Oh
rowan tree, oh rowan tree, How fair wert thou in simmer time We sat aneath thy spreadin' shade, And there arose my father's pray'r
Thou'lt aye be dear to me
Entwined thou art wi' mony ties
O' hame and infancy.
Thy leaves were aye the first of spring
Thy flowers the simmer's pride
There wasna sich a bonnie tree
In a' the country side.
Oh! Rowan tree.
Wi' a' thy clusters white;
How rich and gay thy autumn dress,
Wi' berries red and bright!
On thy fair stem were mony names
Which now nae mair I see,
But they're engraven on my heart,
Forgot they ne'er can be.
Oh! Rowan tree.
The bairnies round thee ran,
They pu'd thy bonnie berries red,
and necklaces they strang;
My mother, oh! I see her still
She smil'd our sports to see,
Wi' little Jeannie on her lap,
and Jamie at her knee.
Oh! Rowan tree.
In holy ev'ning's calm,
How sweet was then my mother's voice,
In the Martyrs' psalm!
Now a' are gone! we meet nae mair
Aneath the rowan tree,
But hallow'd thoughts around thee twine,
O' hame and infancy.
Oh! Rowan tree.
Painting of Lady Nairne (1766-1845) with her son (1808-1837)
Although many people may not recognise her name, Carolina Oliphant's songs are second only in popularity to Burns. She wrote such classics as "Will Ye No' Come Back Again" and "Charlie is My Darling"and "Wi' 100 Pipers An' A'". Carolina Oliphant was born on 16 August 1766 in Gask, Perthshire. Carolina became known as the "Flower of Strathearn" because of her beauty. Both her father and grandfather had joined Bonnie Prince Charlie in the 1745 Jacobite Uprising and she herself had been named after the Young Pretender (Carolina being the feminine form of Charles) so it is not perhaps surprising that many of her songs were sympathetic to the Jacobite cause.
In those days it was not appropriate for women of her social standing to publish poetry and so for a long time they were published under the pen-name of Mrs Bogan of Bogan. Even after marrying her second cousin, Major William Nairne in 1806, she kept her writing secret from him too! They had a son, born in 1808, when she was aged 43. In 1824, following a campaign by Sir Walter Scott , peerages and titles which had been forfeited as a result of the Jacobite Uprising were restored and so Caroline became Lady Nairne. Like Robert Burns and James Hogg, Lady Nairne collected old folk tunes and modified or put her own words to them. She showed a love of the countryside in such songs as "The Rowan Tree" and "The Pentland Hills." Her poem "The Auld House" is about her birthplace in Gask and she showed her compassion in songs such as "Caller Herring" -
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