Caledonia (song)

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For other songs known as "Caledonia", see "Jamie Raeburn" and "Canada-I-O".

"Caledonia" (also known as "Jean and Caledonia") is a British/Scottish folk ballad that dates back to 1904. "Sair, sair was my heart, an' the tears stood in my een/As I viewed my native hills an' I thought upon my Jean." Pressed by poverty, the two sadly part; he promises to be true, and wed no other, and someday to come back to marry her.

"Caledonia" is also the name of a modern Scottish folk ballad, written by Dougie MacLean somewhere between 1974 and 1977 [1] and published in 1979 on an album of the same name[2]. It has the lyrics "Caledonia, you're calling me, and now I'm going home".

[edit] Cross references

cf. "Erin's Flowery Vale (The Irish Girl's Lament)" [Laws O29] (plot) and references there

[edit] References

Robert Ford, Vagabond Songs and Ballads of Scotland (one-volume edition, 1904), pp. 237-239, "Jean and Caledonia" (1 text, 1 tune)
John Ord, Bothy Songs and Ballads (1930; Reprint edition with introduction by Alexander Fenton printed 1995), p. 116, "Jean and Caledonia" (1 text)
Roud Folk Song Index #3801