Scottish/Irish folk song, also known as "Purple Heather" and "Will Ye Go, Lassie, Go?". The lyrics and melody are a variant of the song "The Braes of Balquhither" by Scottish poet Robert Tannahill (1774–1810) and Scottish composer Robert Archibald Smith (1780–1829), but were adapted by Belfast musician Francis McPeake (1885–1971) into "Wild Mountain Thyme" and first recorded by his family in 1955. The original version of the song, published in 1955, closely paraphrases the Tannahill version, which was published posthumously in 1821. Tannahill's original lyrics include a number of phrases that McPeake carried over into his song, including the lines "Let us go, lassie, go" and "And the wild mountain thyme" as he rewrote the song.
