Wild Mountain Thyme - Will ye go Lassie go

Wild Mountain Thyme, Will ye go Lassie go, is a Scottish and Irish folk song. The lyrics and melody are based on a variant of "The Braes of Balquhither", which was written by Scottish poet Robert Tannahill (1774–1810) and Scottish composer Robert Archibald Smith (1780–1829). Belfast musician Francis McPeake (1885–1971) later adapted, rewrote this material into Wild Mountain Thyme, Will ye go Lassie go, which was first recorded by his family in the 1950s.

​In Fragrance and Wellbeing: Plant Aromatics and Their Influence on the Psyche, Jennifer Peace Rhind says that Wild Mountain Thyme, Will ye go Lassie go, is essentially a love song. She suggests the lyric about wild thyme growing among Scottish heather may reference to an old custom where young women wore thyme, mint, or lavender to attract a suitor. She also notes British folklore where thyme is linked to the ground where the fairies play, so it was often left undisturbed for them. William Shakespeare uses this lore in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, when Oberon describes Titania’s sleeping bower filled with wild thyme and other plants.