The Yew Tree
This is a great song.  I am trying to find the author of it, for credit is certainly due.  It is about the history of Scotland, mentioning several less-than-happy times.  Yet, through all the turmoil, the Scots changed and grew, and remained close to their homeland.  The last verse is full of hope.  The Yew Tree really exists.  The bard that shared these lyrics with me has been there and actually seen it.  I have a real connection with this song, too.  Some of my mother's family were Borderers.  I don't know if they were Moss Troopers or not, but their family lands were in the area that the Troopers routinely raided.

The delivery on this song can be dramatic. It tells the story of a thousand years of history as witnessed by the Yew Tree, and is set to a beautiful melody and there is a stirring harmony for the refrain.  It is well worth the practice, and always seems to touch people when it is played.
 

   Am                     G                        F              Am                    F                G                     Am
A mile from Pencaitland on the road to the sea  stands a yew tree a thousand years old
       Am                   G                  F               Am                F                       G            Am
The old women swear by the grey in their hair that it knows what the future will hold
                 D                G                        Am                      G                                        D
For the shadows of Scotland stand round it, mid the kail and the corn and the kye
              C                                       G                                Am           G            Am
All the hopes and the fears of a thousand long years under the Lothian skies.
                 Am                     G                                      Am
Refrain:  My bonnie yew tree, tell me what did you see?

       Am                               G                    F                 Am                  F                  G                Am
Did you look through the haze on the long summer days to the south and the far English border?
       Am                G              F                Am                     F                     G                  Am
The bonnets of steel on Flodden’s far field, did they march by your side in good order?
               D                     G                   Am                      G                                            D
Did you ask them the price of their glory when you heard the great slaughter began
                C                                         G                                             Am                G               Am
For the dust of their bones will rise up from the stones and give tears to the eyes of the wind.  Refrain

        Am                G                     F                 Am                       F                      G                 Am
Not once did ye speak for the poor and the weak when the Moss-troopers lay in your shade
       Am                   G                 F                    Am                  F                    G                Am
To count all their plunder and hide from the thunder and share out the spoils of the raid
         D                   G                  Am                     G                                      D
For you saw the smiles of the gentry and the laughter of lords at their gains
                   C                                          G                                  Am                   G                    Am
For when poor hunt the poor across mountain and moor, a rich man can keep them in chains.  Refrain

           Am               G                      F                    Am                    F                 G                  Am
Did ye no’ think to tell when old John Knox himself preached under your branches so black
             Am                   G                       F            Am                 F                    G                         Am
To the poor common folk who would lift up the yoke of the Bishops and Priests from their back?
        D                    G                Am                      G                                  D
For you knew the bargain he sold them and freedom was only one part
               C                                         G                                    Am                 G                Am
For the price of their souls was a gospel so cold it would freeze up the joy in their hearts.

   Am                 G                      F                   Am                F                G               Am
I thought as I stood and laid hands to your wood that it might be a kindness to fell ye
        Am              G                         F                    Am                    F                 G                Am
One kiss of the axe and you’re freed from the racks and the sad, bloody tales that we tell ye –
            D                    G               Am                    G                            D
But a wee bird flew out of your branches and sang like never before
                 C                                        G                                           Am                  G                     Am
And the words to the song were a thousand years long and to learn them a long thousand more.

Refrain  2 times then:

Am                       G                                            Am           F    G   Am
My bonnie yew tree ----  tell me what can you see?
 
 
 

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