life, wi the sunshines love by our side.

 Fair, fair be they beauty for ever, dear stream!
On thy gowany banks long may true lovers dream!
My thochts wander to thee wherever I gang,
Sin I met wi’ the bonnie young lass o’ Cambuslang.

                                                                 ~ the end