Trad Tuesday: Will You Go, Lassie sung by Tommy Makem

Tommy Makem often played with the Clancy Brothers. Here he is with them as well as Cherish the Ladies and Barley Bree. He was known as the Bard of Armagh. He played the long-necked 5-string banjo, tin whistle, low whistle, guitar, bodhrán and bagpipes, and sang in a distinctive baritone.

"Wild Mountain Thyme" (also known as "Purple Heather" and "Will Ye Go, Lassie, Go?") is a folk song written by Francis McPeake, a member of a well known musical family in Belfast, Ireland, and is of Scottish origin.[1] McPeake's lyrics and melody are a variant of the song "The Braes of Balquhither" by Scottish poet Robert Tannahill (1774–1810), a contemporary of Robert Burns. Tannahill's original song, first published in Robert Archibald Smith's Scottish Minstrel (1821–24), is about the hills (braes) around Balquhidder nearLochearnhead. Like Burns, Tannahill collected and adapted traditional songs, and "The Braes of Balquhither" may have been based on the traditional song "The Braes o' Bowhether".

Trad Tuesday - Wild Mountain Thyme performed by Ed Sheeran

The Song Wild Mountain Thyme is also known as Will ye go Lassie, go and Purple Heather. The lyrics are a variant of the song The Braes of Balquhither by Scottish poet Robert Tannahill (1774-1810). Tannahill was a contemporary of Robert Burns and the song is about the hills (braes) around Balquihidder near Lochearnhead.

Francis McPeake from a well-known Belfast musical family set the words to music in the 1950's. That is the version heard today and performed by hundreds of musicians all over the world. The latest one that I've heard is performed by Ed Sheeran, the Scottish folk/pop singer.