Broom, The Bonny, Bonny Broom
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Transcription: by Darryl D. Bush
Also known as "The Broom of the Cowdenknowes", "Cowden Knows",<br> "Cowdenknowes", "The Lovely Northerne Lass", "O My King" and "O the broom".<br> This very old Northumbrian air has been set to various words, but most<br> famously appears as "The Broom of the Cowdenknows". Broom is a bush with<br> brilliant yellow flowers that grows all over England and Southern Scotland<br> on hillsides. Stems of the plant were at one time bundled together and<br> bound to sticks for use as sweepers, hence the name 'broom' for the common<br> implement. Cowdenknowes itself, with its famous broom, is situated on the<br> east bank of the River Leader, five miles northeast of Melrose.<br> The tune was popular, widely known in Britain, and frequently used as the<br> vehicle for numerous lyrics; it appears, for example, set for four different<br> songs in the Tea Table Miscellany (1724), though the earliest English<br> appearance seems to have been in the first edition of Playford's English<br> Dancing Master (1651). Playford also included it in his Musick's Delight on the<br> Cithern (1666). Scots versions predate English ones with the melody used for<br> broadside ballads at least as early as 1632. Later Scots versions of the<br> song are to be found in Orpheus Caledonius (1725) and The Scots Musical<br> Museum (1787). The song was mentioned in the text of the very first ballad<br> opera, The Gentle Shepherd (1725), written by Allan Ramsay.<br> The A part is from The Dancing Master.<br> The B part is from Williamson's English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish Fiddle Tunes.<br> It was recorded (with lyrics) on A Trip to Kilburn by The Baltimore Consort.<br>
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