Meaning
The song is about the unrequited love of a captain of Irish dragoons for a beautiful Scottish girl in Fyvie. The narration is in the third person, through the voice of one of the captain's soldiers. The captain promises the girl material comfort and happiness, but the girl refuses the captain's advances saying she would not marry a foreigner or a soldier. The captain subsequently leaves Fyvie. In two different variations of the song, he threatens to burn the town(s) if his offer is rejected, or alternately save the town if his offer is accepted. He later dies of a broken heart, or battle wounds, or possibly both.
Several variations on this theme exist. The soldier also proposes marriage in some versions. Some versions have the girl declare her love for the soldier, but only to be stopped short by a reluctant mother.
You're the one that I adore, Sweet Willy-o,
You're the one that I adore, Sweet Willy-o,
But your fortune is too low,
And I fear my mother would be angry-o.
Read more about this topic: The Bonnie Lass O' Fyvie
Famous quotes containing the word meaning:
“A name with meaning could bring up a child,
Taking the child out of the parents hands.
Better a meaningless name, I should say,
As leaving more to nature and happy chance.
Name children some names and see what you do.”
—Robert Frost (18741963)
“You had to have seen the corpses lying there in front of the schoolthe men with their caps covering their facesto know the meaning of class hatred and the spirit of revenge.”
—Alfred Döblin (18781957)
“To summarize the contentions of this paper then. Firstly, the phrase the meaning of a word is a spurious phrase. Secondly and consequently, a re-examination is needed of phrases like the two which I discuss, being a part of the meaning of and having the same meaning. On these matters, dogmatists require prodding: although history indeed suggests that it may sometimes be better to let sleeping dogmatists lie.”
—J.L. (John Langshaw)