Flowers of the Forest

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Flowers of the Forest is a Scottish folk song lamenting the deaths of James IV, many of his nobles, and over 10,000 men - the titular "Flowers of the Forest" - at the Battle of Flodden Field in northern England in 1513, a significant event in the history of Scotland. The song, written in Scots, is also known as The Floo'ers o' the Forest (are a' wede away) and describes the grief of women and children at the loss of their young men. In some ways the song echoes the poem Y Gododdin about a similar defeat in about 600.

Powerful solo bagpipe versions of the song are used at services of remembrance, funerals, and other occasions; many in the Commonwealth know the tune simply as "The Lament" which is played at Remembrance Day or Remembrance Sunday ceremonies to commemorate war dead.

The first verse of the song contrasts happier times with grief at the losses:

I've heard the lilting, at the yowe-milking,

Lasses a-lilting before dawn o' day;

But now they are moaning on ilka green loaning;

"The Flowers of the Forest are a' wede away".

Translating uncommon words, this could read:

I've heard the singing, at the ewe-milking,

Lasses a-singing before dawn of the day;

But now they are moaning on every milking-green;

"The Flowers of the Forest are all withered away".

The song is mentioned in The Scots Musical Museum as The flowres of the Forrest, and the air (or tune) apparently survived, but several versions of the words were written down later, the most usual being by Jean Elliot published about 1755 - see links below.

A powerful song by the Scots/Australian singer-songwriter Eric Bogle, "No Man's Land", contains repeated reference to Flowers of the Forest, and muses over the grave of a World War I soldier, each chorus asking of his burial, did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest?:

Did they beat the drum slowly? Did they sound the fife lowly?

Did the rifles fire o'er ye, as they lowered you down?

Did the bugles sing “The Last Post” in chorus?

Did the pipes play “The Flowers of the Forest?”

The song has been covered by Fairport Convention and June Tabor, and matches Bogle's "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda", about the Gallipoli landings in the same war. The Dropkick Murphys (a band from Boston) also covered a song on their 2005 album "The Warrior's Code", with the title "The Green Fields of France." The chorus from this song was also featured in the Johnny Cash song "Streets of Laredo."