9. Seventeen Come Sunday (Roud 277) ["Waukrife Mammy," "The Well Pay't Dochter," "The Lassie Lost Her Maidenhead a' for Her Waukrif Mammie," "My Rolling Eye," "As I Gaed O'er yon Hech, Hech Hill," "Maid and Soldier," "The Lady and Soldier," "Soldier and the Fair Maid," "One Sunday Morning" "Sixteen Next Sunday," "I'm Seventeen 'gin Sunday," "Bonnie Lassie," "Blink O'er the Burn," "The Soldier Lad," "As I Gaed ower a Whinny Knowe," "New Ross Town," "When Cockle Shells Make Silver Bells," "As I Roved Out," "Where Are You Going My Pretty Maid?" "Ma Rovin' Eye," "I'm Zebenteen Come Zunday," "North Riding Hiring Song," "The Modesty Answer," "As I Walked Out," "I'm Scarce Sixteen Come Sunday," "My Pretty Maid," "Flash Girls and Airy," "Field of Barley," "Haliky Daliky," ]
[Complete ballad texts, no fragments listed below. See all versions listed under British & Other Versions and US & Canada versions.]
A. Waukrife Mammy ("As I gaed o'er the Highland hills") c.1750
a. "Wakerife Mammy," dated c.1750 from Thomas Lyle's 1827 book "Ancient Ballads and Songs: Chiefly from Tradition, Manuscripts, and Scarce Works."
b. "Waukrife Minnie" taken by Robert Burns from Martha Crosbie of Nithdale circa 1788. First published from a copy in Johnson's Musical Museum in Select Scottish Songs, Ancient and Modern, Volume 2 by Robert Hartley Cromek, 1810.
c. "The Lassie Lost Her Maidenhead a' for Her Waukrif Mammie" dated 1795 (Edinburgh?) published in "Four Excellent New Songs: The Lassie Lost Her Maidenhead a' for Her Waukrif Mammie. Johnie Cope. Rinorden, Or The Mountains High The General Toast. Entered and Licenced."
d. "Waukrife Minnie," published 1825 but older; two stanzas given by Alan Cunningham, supposedly from tradition in "The Songs of Scotland, Ancient and Modern" Volume 2, p. 244-245. One stanza with slight variation appears in Select Scottish Songs, Ancient and Modern, Volume 2 by Robert Hartley Cromek, 1810.
e. "The Well Pay't Dochter," collected in Lochwinioch Scotland from William Orr, dated c.1829. From Andrew Crawfurd's Collection of Ballads and Songs: edited E. B. Lyle; Edinburgh: Scottish Text Society, 1975
f. "The Waukrife Mammy" dated 1830 from a Scottish Chapbook (no publisher given) Printed for the booksellers; Falkirk. From "Two Old Songs- The Perjured Maid, The Waukrife Mammy." See Aa.
g. "My Rolling Eye" dated c. 1850. Taken from Alexander Smith of Perthshire by Robert Ford. Published in Vagabond Songs and Ballads of Scotland: With Many Old and Familiar Melodies edited by Robert Ford, 1899.
h. "As I Gaed O'er yon Hech, Hech Hill," sung by Bell Roberston (1841-1922) of New Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire. The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection, version L. Collected in c.1906 but much older, dated c.1860.
i. "As I Came Our[O'er] yon High, High Hill," sung by Mrs. Margaret Gillespie (1841-1910) later of Glasgow. The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection, version B, collected by Rev. Duncan from his sister in the early 1900s, dated c.1870 but older.
j. "I'm Seventeen 'gin Sunday" from Ballycastle District, published Oct. 9, 1926, Henry A.
k. "Bonnie Lassie," sung c. 1930 by William Still of Waterside, Cuminestown, Scotland (Carpenter Collection 1929-1935).
l. "Weel Paid Dochter," sung by William Farquhar of Brownhill, Bruxie Scotland about 1929 from the James Madison Carpenter Collection, JMC/1/11/165, Disc Side 159, 01:43
m. "Blink O'er the Burn," sung by Alexander Troup (1851-1939), Damside, Foudland, by Insch, Aberdeenshire Scotland c. 1929; Carpenter Collection.
n. "Sixteen Come Sunday," dated 1955, sung by Norman Kennedy of Aberdeenshire. Recording "Sixteen Come Sunday," Ballads & Songs of Scotland, 1968 by Sandy Paton of Folk Legacy. Text from Cliff Haslam: Songs and Ballads of Pub, Sea and Shore.
o. "Ma Rovin' Eye," sung by the Scottish folk group Ossian and recorded in Edinburgh in 1976. This version, presumably traditional, is from the North East of Scotland. From School of Scottish Studies.
B. "The Maid and Soldier" (" As I did walk along the street,") late 1700s (First Revision)
a. "The Lady and Soldier" dated circa 1800, from a chapbook printed by J. Morren (Edinburgh) "Three Songs: Lodgings for Single Gentlemen; Young Man's Frolic; The Lady and Soldier.
b1. "Maid and Soldier" broadside printed in London at 115 Long Alley by Thomas Batchelar about 1820. (1817-1828)
b2. "The Maid and Soldier"- broadside J. Catnach, 2 Monmouth Court, c.1820
b3. "The Maid and Soldier" broadside printed by E. Taylor, Birmingham [no date given, c. 1830] revised and reprinted in "Songs of England, Ireland, and Scotland" by Dan Milner, Paul Kaplan, 1983.
C. "Soldier and The Fair Maid" broadsides (As I walked out one May morning,) c. 1838 (Second Revision)
a1. "Soldier and The Fair Maid" broadside Yorkshire, later, Dickinson of York, c. 1838
a2. "Soldier and The Fair Maid" broadside by Forth of Pocklington c. 1838
D. "Seventeen Come Sunday" broadsides (As I walked out one May morning,) c.1840 [partial list] (Third Revision)
a1. "Seventeen Come Sunday" broadside J. Paul and Co., Printers, 2 & 3, Monmouth Court, Seven Dials, (1838-1845).
a2. "Seventeen Come Sunday" broadside [Ryle and Paul] and co., Printers, 2 & 3, Monmouth Court, Seven Dials (1838-1959)
a3. "I'm Seventeen come Sunday" broadside Harkness, Printer, Church Street, Preston (1840 and 1866)
a4. "Seventeen come Sunday" broadside Hodges, (from Pitt's) wholesale Toy & Marble warehouse, 31, Dudley-st., 7 Dials between 1846 and 1854. (Last line: And a merry little maid so charming).
a5. "Seventeen Come Sunday" broadside London: H. Such, Machine Printer & Publisher, 177 Union Street, Boro', S.E. between 1863 and 1885 (Last line: And a merry man in the morning).
a6. "Seventeen Come Sunday" broadside w/Irish Molly O. (c. 1865) Printed for Catnach Press by W. Fortey Monmouth Court Seven Dials (London) 10 stanzas (extra "I went to her mammy house" stanza) between 1858 and 1885.
E. The Later Scottish Tradition (1800s- 1900s) ("As I Gaed O'er yon High, High Hill") Has "High, High Hill" opening stanza similar to A, the questions and rendezvous composite with Maid and Soldier. Dated 1800s, 1900s. Does not have Waukrife Mammy or beating of daughter.
a. "As I Went O'er the High, High Hill," sung by Mrs. Thain of New Deer. She learned her songs from her grandmother 70 years ago (about 1850), Greig-Duncan C.
b. "As I Gaed Up Yon Hich, Hich Hill," sung by Leslie Durno of Insch (Garioch, Aberdeenshire, Scotland). Learned from George Doe, a peddler, old Scottish Soldier in 1873. 1st stanza from Waukrife Mammy.
c. "Wi' My Rollin' Eye," sung by Willie Mathieson of Denhead, Dunlugas Turriff. Learned from Bothy Mains of Caldsewell Ellon, 1897
d. "As I Went Owre Yon High, High Hill," from Mrs. Grieg, collected by Duncan about 1906 and appears in The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection version D.
e. "As I Gaed O'er yon High, High Hills," sung by Robert Reid of Kemnay, Aberdeenshire. He was a shoemaker very interested in folk music. Collected by Duncan about 1907, version E. From The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection:
f. "The Soldier Lad" sung by William Watson, New Byth, Aberdeenshire; collected by Gavin Grieg about 1907.
Generic title. From The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection.
g. "As I went Up Yon High Hill," sung by John Ross, Wester Lone Vine Farm, Delny, Scotland c. 1929. Carpenter Collection.
h. "Bonnie Lassie (With My Rolling Eye)" sung by Peter Christie, 21 years old of Shorehead, Stonehaven, Scotland (Carpenter 1929-1936)
i. "Bonnie Annie," sung by Miss Campbell. Learned from Annie Clark of Conland Forgue, Aberdeenshire, dated c. 1929. From: The James Madison Carpenter Collection.
j. "Seventeen Come Sunday" sung by Agnes Murray MacRobbie (b. 1882) of Whauphill, Kirkinner; Wigtownshire. Collected by Hamish Henderson in 1967.
k. "My Rolling Eye," sung by Duncan Williamson from Inveraray, county Argyllshire; recorded by George McIntyre, November, 1967. From: Collection - School of Scottish Studies; Original Track ID - SA1967.140.B7.
F. The Irish Tradition [See ref. Joyce: "Ancient Irish Music," 1873.]
a. "I'm Seventeen 'gin Sunday" from Ballycastle District, published Oct. 9, 1926, Henry A. From Sam Henry's Songs of the People edited by Gale Huntington, Lani Herrmann.
b. "As I Gaed ower a Whinny Knowe," sung by Andy Allen of Bridge Cottage, Coleraine; published Feb 4, 1939, Henry B. From Sam Henry's Songs of the People edited by Gale Huntington, Lani Herrmann.
c. "New Ross Town," sung by Irish traveller Mary Delaney, learned about 1944 from Sanp Cash of Tipperary. From the recording From Puck to Appleby: Songs and stories from Jim Carroll's and Pat Mackenzie's recordings of Irish Travellers in England.
d1. "When Cockle Shells Make Silver Bells" (As I Roved Out)- sung by Seamus Ennis of Dublin as recorded on AFS 09961A, 1947. After stanza 4 the stanzas have been taken from "Trooper and the Maid," Child 299.
d2. "The Night Visit (As I roved Out)," dated c. 1973 a sung by Christy Moore who reportedly learned his version from a singer named John Riley at a music gathering in Roscommon in the 1970s. Has Maid and Tropper stanzas.
e1. "As I Roved Out" sung by Sarah Makem as recorded by Jean Ritchie, November 1952. Also recorded by Diane Hamilton, 1956. Sung by cousin Annie Jane Kelly and recorded by Peter Kennedy and Seán O'Boyle in 1952. Additional text supplied from friends and Makem family members. See: Musical Traditions Records' CD notes, 2011 titled "Sarah Makem: As I Roved Out" (MTCD353-5), also The Irish Songbook - Makem & the Clancy's
e2. "As I Roved Out," As sung by Joe Heaney, arranged in the 1960s. From: Cartlanna Sheosaimh Uí Éanaí (The Joe Heaney Archives) by National University of Ireland, Galway 2010–2018.
f. "Sixteen Come Next Sunday" by The Bothy Band recorded in 1976. Triona Ni/ Dhomhnaill collected this from her Aunt who lives in the Donegal Gaeltacht of Rannafast.
G. The English Tradition (derived from "Maid and Soldier," "Soldier and the Fair Maid," "Seventeen") mid-1800s
a. "Where Are You Going My Pretty Maid?" Sung by Jim Cox, 82 of Hampton Fields, Minchinhampton, Stroud, Gloucestershire dated c.1870, Collected Carpenter, learned when Cox was a boy at home.
b. "Seventeen Come Sunday," sung by Thomas Bunting of Sherborne, Warwickshire, dated c.1870. Learned 60 years from his father; from James Madison Carpenter Collection, JMC/1/1/1/F, p. 00581.
c. "I'm Seventeen Come Sunday," sung by Harry Wiltshire of Wheald, Bampton, Oxfordshire (Carpenter 1929-1936). Learned from his grandfather Shadrach Hayden, 50 years ago (c.1870).
d. "I'm Zebenteen Come Zunday," sung by Joe. From: "A Dictionary of the Isle of Wight Dialect, and of Provincialisms" by William Henry Long, 1886.
e. "North Riding Hiring Song," sung by a youth from Pickering, East Riding, Yorkshire, 1886. From Leeds Mercury Supplement by Kidson; reprinted in an article by Roy Palmer in Folk Music Journal - Volume 5, Issues 1-3 - Page 154, 1985.
f. "As I Walked Out" sung by Edmund Fry of Lydford, Devon in 1889. Collected by H. Fleetwood Sheppard and Sabine Baring-Gould. From Sabine Baring-Gould Manuscript Collection (SBG/3/1/348).
g. "On a May Morning so Early," an arrangement with rewritten text as taken down by Mr. Sheppard from Roger Huggins, at Lydford (Dartmoor, Devon), 1892 Baring-Gould, Songs and Ballads of the West.
h. “Seventeen Come Sunday"- collected by W. Percy Merrick from Henry Hills Lodsworth, Sussex in November 1899:
From: The Late Victorian Folksong Revival by E. David Gregory - 2010.
i. "I'm Seventeen Come Sunday." Words and air from Mrs. Lucy White, of Hambridge, 1904. A compilation of text then edited from Folk Songs from Somerset: Gathered and Edited with Pianoforte Accompaniment edited by Cecil James Sharp, Charles Latimer Marson, 1905. The original MS at Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (at Clare College, Cambridge) (CJS2/10/220).
j. "I'm Seventeen Come Sunday." Sung by Mr. William Spearing (Spearman), at Isle Bruers, April, 1904; collected Sharp. From: Journal of the Folk-Song Society, Volume 2 by Folk-Song Society (Great Britain) 1906.
k. "Seventeen Come Sunday," sung by Emma Overd of Langport Somerset on December 22, 1904 collected by Cecil J. Sharp. From Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (at Clare College, Cambridge) (CJS2/9/555).
l. "Seventeen Come Sunday," from the singing of Mr. Fred Atkinson of Redbourne, Kirt on-Lindsey , Lincolnshire, Sept. 3, 1905. From Percy Grainger. Used for his British Folk Song Setting Nr. 8 tune-- words taken down from the singing of Mr. Fred Atkinson.
m. "Seventeen Come Sunday," sung by Amos Ash of Combe Florey, Somerset, May 1905. From: Henry Hammond Manuscript Collection (HAM/2/1/9).
n. "Seventeen Come Sunday," sung by Mrs. Cranstone of Sussex c. 1907, tune transcribed by Mr. Ford. From George Butterworth Manuscript Collection (GB/4/41). Words given by Mrs Cranstone of Billingshurst, Sussex from MS. The text printed in Butterworth's Folk Songs from Sussex, 1912 is heavily rewritten.
o. "Seventeen Come Sunday," sung by James Hiscock of Bartley, Hampshire, 1908. From The Wanton Seed: More English folk songs from the Hammond & Gardiner Collection by Frank Purslow, Henry Edward Denison Hammond, Robert Francis Frederick Hammond - 1969 - p. 137.
p. "Seventeen Come Sunday," sung by William Cole of East Stratton, Hampshire on 23 Mar 1909. Collected by G.B. Gardiner and Charles Gamblin; From George Gardiner Manuscript Collection (GG/1/20/1227).
q. "Seventeen Come Sunday," sung by John Keen of Tursley, Surrey, 1913, From: "Songs from Surrey" by Frederick Keel, Frank Kidson, A. G. Gilchrist, H. E. D. Hammond and Lucy E. Broadwood Journal of the Folk-Song Society, Vol. 6, No. 21 (Nov., 1918), pp. 1-28.
r. "Rudam Day," collected by Alfred Williams (no date, informant) c. 1916. MS in VWML. See text WSRO: 2598/36 Packet 5 - Miscellaneous: Williams, A: MS collection No Mi 697, the text is from the "Seventeen" broadside revision.
s. "As I Walked Out One May Morning," sung by William Hands of Willersey. Learned from a ballet (ballad) singer in Stratford upon Avon selling ballets. (Carpenter 1929-1936).
t. "Where Are You Going To, My Pretty Maid?" sung by Bessie Wallace of Union Street, Camborne, Cornwall, learned from her grandfather. from Carpenter Collection. Probably 3rd revision version, too short to positively identify.
u. "The Field of Barley," sung by Fred Jordan of Shropshire; recorded by Peter Kennedy, 1952. From: Veteran VTD 148CD ('A Shropshire Lad').
v. "Seventeen Come Sunday," sung by Harry Cox, (1885-1971) of Catfield, Norfolk (no date given but recorded first in 1956). From Reg Hall English, Irish & Scottish Folk Music & Customs Collection no date, recorded on "Folk Songs – England" 1956 Peter Kennedy.
w. "The Soldier and the Maid," as sung by A.L. Lloyd in 1956. No source given. From the 1956 Tradition album "The Foggy Dew and Other Traditional English Love Songs" by A.L. Lloyd.
x. "Seventeen Come Sunday," text from 1980 recording by Bill Smith. From (MTCD351) Bill Smith: A country life-- Songs and stories of a Shropshire man.
y. "Flash Gals and Airy Too," sung by Caroline Hughes of Dorset about 1962. From: Travellers' Songs from England and Scotland by Ewan Maccoll, Peggy Seeger, 1971. See also: Sheep-Crook and Black Dog; Musical Traditions Records MTCD365.
z. "Seventeen Come Sunday," sung by Jumbo Brightwell of Eastbridge, Suffolk. Collected by Keith Summers (1971-1977). From recording Veteran VT154CD ('Good Hearted Fellows').
aa. "Seventeen Come Sunday," sung by Robert Brader of Lusby, Lincolnshire, before 1973. From Fred Hamer's "Green Groves" pp.75-76, 1973.
bb. "Sixteen Come Sunday," sung by Jean Orchard of Holsworthy, Devon, in the 1970s. From VT151CD "Holsworthy Fair" 'Songs, Tunes and Stepdances from a Devon Gypsy family’ Tom, Jean and Ashley Orchard.
cc. "Seventeen Come Sunday," sung by Mr. Charlie Potter and Mrs Potter of Horsham, Sussex, c. 1960. From Tony Wales, "We Wunt Be Druv: songs and stories from Sussex," p.38. Also Tony Wales Field Collection tape ST33.
dd. "Seventeen Come Sunday," Sung by Bob Copper of Sussex before 1976. From: Early to rise: a Sussex boyhood - Page 252 by Bob Copper - 1976.
ee. "Seventeen come Sunday," sung by Cornish traveller Charlotte Renals (b. 1902) on VT119CD ‘Catch me if you Can’. From: Cornish traveller Charlotte Renals on VT119CD ‘Catch me if you Can’.
ff. "Seventeen Come Sunday," Walter Pardon of Knapton, Norfolk in 1978. From: Walter Pardon, Put a Bit of Powder on it, Father; recorded about June, 1978.
gg. "Seventeen Come Sunday (How Old Are You, My Fair Pretty Maid?)" sung by Freda Black of Headley, Hampshire in August 2012, collected by Sam Lee. From: Song Collectors Collective website.
H. The North American Tradition (Short texts mostly from revisions) dated late 1700s early 1800s
a. "My Pretty Maid." c. 1850 as contributed by Miss Bessie Bock, Farmington, Marion County; learned from her grandmother, a lady of Scotch-Irish descent, who learned it when a little girl and who would be eighty years old if now living. From Folk Songs of the South- J. H. Cox, 1925.
b. "Sixteen Next Sunday." Sung by Mr. George P. Franklin at Stuart, Va., Aug. 26, 1918; taken from English Folk Songs From the Southern Appalachians by Campbell and Sharp, edited Karpeles, 1932 edition, Sharp A. This odd mixture of British versions has the Scottish archaic ending, with the "moon is shining clearly" stanzas from the first revision. The opening is similar to standard "Seventeen" broadsides and Irish opening. The last two stanza are similarly found in "Waukrife Mammy."
c. "Sixteen Next Sunday." Sung by Mrs. Frances Richards at St. Peter's School, Callaway, Va., Aug. 18, 1918. From English Folk Songs From the Southern Appalachians by Campbell and Sharp, edited Karpeles, 1932 edition, Sharp B.
d. "Sixteen Next Sunday." Sung by Mrs. Lucy Cannady at Endicott, Va., Aug. 22, 1918. from English Folk Songs From the Southern Appalachians by Campbell and Sharp, edited Karpeles, 1932 edition, Sharp C.
e. "Seventeen Come Sunday." Sent in by Mrs. Sutton c. 1919, with the following account of the singer: "Over beyond Sugar Loaf in Henderson County there lives an old man who sings ballits." Brown Collection, version A.
f. "The Modesty Answer." Contributed by Miss Aileen Hatfield, Logan, Logan County, February 3, 1928. From: Traditional Ballads & Folk Songs Mainly from West Virginia- John Harrington Cox- 1939 Edited by George Herzog and Herbert Halpert 1939 and George Boswell, 1964.
g. "Pretty Little Girl" dated c. 1931, from Mrs. Charles Bair, of Paris, Ohio taken from an old MS book, from Ballads and songs from Ohio - page 189 by Mary Olive Eddy - 1939, Version A.
h. "My Sweet Little Honey." From an old MS book of Mrs. S. T. Topper, Ashland, Ohio. From Ballads and songs from Ohio - Page 189-190 by Mary Olive Eddy - 1939, B version.
i. "Way Down Yonder," my title, from Pike county, no informant named. Songs of the Cumberlands by Bess Alice Owens; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 49, No. 193 (Jul. - Sep., 1936), pp. 215-242.
j. "Hi Rinky Dum" sung by Grammy Fish of New Hampshire in 1940-- from Country Dance and Song, No. 9, 1978. Also Warner Traditional American Folk Songs and Flanders recording Track 20a : Hi Rinky Dum (Seventeen Come Sunday) - voice performance by Lena Bourne Fish at E Jaffrey (Nh.). Classification #: LAO17. Dated 11-16-1940.
k. "Where Are You Going, My Pretty Fair Maid?" From a manuscript notebook of Mrs. Harold Glasscock of Raleigh lent to Dr. White in December 1943. Most or all of her songs Mrs. Glasscock learned from her mother. From Brown Collection of NC Folklore, 1952, Volume 3, version A.
l. "Where Are You Going, My Pretty Fair Maid?" Sung by George Edwards (1877-1949) and his cousin "Dick" Edwards about 1948; collected by Cazden. From "Folk Songs of the Catskills," page 482 by Norman Cazden, Herbert Haufrecht, Norman Studer, 1982.
m. "One Sunday Morning." Sung by Susie S. Barlow of Salt Lake City Nov. 28, 1948. Collected by Hubbard. From Hubbard, Ballads and Songs from Utah #74.
n. "I'll Be Seventeen Come Sunday," sung by William Gilkie, Sambro Halifax Co., NS Sept. 19, 1949. From Maritime Folk Songs, Creighton/Peacock, 1961. This is one of several versions with the rare "come and try me" stanza.
o. "Where are You Going?" sung by Doc Watson and Jean Ritchie in 1963, attributed to her father. From a live Folkways recording by Doc Watson & Jean Ritchie titled, "Jean Ritchie and Doc Watson at Folk City (Smithsonian Folkways Recordings)."
p. "I'm Scarce Sixteen Come Sunday," sung by Mrs. R. W. Duncan of Dartsmouth, NS before 1950. From: Traditional Songs from Nova Scotia by Creighton/Senior, pp. 164-165.
q. "My Pretty Maid," sung by Robert L. Risinger of Norman, Oklahoma-- no date give, before c.1950. From Ballads and Folk Songs of the Southwest by Ethel and Chauncey Moore, 1964.
r. "Seventeen Come Sunday," from Howard Leopold Morry [1885-1972] of Ferryland, NL, collected by Kenneth Peacock in 1951, version A-- from Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 1, pp.284-285 by The National Museum of Canada (1965).
I. Children's songs "Whare are ye gaun?" "My Pretty Little Miss" early 1900s
a. "Haliky Daliky," c. 1930 from Folkways, MacColl and Behan, The Singing Streets, 1958; also arranged by Nicholas Marshall (b. 1942). MacColl and Behan, The Singing Streets, no. 19; "A ring game learned in 1957 from Sylvia Rapoport, a 36 year old London housewife who learned it as a child in the Gorbals district of Glasgow."
b. "My Pretty Little Miss" sung by Texas children. From William Owens' 1936 book "Swing and Turn: Texas Play-Party Songs."
c. "Yaddle Laddle (How Old Are You?)," sung by Gant family, Texas published in 1948. From American Folk Songs for Children by Ruth Crawford Seeger - 1948. Collected from the Gant family, a poor Mormon family that lived in the hills outside Austin, Texas.
d. "Whaur Are Ye Gaun, My Bonnie Wee Lass?" No known printed source. From Mudcat Discussion Forum, Scottish children's song, Version A. Collected 1964. Text is not verified, no chorus given.
e. "Whaur Are Ye Gaun, My Bonnie Wee Lass?" Children's rhyme with music from "Till doomsday in the afternoon: the folklore of a family of Scots Travellers, the Stewarts of Blairgowrie" by Ewan MacColl; Peggy Seeger; Publisher: Manchester; Dover, N.H., USA : Manchester University Press, 1986.
J. The Composites (Mostly from the US, also the Ennis Irish composite) mid-1800s, 1900s
a. "New Orleans" dated 1894 as sung by Bertha Hubbard Beard, recorded about 1970s. She was born in 1880 Alexander County, learned from her father. From Youtube recording.
b. "That Blue-Eyed Girl." Sung by Fletch Rymer, a banjo-picker, in "The Beats" near the mouth of Newfound Creek in Buncombe county. From the Brown Collection of NC Folklore, Volume 3 (1952), No. 286. Fly Around, version A.
c. "Sixteen Come Sunday." Remembered by Mrs. Flora McDowell from her youth (c.1905). From: Memory Melodies- A Collection of Folk-Songs from Middle TN- McDowell; 1947. Flora Lassiter born circa 1890, married Lucien McDowell (b. 1884), both are from musical families.
d. "Way Down Yonder" my title, collected by Miss Mary S. Brown of Gatesville, Texas, from Wallace Fogle, a famous play-party singer of Coryell County. From: Round the Levee, page 18 by Stith Thompson, 1916.
e. "Way Down Yonder (Shady Grove)"- From Miss Nancy Trivette, Jonancy (Pike County) Kentucky before 1936. My title, replacing the "Shady Grove" title. From: Songs of the Cumberlands by Bess Alice Owens in The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 49, No. 193 (Jul. - Sep., 1936), pp. 215-242.
f. "Weevily Wheat," from: 'Songs and Stories of Uncle Dave Macon' Uncle Dave Macon c/o of WSM, Nashville Tennessee 1938. Reprinted by the Tennessee Folklore Society. 3 stanzas are from "Seventeen" see also the two "Way Down Yonder" versions.
g. "My Pretty Little Pink," recorded in the Cumberland Mountains by Onelee Brooks, a student in Lincoln Memorial University. From Mellinger Henry: Folk Song from the Southern Highlands, 1938.
h. "Hi Rinky Dum," as sung by Grammy Fish of New Hampshire in 1940. From Country Dance and Song, No. 9, 1978. Also Warner Traditional American Folk Songs and Flanders recording Track 20a : Hi Rinky Dum (Seventeen Come Sunday) - voice performance by Lena Bourne Fish at E Jaffrey (Nh.). Classification #: LAO17. Dated 11-16-1940.
i. "When Cockle Shells Make Silver Bells" (As I Roved Out)- sung by Seamus Ennis of Dublin as recorded on AFS 09961A, 1947. After stanza 4 the stanzas have been taken from "Trooper and the Maid," Child 299.
j. "Rocky Mountain," sung by Rufus Crisp of Allen, KY, about 1953. Collected by RG and posted on Mudcat Discussion Forum.
k. "Where Are You Going?" sung by Maggie Hammons Parker, collected c. 1970 by Wayne Howard From: Memories Of The Hammons Family; PART III: Maggie Hammons Parker.
The Scots Musical Museum, Volume 3, 1790
["Seventeen Come Sunday" is a series of ballads and songs[1] about a mature man or soldier who spies a young "pretty maid" or "bonny lass" and asks her a series of questions to seduce her. One question he asks is "How old are you, my pretty maid/bonnie lass?" to which she replies "I'm seventeen come Sunday." Although her age varies (fifteen/sixteen etc.), this question and answer represents the identifying stanza of these ballads-- hereafter called the "seventeen come Sunday" stanza and also the "How old" (How old are you?) stanza. The identifying stanza is not always present and usually follows the "Where are you going/errand for my mammy" stanza. The "Seventeen Come Sunday" ballads were very popular in The British Isles and also found in North America and Australia. The "seventeen come Sunday" stanza has become a ballad commonplace in the US and is found in a variety of related songs. Two songs that are similar to, or derived from "Seventeen," 9A. I Love my Love (Owre Yon High, High Hill) and 9B. Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss, have been added as appendices.
The earliest record of the "seventeen come Sunday" songs comes from Scotland in the first half the 1700s[2]. My A versions, Aa-An, have a variety of titles but all feature the Waukrife Mammy(Wakeful Mother) who awakens and finds her young daughter in bed with a man. The wakeful mother blows the fire or take a coal from the fire to illuminate the room and tries identify her daughter's lover. He creeps from the bed, pushes her mother away(into the fire) and runs outside where he hides in a field. The mother takes her daughter by the hair to the floor and with a hickory switch (stick) beats her and she is now a "weel-paid dochter" (well-punished daughter). The "seventeen come Sunday" identifying stanza (How old are you?) is present in Ac, Ae and Ag-An. According to Thomas Lyle[3], the Scottish variants of Waukrife Mammy date before Robert Burns time in both Aryshire and Renfrewshire. Since Burns was born in 1759, ascribing a date of c.1750 for Aa, Wakerife Mammy seems to be conservative since Burns and Cunningham both call it "an old song[4]." Lyle indicates in his notes (Ancient Ballads and Songs, 1827) that the famous version, Waukrife Minnie from the pen of Robert Burns (my Ab) and the additional stanzas from Alan Cunningham (my Ad) are both "faulty." Lyle provides no explanation why Burns and Cunningham stanzas are "faulty" although several of Burns's stanzas are amended. Lyle names no informants and his version would seem to be an arrangement of standard stanzas sung "chiefly from tradition." Aa is given now in full from Ancient Ballads and Songs: Chiefly from Tradition, Manuscripts, and Scarce Works (edited by Thomas Lyle):
THE WAKERIFE MAMMY.
1. As I gaed o'er the Highland hills,
I met a bonnie lassie;
Wha' look'd at me, and I at her,
And O but she was saucy.
2. Whare are ye gaun, my bonnie lass,
Whare are ye gaun, my lammy;
Right saucily she answer'd me,
An errand to my mammy.
3. An' whare live ye, my bonnie lass,
Whare do ye won, my lammy;
Right modestly she answer'd me,
In a wee cot wi' my mammy.
4. Will ye tak' me to your wee house,
I'm far frae hame, my lammy;
Wi' a leer o' her eye, she answer'd me,
I darna for my mammy.
5. But I fore up the glen at e'en,
To see this bonnie lassie;
And lang before the gray morn cam',
She wasna' half sae saucie.
6. O weary fa' the wakerife cock,
An' the fumart lay his crawing;
He wauken'd the auld wife frae her rest,
A wee blink or the dawing.
7. Wha straught began to blaw the coal,
To see gif she could ken me;
But I crap out from whare I lay,
And took the fields to skreen me.
8. She took her by the hair o' the head,
As frae the spence she brought her,
An' wi' a gude green hazel wand,
She's made her a weel paid dochter.
9. Now fare thee weel, my bonnie lass,
An fare thee weel, my lammy,
Tho' thou has a gay, an' a weel-far't face,
Yet thou has a wakerife mammy.
Following are Lyle's notes which are given in full[5]: "The 'Wakerife mammy,' is here noted down with some trifling corrections, from the west country set of the Ballad, where its day of popularity amongst the peasantry, was equal, at least, with that of the foregoing one. Burns says that he picked up a version of it from a country girl's singing in Nithsdale, and that he never either met with the song or the air to which it is sung elsewhere in Scotland. We marvel not a little at this, after considering how very common the Ballad has been over the shires of Ayr and Renfrew, both before and since the Poet's day; so common, indeed, is it still, that we have had some demurings about inserting it here at all. The air is a very pretty one, with two lines of a nonsensical chorus, sung after each stanza, which certainly merits other verses to be adapted for it, when like many other wanderers of the day, it then might again be received into favour. Burns's copy, in Johnston's Museum, differs a good deal from the foregoing one, besides wanting the commencing stanza. Cunningham's set of words in the second volume of his 'Songs of Scotland,' is equally faulty."
In Aa, the "Wakerife Mammy" the action is described in first person by a gentleman[6] who meets a bonny lass as he's going over the Highland hills. He then poses a number of questions to the lass including two of the fundamental questions: 1) Where are you going? 2) Where do you live? 3) How old are you? That evening he goes to her mammy's house, quietly enters and gets in bed with the lass-- noting that after their lovemaking she "wasn't half as saucy." The cock crows arousing her wakeful mother who enters the room and blows on the coals of the fire (or takes a coal from the fire) to see if she knows her daughter's lover. He creeps out of the bed, pushes her mammy towards (into) the fire and runs outside where the fields hide him. The mother takes the daughter by the hair to the floor and with a hickory switch makes her a well-punished (well beaten) daughter. In Ac and Al her daughter begs her mammy to "hold her hand" and stop the beating, pointing out her mammy had done the same thing before. From the field her lover bids her "fare-thee-well" saying she has a fair face but a wakeful mother.
Although Lyle presumes that his version (Aa) is a correct version, it is missing several stanzas, most importantly the "How old are you" stanza known as the "seventeen come Sunday" stanza. Whether the "seventeen come Sunday" stanza is part of the ur-ballad[7] or was added later is a matter of speculation. Since its existence is confirmed by Ac (1795), Ae, and Ag-Am, it would be safe to presume that it is an original stanza[8]. Other questions such as "Will you take a man?" may have been added by singers and ballad writers because by 1795, a hackneyed print version (Ac) appeared that included both questions[9]. Also missing in Lyle's "correct" version is a standard short chorus which by the mid-1800s included the chorus variant, "with a rolling eye."
In the early versions of Waukrife Mammy there's no indication that her lover is a soldier yet by the mid-1800s the "Soldier Will you marry me?" stanza has been attached (see: "My Rolling Eye," Ford, c. 1850). The addition of the soldier comes from the first extant revision usually titled "Maid and Soldier" (see B, covered later)-- showing a mixture of A and B.
The only duplication in the A versions is a nearly identical version to Lyle's Aa which is my Af, "The Waukrife Mammy," dated 1830 from a Scottish chapbook (no publisher given) printed in Falkirk from the chapbook, "Two Old Songs- The Perjured Maid, The Waukrife Mammy (view at http://digital.tcl.sc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/rbc/id/2273/rec/2). The circa 1830 date (it's also dated 1840 at the same site) indicates it has probably been reprinted from Lyle's 1827 version.
Ab, is the famous version from Robert Burns who gave the source as "a country girl in Nithsdale." The identity of the "country girl" is revealed in Cromek's "Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song," 1810, which has a song, "Oh who is this under my window," that was also taken from the same informant. The first half of the headnote is:
This old song is taken down from the singing of Martha Crosbie, from whose recitation Burns wrote down the song of "The Waukrife Minnie."
According to Cunningham, Martha Crosbie also entertained young Alan Cunningham at his father's house[10]. Although Cunningham does not mention her as Burns' source in 1825, he says, "I have heard it often sung in my youth, and sung with curious and numerous variations." Cunningham adds "I believe it to be a very old song."
According to Cunningham[11], Burns text was reworked by the Bard: "I am of opinion, nevertheless, that a large portion of it is the work of Burns himself. That several of the verses have been amended by him I have not the least doubt. It may gratify some to know that he lessened the indelicacy without impairing the wit of the song."
Cunningham's allegation that Burn expurgated the ballad because of its content is probably not accurate. The ballad, which is about the seduction of a young lass has always been regarded as somewhat bawdy and Burns stanzas are also. It's clear that Burns took down the stanzas he heard and edited them-- but not to expurgate them. However, aside from the the obvious bawdy nature of a ballad about the seduction of a young virgin by an older man whose mother wakes and finds them in bed-- explicit bawdy details about the sex act itself are not found-- they are only implied. When James Reeves included a version of Seventeen Come Sunday in his 1958 book, The Idiom of the People, he speculated, “The original of this song, whatever it was, shocked all other editors, from the eighteenth century onwards.” It now seems with 15 versions of A to consider (Aa-An) that the original is known. With the title of Ac is "The Lassie Lost Her Maidenhead a' for Her Waukrif Mammie" (the lass lost her virginity despite her wakeful mother), it's clear that the Edinburgh publisher was not concerned about the appearance of impropriety. It is true, however, that Patrick Weston Joyce, Baring-Gould and Cecil Sharp changed or edited their published texts.
Here is Burns' text[12] taken from Martha Crosbie, a carder and spinner of wool from Nithsdale, circa 1788. His brief comment on the ballad follows:
I PICKED up this old song and tune from a country girl in Nithsdale. I never met with it elsewhere in Scotland:
A Waukrife Minnie
1. Whare are you gaun, my bonnie lass?
Whare are you gaun, my hinnie?
She answered me right saucilie—
An errand for my minnie.
2. O, whare live ye, my bonnie lass?
O, where live ye, my hinnie?
By yon burn-side, gin ye maun ken,
In a wee house wi' my minnie.
3. But I foor up the glen at e'en,
To see my bonnie lassie;
And lang before the grey morn cam'
She was na hauf sae saucie.
4. O, weary fa’ the waukrife cock,
And the foumart lay his crawin'!
He waukened the auld wife frae her sleep,
A wee blink or the dawin.
5. An angry wife I wat she raise,
And o'er the bed she brought her;
And with a mickle hazel rung
She made her a weel-payed dochter.
6. O, fare thee weel, my bonnie lass,
O, fare thee weel, my hinnie:
Thou art a gay and a bonnie lass,
But thou hast a waukrife minnie.
This is a simple translation which may help the reader, not versed in Scot dialect, to better understand the text. "Mammy" is obviously "mother" and "bonnie" is "pretty":
1. "Where are you going, my bonnie lass?
Where are you going, my honey?"
She answered me right saucily: -
"An errand for my mammy."
2. "O, where live you, my bonnie lass?
O, where live you, my honey?"
"By yon stream side, if you must know,
In a little house with my mammy."
3. But I went up the glen at evening,
To see my bonnie lassie,
And long before the grey morn came,
She was not half so saucy."
4. "O, woe befall the wakeful cock,
And the polecat stop his crowing!
He awakened the old woman from her sleep,
A little bit before the dawning."
5. An angry wife I know she rose,
And out of the bed she brought her,
And with a large hazel switch,
She made her a well-punished daughter.
6. "O, fare-thee-well, my bonnie lass!
O, fare-thee-well, my honey!
You are a gay and a bonnie lass,
But you have a wakeful mammy!"
The text from Burns when compared to Lyle's text shows that Burns, in fact, didn't do many revisions (see Cunningham's comments above). Line 3 of stanza 2, and lines 1 and 2 of stanza 5 appear to be the recreations-- just 3 lines out of 24. Burns' version is incomplete having 6 stanzas compared to the 9 stanzas given by Lyle and the 11 stanzas found in the 1795 print. Stanzas 3 and 4 do not correspond to the majority of versions but are corroborated by Lyle. The possibility that Lyle added stanzas to Burns version exists but considering Lyle's notes on his version and his corrections of several of Burns stanzas-- this is doubtful. In 1825 two additional stanzas, my Ad, were given by Alan Cunningham, supposedly from tradition[13] in "The Songs of Scotland, Ancient and Modern" Volume 2, p. 244-245. One of the stanzas with slight variation appears first in Select Scottish Songs, Ancient and Modern, Volume 2 by Robert Hartley Cromek, 1810. Whether Cromek's stanza is originally from Cunningham is unknown. Here's Cromek's stanza:
The peasantry have a verse superior to some of those recovered by Burns, which is worthy of notice.—Ed [Cromek]
O though thy hair was gowden weft,
An' thy lips o' dropping hinnie,
Thou hast gotten the clog that winna cling
For a' you're waukrife minnie."
Here are the two stanzas given by Cunningham, the first is corroborated by Lyle's version:
I have heard it often sung in my youth, and sung with curious and numerous variations. One verse contained a lively image of maternal solicitude, and of the lover's impudence and presence of mind. The cock had crowed, and
Up banged the wife to blow the coal,
To see gif she could ken me—
I dang the auld wife in the fire,
And gaur'd my feet defend me.
Another verse, the concluding one, made the lover sing as he went down the glen—
O though thy hair were hanks o' gowd,
And thy lips o' dropping hinnie;
Thou hast got the clod that winna cling,
For a' thy wakerife minnie.
The supposed last stanza (it's clear the "Fare Thee Well stanza should be last) has the rare expression "clod/clog that winna cling" which translates[14] literally to "bread that will not shrink" but refers to her pregnancy and a fetus that will not shrink but grow larger. In Crawfurd's version it's "clog that winna cling" which agrees with Cromek.
The first extant version of Waukrife Mammy that included the important "How old are you?" stanza is my Ac, "The Lassie Lost Her Maidenhead a' for Her Waukrif Mammie" dated 1795 (Edinburgh?) published in "Four Excellent New Songs: The Lassie Lost Her Maidenhead a' for Her Waukrif Mammie. Johnie Cope. Rinorden, Or The Mountains High The General Toast. Entered and Licenced." It's also the first extant print version and being 11 stanzas long, it supplies a few missing stanzas.
Whether the "How old are you?" identifying stanza was added from an earlier version and when it originated is unknown. It's simply part of the series of questions used to seduce the bonnie lass. Here is the text in full- I've supplied a few editorial emendations in brackets.
The Lassie Lost Her Maidenhead a' for Her Waukrif Mammie.
1. As I went o'er the Highland hills,
I met a bonnie lassie;
She looked at me, and I at her,
And vow[15] but she was saucy.
To my rou tou fal dee lal, &c
2. Where are you going, my bonny lass?
Where are you going, my honey?
Right modestly she answer'd me,
An errand for my mammie.
To my rou tou fal dee lal, &c
3. What is your age, my bonny lass?
What is your age, my honey?
Right modestly she answer'd me,
I'm fifteen years come Sunday.
To my rou tou fal dee lal, &c[16]
4. Will you take a man, my bonny lass?
Will you take a man, my honey?
Right modestly she answer'd me,
I dare not for my mammie.
5. Where do you live, my bonnie lass?
Where do you live, my honey?
Right modestly she answer'd me,
In a wie[wee] house wi' my mammie.
6. I went into my love's chamber,
To see if she was wauking,
But we had not spoke a word or to [two]
Till her mother heard us talking.
7. Then she began to blaw the coal,
To see if she could ken me;
But I creeped out at the bed-foot,
And took the fields to screen me.
8. Then she took her by the hair of the head,
And to the floor she brought her,
And with a good green hazel rung,
She made her a well paid daughter.
9. O haul your hand, mother she says
You're liek for to devour me;
For I would never have done the like,
If you had not done't[17] before me.
10. Blink o'er the burn, my bonny lass,
Blink o'er the burn, my honey,
For you've got the clod that will not cling,
In spite of your waulkrif mammie.
11. So fare thee well, my bonnie lass,
So fare thee well, my honey,
For I would come and see you again,
Weren't for your wakerif mammy.
With my rou tou fal dam dail,
All, all de to my tou.
The earliest extant appearance of the identifying stanza in print is found in this 1795 version that probably was printed in Edinburgh (two sources have: Edinburgh?) It sent to me by Steve Gardham[18]. The Scottish dialect has been tempered and there's a second chorus for the last stanza which may have been used throughout. In this version the lass is just fourteen but will be fifteen on Sunday. The obvious rewriting found in this version points to an older unknown print. Since Thomas Lyle is certain that "Waukrife Mammy" dates before Burns time (1750s) it's likely that a missing print version from the late 1600s or early 1700s may be found someday.
The following early Scottish version, Ae, is a validation of Ac (the 1795 print), except it was taken from tradition in Lochwinioch Scotland by Andrew Crawfurd about 1829. Titled, "The Well Pay't Dochter (The Well-Punished Daughter)," it was transcribed by Emily Lyle from Andrew Crawfurd's Collection. Crawfurd, a disabled doctor and avid ballad collector, was born in 1786 and died in 1854. It's written in heavy dialect and "rinkand" (wakened) is used for "waukrife" (wakeful); "well pay't dochter" is "well-punished daughter." Compare Crawfurd's 10 stanzas to the 1795 print's 11 stanzas.
The Well Pay't Dochter- collected in Lochwinioch Scotland from William Orr, dated c.1829; from Andrew Crawfurd's Collection of Ballads and Songs: edited E. B. Lyle; Edinburgh: Scottish Text Society, 1975
1.As I gade o'er the Hieland hills,
I met a bonnie lassie;
She lookit at me, and I at her,
And vow but she was saucie.
2. Whar are you gaun, my bonnie lass
Where are you going, my hinnie
Richt scornfullie she anserit me,
An eirrand for my mannie.
3. What is thy aige, my bonnie lass,
What is thy aige, my hinnie,
Richt scornfullie she anserit me,
I am fyftein cum Sunday.
4. Whar do thou lieve, my bonnie lass
Whar do thou lieve, my hinnie
Richt scornfullie she anserit me,
In a wee house wi' my minnie.
5. Will tu tak a man, my bonnie lass
Will tu tak a man, my hinnie
Richt scornfullie she anserit me,
I daurna not for my minnie.
6. As I gade into my love's roum,
To see if my love was waukand,
Her minnie was blawand the fyre
For she hard us taukand.
7. Then she began to blaw the ingle [coal],
To see if she wad ken me;
But I creipit out at the bed-fit [feet],
And to the woods to screin me.
8. She teuk her by the hair of the heid,
And unto the flore she brocht her,
And wi a gode hazel rung,
She's made her a well pay't dochter.
9. Blink owr the burn, my bonnie lass,
Blink owr the burn, my hinnie,
Thou's gat the clog that winna cling,
In spyte o thy rinkan minnie.
10 It's fare thou weil, my bonnie lass,
Fare thou weil, my hinnie,
It's I wad cum and see thee again,
Weren't for your rinkand minnie.
This early version of "Waukrife Mammy" is titled after the chorus. It's dated about 1850. From "Vagabond Songs and Ballads of Scotland; With Many Old and Familiar Melodies" edited by Robert Ford, 1899. Notice that the lassie's lover is a soldier (sodger)-- an important detail found in many later versions. Here's the text-- Ford's notes follow:
MY ROLLING EYE. [c.1850]
As I gaed up yon Hieland hill,
I met a bonnie lassie,
She looked at me and I at her,
And oh, but she was saucy.
CHORUS With my rolling eye,
Fal the diddle eye,
Rolling eye, dum derry,
With my rolling eye.
"Where are you going, my bonnie lass?
Where are you going, my lammie?"
Right modestly she answered me?
"An errand to my mammie."
With my rolling eye, etc.
"Where do you live, my bonnie lass?
Where do you won, my lammie?"
Right modestly she answered me?
"In a wee house wi' my mammie."
With my rolling eye, etc.
"What is your name, my bonnie lass?
What is your name, my lammie?"
Right modestly she answered me?
"My name is Bonnie Annie."
With my rolling eye, etc.
"How old are you, my bonnie lass?
How old are you, my lammie?"
Rightly modestly she answered me?
"I'm sixteen years come Sunday."
With my rolling eye, etc.
"Where do you sleep, my bonnie lass?
Where do you sleep, my lammie?"
Right modestly she answered me?
"In a wee bed near my mammie."
With my rolling eye, etc.
"If I should come to your board-end
When the moon is shining clearly,
Will you rise and let me in
That the auld wife mayna hear me?"
With my rolling eye, etc.
"If you will come to my bower door
When the moon is shining clearly,
I will rise and lat you in,
And the auld wife winna hear ye."
With my rolling eye, etc.
When I gaed up to her bower door,
I found my lassie wauken,
But lang before the grey morn cam',
The auld wife heard us talkin'
With my rolling eye, etc.
It's weary fa' the waukrife cock
May the foumart lay his crawing,
He wauken'd the auld wife frae her sleep,
A wee blink ere the dawing.
With my rolling eye, etc.
She gaed to the fire to blaw the coal,
To see if she would ken me,
But I dang the auld runt in the fire,
And bade my heels defend me.
With my rolling eye, etc.
"Oh, sodger, you maun marry me,
And now's the time or never;
Oh, sodger, you maun marry me,
Or I am done for ever."
With my rolling eye, etc.
"Blink ower the burn, my bonnie lass,
Blink ower the burn, my lammie,
Ye are a sweet and kindly queen,
For a' yer waukrife minnie."
With my rolling eye,
Fal the diddle eye,
Rolling eye, dum derry,
With my rolling eye.
There are many people living who vividly remember an odd character known as "Rolling Eye " or "Singing Sandy," who from forty to fifty years ago regularly visited the villages of Perthshire and Fifeshire in the capacity of an itinerant musician, and sang only this song. It was customary for Sandy (his real name, I believe, was Alexander Smith, and he hailed originally from Freuchie) in the summer months to have his hat profusely adorned with gay-coloured ribbons and natural flowers. His antics, too, when singing were particularly lively and attractive, and a tremendous slap on the thigh with his hand always, as he started the chorus, was the signal for those standing about to join in. Wherever he went he was followed by a crowd of delighted children, for whose attachment he had the utmost esteem.
Ford's version dated c. 1850 has the standard "sixteen come Sunday" stanza and shows the evolution toward the modern versions with the line, "When the moon is shining clearly," found in the later print versions and in the different ballad Trooper and the Maid (Child 299). The introduction of the soldier as well as the line, "When the moon is shining clearly," indicates revisions in the 1800s included textual elements from Trooper and the Maid. In the later Irish versions some composites are found.
Whether "My Rolling Eye" has been expurgated by Ford is unknown but "runt" found in the line, "But I dang the auld runt in the fire," seems to have been. A number of versions use "rolling" or "roving" eye and the chorus has also been attached to a different ballad, "The Overgate" (see: Jeannie Robertson's version). The following 8 versions of Waukrife Mammy extend the ballad from the mid 1800s to the mid 1900s. Because this study will not cover every version only the titles and sources are now given:
h. "As I Gaed O'er yon Hech, Hech Hill," sung by Bell Roberston (1841-1922) of New Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire. The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection, version L. Collected in c.1906 but much older, dated c.1860.
i. "As I Came Our[O'er] yon High, High Hill," sung by Mrs. Margaret Gillespie (1841-1910) later of Glasgow. The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection, version B, collected by Rev. Duncan from his sister in the early 1900s, dated c.1870 but older.
j. "I'm Seventeen 'gin Sunday" from Ballycastle District, published Oct. 9, 1926, Henry A.
k. "Bonnie Lassie," sung c. 1930 by William Still of Waterside, Cuminestown, Scotland (Carpenter Collection 1929-1935).
l. "Weel Paid Dochter," sung by William Farquhar of Brownhill, Bruxie Scotland about 1929 from the James Madison Carpenter Collection, JMC/1/11/165, Disc Side 159, 01:43
m. "Blink O'er the Burn," sung by Alexander Troup (1851-1939), Damside, Foudland, by Insch, Aberdeenshire Scotland c. 1929; Carpenter Collection.
n. "Sixteen Come Sunday," dated 1955, sung by Norman Kennedy of Aberdeenshire. Recording "Sixteen Come Sunday," Ballads & Songs of Scotland, 1968 by Sandy Paton of Folk Legacy. Text from Cliff Haslam: Songs and Ballads of Pub, Sea and Shore.
o. "Ma Rovin' Eye," sung by the Scottish folk group Ossian and recorded in Edinburgh in 1976. This version, presumably traditional, is from the North East of Scotland. From School of Scottish Studies.
Traces of text from Waukrife Mammy (usually the stanza with the mother beating her daughter as a punishment) are found in other versions including two from the United States[19], and several from Ireland[20]. The "fare-thee-well" stanza (last stanza) has been adapted in the US as the play-party song, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss." For more information and identifiers see The Scottish Tradition (below).
The Scottish "Waukrife Mammy" perhaps because of its bawdy theme was rewritten by the late 1700s and early 1800s. The sanitized versions shift the story line to a soldier but retain some of the fundamental original questions.
* * * *
J. Catnach, broadside, c. 1820
The second form of "Seventeen Come Sunday," my B, a sanitized print revision, dates to the late 1700s and early 1800s. The earliest extant print version printed in Scotland about 1800 is titled, "Lady and the Soldier." Subsequent prints in England with complete texts were titled "Maid and Soldier" so "Maid and Soldier" is the master title of B. This revision pre-dates the popular "Seventeen Come Sunday" revision of the mid-1800s (c.1840 to c.1880). Printed in Scotland and England, the "Maid and soldier" revision appears to be made to eliminate the details of the sexual tryst and wakeful mother.
The earliest extant print, dated circa 1800, was a chapbook printed by J. Morren (Edinburgh) "Three Songs: LODGINGS for Single GENTLEMEN, Young Man's Frolic, The Lady and Soldier." Here is the text:
The Lady and Soldier.
1. AS I did walk along the street,
I was my father's darling,
There I spied a pretty maid,
Just as the sun was rising.
With my rulal, la.
2. Where are you going my pretty maid,
Where are you going my honey?
She answer'd me right modestly,
Of an errand for my mammy.
3. Will you marry me, my bonny lass?
Will you marry me, my honey?
With all my heart kind sir, said she,
But dare not for my mammy.
4. Come ye but to my father's house.
When the moon shines bright and clearly,
And I will rise and let you in,
And my mammy she won't hear me.
5. I have a wife, she is my own,
And how can I disdain her.
And every town that I go through,
A girl if I can find her.
6. I'll go to-bed quite late at night,
Rise early the next morning,
The buglehorn is my delight,
And the hautboy [oboe] is my darling.
7. Of sketches I have got enough,
And money in my pocket,
And what care I for any one,
It's of the girls I've got it.
With my rulal, la.
FINIS
This version is missing several important stanzas, the "How old are you" stanza and also stanzas after 4 but shows the modern revision form (no wakeful mother), albeit a confused story line. Memorable is the last line in the 6th stanza:
And the hautboy [oboe] is my darling.
In tradition this line has been changed. Also unusual is the use of the word "sketches" in the last stanza which appears to be slang for "plans" but its use has not been duplicated in a traditional version or similar ballad. A number of educated guesses have been made which range from "sketches" being slang for "scenes" meaning "plans" to guesses that "sketches" represents a physical object or denomination of money (see Gardham's notes in Wanton Seed).
These lines[21] from "Maid and Soldier" are similarly found in Trooper and the Maid:
Come ye but to my father's house,
When the moon shines bright and clearly,
The Trooper and the Maid (Child 299) is a different Scottish song with a similar theme and this seems to be the only common text. That the "moon shines bright and clearly" and soldier (trooper) stanzas appear in both suggests that the originator of B, a print revision, borrowed these textual elements from Trooper and the Maid. The "Maid and Soldier" broadsides reflect this new association-- a soldier replaces her unidentified lover. These textual changes persist in the later "Seventeen Come Sunday" revision found in print and tradition. I'm not suggesting that the "Trooper and the Maid" and "Seventeen" are the same. Suggestions that they are the same, perhaps precipitated by Ennis's version, "As I Roved Out," and A.L. Lloyd's notes[22], have caused confusion. The "soldier" and "clearly" changes seems to have been added to the "Waukrife Mammy" text by the late 1700s and early 1800s, which is about the time "Maid and Soldier" was first printed[23]. The "Maid and Soldier" revision, my B, has as identifiers-- the soldier stanza, the "shoes are black" stanza and the "moon shines bright and clearly" stanza(s). Ba (see text above), dated c.1800, is missing the soldier stanza but the title (Lady and the Soldier) shows that the soldier stanza was left off and that Ba was taken from an earlier missing version of B. The story line of B has drastically changed and the opening, the stanzas with "waukrife mammy" and the ending have been eliminated. The "waukrife mammy" has been replaced by "mammy" or "mommie." The Scottish versions of B have retained the Waukrife Mammy opening stanza.
Bb, "Maid and Soldier" printed in London at 115 Long Alley by Thomas Batchelar about 1820 is a longer version of Ba, with a slight variation of the chorus:
Maid and Soldier
1. As I did walk along the street,
I was my father’s darling,
A pretty maid there I did meet
Just as the sun was rising.
With my row de dow.
2. Her shoes were black her stocking white,
The buckles were of silver,
She had a black and rolling eye,
Her hair hung down her shoulders.
3. Where are you going my pretty maid
Where are you going my honey?
She answer’d me right cheerfully,
Of an errand for my mammy.
4. How old are you, my pretty maid?
How old are you, my honey?"
She answered me right cheerfully:
"I'm seventeen come Sunday."
5. Will you marry me, my pretty maid?
Will you marry me, my honey?
With all my heart, kind sir, she said ,
But dare not for my mammy.
6. Come you but to my mammy’s house.
When the moon shines bright and clearly,
I will rise and let you in,
My mammy shall not hear me.
7. Oh! soldier, will you marry me?
Now is your time or never,
And if you do not marry me,
I am undone forever.
8. I have a wife and she is my own,
How can I disdain her,
And every town that I go thro',
A girl if I can find her.
9. I’ll go to bed quite late at night,
Rise early the next morning,
The buglehorn is my delight,
And the oboy [oboe] is my darling.
10. Of sketches I have got enough,
And money in my pocket,
And what care I for any one,
It's of the girls I’ve got it.
This is the complete known B text and some text from B has been changed in tradition. Stanzas 9 and 10 have undergone the most change in tradition: the oboe (hautboy; oboy) is gone, replaced by a bottle of rum and the last stanza with "sketches" must have not been understood by tradsingers and that stanza was eliminated. B remains as the important first revision and its identifiers show its presence in tradition both in the UK and North America. B also was incorporated into versions of A which is evident in the text of Ford's "My Rolling Eye" and the later versions of Waukrife Mammy. By the mid-1800s versions of A have textual changes from B.
The introduction of the Soldier replacing the lover and the line, "When the moon shines bright and clearly" show that the "Maid and Soldier" revision that was created to sanitize the bawdy Scottish text and removed the "waukrife mammy" has borrowed from Trooper and the Maid. Further evidence is supplied with the addition of stanza 7[24]:
7. Oh! soldier, will you marry me?
Now is your time or never,
And if you do not marry me,
I am undone forever.
The parallel but different ballad, Trooper and the Maid, became a small part of the "Seventeen" ballads with the first revision. It would not be until the mid-1900s with Seamus Ennis version that the two different texts would be blended.
* * * *
The Soldier and the Fair Maid broadside, my C, of which there are at least two extant different printings is a 3rd specific form and is my second revision. It is a rewrite of B, "Maid and Soldier" and has the same opening as the Seventeen Come Sunday broadsides. I've dated the The Soldier and the Fair Maid broadside as late 1830s and this broadside perhaps predates the Seventeen Come Sunday broadsides. The text below has a different ending stanza and is missing one line (in brackets). It can be regarded as intermediate version between "Maid and Soldier" and "Seventeen Come Sunday" although both were created about the same time. "Soldier and the Fair Maid" was mentioned in Cox's (Folk Songs of the South, 1925) notes.
Soldier and the Fair Maid. (broadside text; Yorkshire, later, Dickinson of York, dated late 1830s)
As I walked out one May morning,
Just as the day was dawning,
There I espied a pretty fair maid,
Just as the sun was rising,
With my row, dow, dow.
Where are you going my pretty maid,
Where are you going my honey?
She answered me right cheerfully,
An errand for my mammy.
Her shoes were black, her stockings white,
[Her buckles shone like silver,]
She had a black and rolling eye,
And her hair hung over her shoulder.
Will you marry me, my pretty fair maid,
Will you marry me, my honey?
She answered me right cheerfully,
I dare not for my mammy.
How old are you my pretty fair maid,
How old are you my honey,
She answered me right cheerfully,
I am seventeen come Sunday.
Will you come to my mammy's house,
When the moon shines bright and clearly,
I'll come down and let you in,
And my mammy shall not hear me.
I went down to her mammy's house,
When the moon shone bright and clearly,
And she came down and let me in,
And her mammy never heard me.
Come soldier will you marry me?
For now is your time or never,
For if you will not marry me,
I am undone for ever.
No lassie I will not marry,
For all thy father's treasure,
For every town I pass through,
I will have a fresh lass if I can gain her.
This revision, C, eliminates the last stanzas of B which were lost in tradition and expands the 8th. Two traditional versions have been recovered that are related to C (see: Amos Ash and later Bob Holt). The last stanza is also found in tradition bu reworded.
* * * *
My D, "Seventeen Come Sunday," crafted by a broadside writer around 1840, is a 4th form, a revision of B. Maid and Soldier or perhaps C. Soldier and the Fair Maid. This is the standard "Seventeen" form with the "Seventeen Come Sunday" title and a "happy" ending. This happy ending, where the maid stays with her soldier lad at the battle lines, is varied-- the last line sometimes is changed to: "And a merry man in the morning" (see Such broadside). Here's the standard English text from J. Paul and Co., Printers, 2 & 3, Monmouth Court, Seven Dials, dated between 1838-1845:
SEVENTEEN COME SUNDAY. (standard broadside text)
As I walked out one May morning,
One May morning so early,
I overtook a handsome maid,
Just as the sun was rising,
With my ru, rum, ra.
Her stockings white, her shoes were bright,
Her buckles shined like silver,
She had a black and a rolling eye,
And her hair hung over her shoulder.
Where are you going my pretty maid,
Where are you going my honey?
She answered me right cheerfully,
An errand for my mammy.
How old are you my pretty maid,
How old are you my honey,
She answered me right modestly,
I'm seventeen come Sunday.
Will you take a man my pretty maid,
Will you take a man my honey?
She answered me right cheerfully,
I dare not for my mammy.
If you will come to my mammy's house,
When the moon shines bright and clearly,
I'll come down and let you in,
My mammy shall not hear you.
I went down to her mammy's house,
When the moon so bright was shining,
She came down and let me in,
And I lay in her arms till morning.
Soldier will you marry me?
For now is your time or never,
For if you do not marry me,
I am undone for ever.
Now I am with my soldier lad,
Where the wars they are alarming,
A drum and fife are my delight,
And a pint of rum in the morning.
Most of the traditional English versions from the late 1800s and early 1900s adhere to this broadside text with little variation. The alternate ending line, "And a merry man in the morning," is standard in many traditional versions.
The Tradition (Overview)
The traditional versions are based on, or similar, the four main forms A-D. The Scottish "Waulkrife Mammy" ballad descent is archaic and dates back at least to the first half of the 1700s and possibly earlier. Whether A originated in print is unknown but an early missing Scottish print is likely[25]. The first extant print of A, is Ac, "The Lassie Lost Her Maidenhead a' for Her Waukrif Mammie," dated 1795. A sanitized revision, B "Maid and Soldier (Lady and Soldier)" which dates back to the late 1700s in Scotland and the early 1800s in England, introduced new stanzas and changed the story line. By the 1830s another print revision, C, was made titled "Soldier and The Fair Maid" and about the same time the popular revision, D, "Seventeen Come Sunday" was issued and widely reprinted until the 1880s.
The English descent begins with "Maid and Soldier" and continues with the two reprints of the 1830s, "Soldier and The Fair Maid" and the popular broadside, "Seventeen Come Sunday." The English tradtional versions are similar to or based on the print versions of "Seventeen," the third revision (c.1840).
The Irish descent runs parallel to the Scottish. Although there is anecdotal evidence[26] (Joyce remembers it in his childhood) that "Waukrife Mammy" was known in Ireland during early 1800s, no early versions have survived. In Scotland the opening stanza of Waukrife Mammy had been combined with the "Maid and Soldier" by circa 1800. The earliest extant Irish versions collected by Sam Henry in the early 1900s show the popular opening stanza from Waukrife and the text from Maid and Soldier were part of tradition. Henry A, collected in 1926, is classified as a version of Waukrife and has the "well-beat daughter" stanza. The associations that started with "Maid and Soldier" borrowing from the "Trooper and the Maid" continued and by the mid-1900s "As I Roved Out" (originally titled, "When Cockle Shells Make Silver Bells"), a composite with Trooper and the Maid, was recorded by Seamus Ennis of Dublin in 1947. This important composite helped spawn a series of related cover songs and propelled "As I Roved Out" into the UK folk mainstream. The fact that the title "As I Roved Out" represented by Ennis' song, was used for Peter Kennedy and Seamus Ennis' regular Sunday morning BBS Radio Programme broadcast six years in the 1950s added to the song's popularity. The other important traditional Irish "As I Roved Out" title was first recorded by Sarah Makem for Jean Ritchie in 1952. The Makem family's longer version[27] was popularized by Tommy Makem, Clancy Brothers and later by Joe Heaney and Len Graham. The problem with the "As I Roved Out" title is that it is the same beginning text found in any number of different songs and is a ballad commonplace.
In North America the "Seventeen Come Sunday" ballads are a mixture of the basic forms and full versions of the forms are rarely found. Broadsides and print versions were not made and the versions appear to have been disseminated by immigrants and over time have been reduced or new stanzas have been added. There are only two versions that are from the older Scottish Waukrife Mammy tradition (Sharp A and Eddy B) and these are missing the details. In the US "Seventeen come Sunday" is usually "sixteen next Sunday" and "bonny lassie" is "pretty little miss." This identifying stanza (How old are you) is frequently combined with stanzas from other songs to form new composites.
The Scottish Tradition ("Waukrife Mammy," "My Rolling Eye," "As I Gaed O'er yon High, High Hill")
Reports of the history of this ballad, including those from the late 1700s, indicate that the ballad is "old." How old is a matter of conjecture and a date of the early 1700s seems to be appropriate, although the ballad may be older in Scotland-- originating in the 1600s. Burns collected a version from Martha Crosbie about 1788, who Burns doesn't identify but calls a country girl from Nithsdale. Her identity is revealed by Cromek in his 1810 book, Select Scottish Songs, Ancient and Modern, Volume 2. Burns gave Johnson a copy about 1790 and he is probably the transcriber of the melody found in Johnson's Musical Museum, Volume 3, No. 188. Cromek printed Burns stanzas in Select Scottish Songs and supplied an additional ending stanza[28] from tradition that Burns was missing. In 1825 Alan Cunningham gave two stanzas supposedly from tradition in his "The Songs of Scotland, Ancient and Modern" Volume 2, p. 244-245. His ending stanza is the same as Cromek's with slight variation. That ending stanza is the "clod/clog that winna (will not) cling" stanza which means that as a result of her dalliance with her young man-- she is now pregnant. Cunningham alleged that Burns had reworked his stanzas but upon examination it appears that only 4 lines have been recreated by Burns. The stanzas of Burns version was confirmed by Thomas Lyle who published a longer version titled "Wakerife Mammy" in his 1827 book "Ancient Ballads and Songs: Chiefly from Tradition, Manuscripts, and Scarce Works." Lyle's version is apparently taken from tradition but he gives no informants. His inclusion of text similar to Burns is suspicious for Lyle calls both Burns and Cunningham's stanzas "faulty[29]." Lyle's text was printed in a Falkirk chapbook[30] about 1830 which presumably was taken from Lyle[31] and reprinted (see that edition online). The identifying stanza "How old are you (Seventeen Come Sunday)" is missing showing that the versions by Burns, Cunningham, Lyle and the Falkirk chapbook were all "faulty."
The first print dated 1795 that was thought to have been published in Edinburgh[32] is titled "The Lassie Lost Her Maidenhead a' for Her Waukrif Mammie." That revealing title which translates-- "The Lassie lost her virginity in spite of her wakeful mother"-- was published in a chapbook titled: "Four Excellent New Songs: The Lassie Lost Her Maidenhead a' for Her Waukrif Mammie. Johnie Cope. Rinorden, Or The Mountains High The General Toast. Entered and Licenced." The 1795 print although poorly rewritten in a jumble of inconsistent Scottish slang has the full stanzas and includes the fundamental missing "How old are you" stanza. This along with several complete or nearly complete versions taken from tradition show that the ur-ballad (original complete ballad) was about 11 stanzas long and was probably printed earlier but is missing. Fortunately there are 14 different versions of Waukrife Mammy and one duplicate (version Af). Four versions are taken from the James Madison Carpenter Collection and the single Irish representative is from Sam Henry.
Four important traditional version of A were collected after the version printed in Lyle's 1827 book:
1) "The Well Pay't Dochter," was collected in Lochwinioch, Scotland from William Orr about c.1829 and appears in Andrew Crawfurd's Collection of Ballads and Songs: edited E. B. Lyle; Edinburgh: Scottish Text Society, 1975. Written in heavy Scotch brogue, Orr's version is only lacking one stanza and has "rinkand" (wakened) instead of "waukrife" (wakeful).
2) "As I Gaed O'er yon Hech, Hech Hill," was recited by Bell Roberston (1841-1922) of New Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire and collected by Gavin Greig about 1906. It appears in The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection as version L. This version is much older and has possibly been passed down to Bell from her grandmother Isobel Stephen which would date this to the late 1700s in Strichen.
3) "As I Came Our[O'er] yon High, High Hill," sung by Mrs. Margaret Gillespie (1841-1910) later of Glasgow. The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection, version B, collected by Rev. Duncan from his sister in the early 1900s, dated c.1870 but older.
4) "My Rolling Eye" dated c. 1850. Taken from Alexander Smith of Perthshire by Robert Ford. Published in Vagabond Songs and Ballads of Scotland: With Many Old and Familiar Melodies edited by Robert Ford, 1899.
The fourth version by Alexander Smith shows the mixture of the late 1700s broadside rewrite, "Maid and Soldier." The new text includes the "Her shoes were black" stanza, the soldier as lover, and the line "When the moon is shining clearly." The last two changes are similarly found in Child 299, Trooper and the Maid. It's evident that stanzas of B. "Maid and Soldier" started becoming used in versions of Waukrife Mammy in the early to mid-1800s. The opening stanza of Waukrife Mammy was used for these newer versions of "Maid and soldier." Gone is the waukrife mammy who is now just "mammy" and the episode with her daughter's new lover has been replaced by core stanzas of "Maid and Soldier" which appear similarly in the other revisions. Before the other new revisions are considered, the following identifiers for Waulrife Mammy are given:
Waukrife Mammy Identifiers (11 stanzas)
(opening) "As I gaed o'er the Highland hills" or "high, high hill[s]"
"waukrife" (wakeful) or "rinkand" (wakened)
"Where are ye gaun, my bonnnie lass?"
"What is yer name, my bonnie lass?
"What is yer age, my bonnie lass?
"Where do ye dwell (bide), my bonnie lass?
Will ye hae(take) a man my bonnie lass?
Will I come and see ye, my bonnie lass?
"O weary fa' the wakerife cock"
"clod/clog that winna (will not) cling"
"Well-paid dochter (daughter)
(ending) "Fare thee weel, my bonnie lass,"
Although some of the questions remain consistent, the story dynamic line of "Waukrife Mammy" is lost in the "Maid and Soldier" and the later revisions. The ending in the revisions is poorly sanitized: the cock does not crow too early and wake the mother; her mother does not enter the room and blow on the coals of the fire to illuminate the face of her daughter's lover to see if she can recognize him; her lover does not slip out of bed and run to the fields to hide; her mother does not take her daughter by the hair to the floor and spank her with a green hazel switch so that she was a well-punished daughter; she does not look over the hill because she has gotten pregnant despite her wakeful mother; he does not bid her farewell and tell her that he would come to see her again if not for her wakeful mother.
In the revision endings the poetry is gone, her lover is now a soldier. He comes to her house, then the action skips to the soldier leaving while the maid insists that he marry her. Both the endings in the revisions are wanting: 1) in the "Maid and Soldier" he's already married but is a rambler who has a girl in every town 2) she is with her soldier lad while he's fighting the wars.
* * * *
Later Scottish Tradition
The later Scottish tradition texts use the Waukrife Mammy opening stanza followed by the questions (Where are ye gaun? etc), then comes stanzas from Maid and Soldier used in the rendezvous at the maid's house. Although most of the questions are the same in the later Scottish versions, one question, "What is yer name?" (which she gives as "Bonnie Annie"), is different and was either missing from earliest versions or has been added in the 1800s. The ending, an invitation for the soldier to visit her, is a mixture of the revisions and not part of the early "Waukrife Mammy" tradition. An example of a composite with the later tradition is "My Rolling Eye" which has elements of both traditions and includes the "soldier" (sodger) and the "When the moon shines bright and clearly" line. "Rolling Eye" is a title named for the chorus of nonsense syllables that follow each stanza which begins, "With my rolling eye." The later tradition of "Rolling Eye" is exemplified by "Wi Ma Rovin Eye" a North Scotland version by Ossian, a well-known Scottish folk band. In Willie Mathieson's "Rollin' Eye" the "Waukrife Mammy" stanzas are gone. Duncan Williamson's "My Rolling Eye" does not have the "Waukrife Mammy" text and shows a connection to many of the US versions with the lines:
She wink-ed at me with a "tee-lee-lee,"
I'll be sixteen next Monday.
The later tradition includes many of the versions in The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection from the early 1900s. Their master title is "Soldier Lad." The following version collected by Rev. Duncan about 1906 is related to the revision, "Maid and Soldier."
"As I Went Owre Yon High, High Hill," from Mrs. Grieg, Greig-Duncan D
1. As I went owre yon high, high hill,
I met a bonnie lassie;
She looked at me and I to her,
And oh, but she seemed saucy.
Wi' my too rin in a, a reedle a,
Fal de dae ral i do, wi' my too rin an' a.
2. Faur are ye gaun, my bonnie, bonnie lass,
Faur are ye gaun, my honey,
Right modestly she answered me,
An' erran' to my mammie.
3. Faur is your hame, my bonnie, bonnie lass,
Faur is your hame, my honey?
Right modestly she answered me,
In a wee hoose wi'my mammie.
4. Will ye gang wi' me, my bonnie, bonnie lass,
Will ye gang wi' me, my honey?"
Right modestly she answered him,
I durna for my mammie.
5. Now sodger ye maun marry me,
Now's the time or never,
Sodger ye maun marry me,
Or I am done for ever."
6. I have a wife in my ain countree,
An' how could I abuse her,
I have a lass in every place
An' a girlie when I choose her.
The ending is clearly "Maid and Soldier" however the last two stanzas of Maid and Soldier" (with "hautboy is my delight") are not found in Scottish tradition and rarely in the English[33]. Besides the Grieg Duncan Collection, the Carpenter Collection has a number of excellent Scottish texts of the later tradition. Their master title is "Bonnie Lassie." The version "As I Gaed Up Yon Hich, Hich Hill," sung by Leslie Durno of Insch was learned from George Doe, a peddler, old Scottish Soldier in 1873. It is a good example of the "Waukrife" opening followed by stanzas of "Maid and Soldier." The ending two stanzas of "Maid" are usually gone and the 8th stanza has been expanded.
In general, versions of later Scottish tradition keep the opening stanza from the "Waulkrife" ballads then use stanzas from Soldier and the Maid. Scottish examples from the early 1950s-1970s may be heard online at the School of Scottish Studies.
* * * *
The Irish Tradition
Although corroborating evidence is lacking, the Irish Tradition appears to parallel the Scottish and may be nearly as old. In his 1873 book, "Ancient Irish Music: comprising one hundred Airs hitherto unpublished. . .", Patrick Weston Joyce (1827-1914) commented: "I cannot tell when I learned the air and words of this song, for I have known them as long as my memory can reach back. Some portions of the old song are spirited and well adapted to the air; others are very rude and worthless. . .". The song text he gives, which is completely rewritten and titled "I'm Going to Be Married on Sunday," only includes this trace of the "Seventeen" ballad: "I’m sixteen years old on next Sunday!” If we assume the song Joyce knew when he was young was a version of "Seventeen," that dates it to the 1830s in Ireland.
The earliest extant version, "I'm Seventeen 'gin Sunday" from Ballycastle District (published Oct. 9, 1926 by Sam Henry) has two stanzas from "Waukrife Mammy" and is classified as a version of A, although it also has stanzas from "Maid and Soldier." The "shoes and stockings" stanza and the two "And the moon was shining clearly" stanzas are found in the early revision, "Maid and Soldier." Here's the text from Sam Henry's Songs of the People edited by Gale Huntington, Lani Herrmann:
"I'm Seventeen 'gin Sunday" from Ballycastle District, published Oct. 9, 1926.
'Where are you going, my bonnie wee lass?
Where are you going, my honey?'
Right modestly she answered me,
'An errand for my mammy.'
CHORUS: With my roor-ri-ra, Fond a doo a da,
With my roo ri ranta mirandy.
'What's your age, my bonnie wee lass,
What's your age, my honey?'
Right modestly she answered me,
'I'm seventeen 'gin Sunday.'
'Would you tak' a man, my bonnie wee lass?
Would you tak' a man, my honey?'
Right modestly she answered me,
'If it wasny for my mammy.
She had new shoes and stockin's too,
And her buckles shone like silver,
She had a dark and rolling eye,
And her hair hanging over her shoulders.
'If I would go doon to your wee hoose,
And the moon was shining clearly,
Would you open the do[o]r and let me in,
If the oul' wife widna hear me?'
I gaed doon to her wee hoose,
And the moon was shining clearly,
She opened the do[o]r and let me in,
And the oul' wife didna hear me.
Canny slippin' aff my boots
In case that oul' thrush wid ken me,
But by my feth I wasn't long in
Till the oul' wife heard us talkin'.
Canny slippin' doon the stairs,
By the hair o' the heed she caught her
And with a great big hazel stick
She left her a well-bate daughter.
Throwing in the stool tae the fire
In case that oul' thrush wid ken me,
But by my feth I had tae tak'
The green fields tae defend me.
Come over the burn, my bonnie wee lass,
Come over the burn, my honey,
Till I get a kiss o' your sweet lips
To spite your aul', aul' mammy.
This second version from Sam Henry starts off with the archaic Scottish opening and follows with the more modern stanzas of the "Seventeen Come Sunday" broadsides of the mid 1800s.
"As I Gaed ower a Whinny Knowe," sung by Andy Allen of Bridge Cottage, Coleraine; published Feb 4, 1939.
As I went ower a whinny knowe
I met a bonny lassie,
She laughed at me, I winked at her,
and oh, but I was sassie.
Wi my ru rum ra, far an ta a na,
[W]hack fal tar an addy.
Her shoes were black, her stockings white,
her buckles shone like silver,
She had a dark and rolling eye
and her hair hung ower her shoulder.
'Oh, where are you going, my bonny wee lass?
Oh, where are you going, my honey?'
Right modestly she answered me,
'Gaun a message for my mammy.'
'What is your age, my bonny wee lass?
What is your age, my honey?
Right cheerfully she answered me,
'I'll be seventeen come come Sunday.'
'Would you give me a kiss, my bonny wee lass?
Would you give me a kiss, my bonny?'
Right bashfully she answered me,
'I dare not for my mammy.'
'Oh, where do you live, my bonny wee lass?
Oh, where do you live, my honey?
Right joyfully she answered me,
'In a wee house wi' my mammy. '
So I went down to her wee house,
the moon was shining clearly;
I rapped upon her window pane
and the old wife didna hear me.
'Oh, open the door, my bonny wee lass,
come open the door, my honey,
And I will give you a kiss or two,
in spite of your old mammy. '
'Oh, soldier, would you marry me?
For now's your time or never.
For if you do not marry me ,
my heart is broke for ever.'
So now she is the soldier's wife
and sails across the brine-o,
The drum and fife is my delight,
and a merry heart is mine-o.
This second version mirrors the new Scottish tradition and is evidence that the third revision (Seventeen Come Sunday) was current in Ireland. As no Irish broadsides have been recovered, it may be assume that at least some were printed or the Scottish "Waukrife" prints managed to effect tradition. By the early to mid-1900s a new version appeared that was composite with Trooper and the Maid.
In 1947 a first version of this modern Irish tradition titled, "As I Roved Out," was recorded by Seamus Ennis of Dublin. His new composite also titled "When Cockle Shells Make Silver Bells" combined "Trooper and the Maid" with "Seventeen"--the first stanzas were "Seventeen" while the last stanzas were "Trooper and the Maid." This important composite helped spawn a series of related cover songs and propelled "As I Roved Out" into the UK folk mainstream. The fact that the title "As I Roved Out" came to represent not only Ennis' song but was the name of a BBS Radio Programme of Irish folk music, was instrumental in propelling the song info the folk mainstream where it was covered by a number of folk musicians (see cover by Isla Cameron). The regular Sunday morning radio show was hosted by Peter Kennedy and Seamus Ennis for six years in the 1950s. The other important traditional Irish "As I Roved Out" composite was recorded by Sarah Makem for Jean Ritchie in 1952. Although Makem only sang two stanzas for Ritchie, the Makem family's longer 8 stanza version was transcribed by her great-grand-daughter, Stéphanie Makem[34]. This longer version was popularized by Tommy Makem, Clancy Brothers and later arranged by Joe Heaney-- the latter performer had an elaborate arrangement with two melodies and choruses (incorporating both the popular "As I Roved Out" versions). The title "As I Roved Out" has been used for any number of different songs and is a ballad commonplace.
Seanmus Ennis recorded two versions; "When Cockle Shells Make Silver Bells" in 1947 and around 1951 recorded a short five stanza versions title "As I Roved Out," which is "Seventeen" with the "When Cockle Shells" ending. The complete "When Cockle Shells Make Silver Bells" text was retitled "As I Roved Out" when published by Peter Kennedy in 1951.
"When cockle shells make silver bells" (As I Roved Out)- sung by Seamus Ennis of Dublin as recorded on AFS 09961A, 1947. Stanzas follow the form of stanza 1 with chorus. Paul Clayton did a cover of this version in 1957.
1 As I roved out one bright May morning
One May morning early,
As I roved out one bright May morning
One May morning early
I met a maid upon the way
She was her mama's darling
CHORUS: With me roo-rum-re. Fal-the-diddle-ra,
Star-vee-upple, al-the-di-dee, do
2. Her shoes were black and her stockin's white
And her hair shines like the silver
She has two nice bright sparkling eyes
And her hair hangs o'er her shoulder.
3 "What age are you, my pretty fair maid?
What age are you, my darling?"
She answered me quite modestly,
"I'm sixteen years next Monday morning."
4 "And will you come to my Mama's house?
The moon shines bright and clearly
O, open the door, and let me in
And Dada will not hear us."
5 She took me by the lily-white hand
And led me to the table,
There's plenty of wine for soldiers here
As far as they can take it.
6. She took my horse by the bridle rein,
And led him to the stable
There's plenty of hay for a soldier's horse
As far as they are able.
7. And she went up and dressed the bed
And dressed it soft and easy
And I went up to tuck her in
Crying: "Lassie, are you comfortable?"
8. I slept in the house till the break of day
And in the morning early
I got up and put on my shoes
Crying: "Lassie, I must leave you!"
9 "And when till you return again,
Or when till we get married?"
"When cockle shells make silver bells
That's the time we'll marry."
Here's the second version which is shorter and closer to "Seventeen":
As I Roved Out- sung by Seamus Ennis, Dublin c. 1951; recorded by Alan Lomax
As I roved out one bright May morning,
On a May morning early,
As I roved out one bright May morning,
On a May morning early,
I met a maid upon the way,
She was her mama's darling.
Chorus: With me rule-rum-rah, fa-la-diddle-da,
Shall be diddle all the day-dee-do.
Her shoes were black and her stockings white,
And her hair shines like the silver;
Her shoes were black and her stockings white,
And her hair shines like the silver;
She has two nice bright sparking eyes,
And her hair hangs o'er her shoulders.
Chorus
"What age are you, my pretty fair maid?
What age are you, my darling?
"What age are you, my pretty fair maid?
What age are you, my darling?
She answered me quite modestly,
"I'm sixteen years next Monday morning."
Chorus
"Will you come to my Mama's house,
The moon shines bright and clearly?
Will you come to my Mama's house,
The moon shines bright and clearly?
Oh, open the door and let me in,
And Dada will not hear us."
Chorus
"When will you return again,
Or when will we get married?
When will you return again,
Or when will we get married?"
"When cockle shells make silver bells
That's the time we'll marry."
Chorus
Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXSbxe-FHEQ
Ennis version has the "She was her mama's darling" line from "Maid and Soldier." An excellent cover was made by Scottish singer Isla Cameron and other artists. A new variant, titled "Night Visit" (also "As I Roved Out") by Christy Moore was apparently created from Ennis' version-- it begins slightly differently:
And who are you, my pretty fair maid,
And who are you my honey?
Oh, who are you, my pretty fair maid,
And who are you my honey?
She answered me right modestly:
I am my mommy's darlin'.
With me toor-I-ah, fol-de-diddle-dah,
Die-ree, fol-de-diddle-dare-I-O.
The remaining of the text, somewhat mangled, closely follows Ennis' text which includes the stanzas from Trooper and the maid. Moore and Planxty also do a different song titled "As I Roved Out" which is probably why Moore titled his version "Night Visit."
The other influential traditional recording titled "As I Roved out" was Jean Ritchie's recording of Sara Makem in 1952. Irish traditional singer Sarah Makem was born October 18, 1900 and died 20 April 1983. She was a native of Keady, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Sarah was the wife of fiddler Peter Makem, mother of musicians Tommy Makem and Jack Makem, and grandmother of musicians Shane Makem, Conor Makem and Rory Makem. Sarah Makem and her cousin, Annie Jane Kelly, were members of the Singing Greenes of Keady[35]. Here's the two stanza version which has the corruption in the first stanza of "early" rhyming with "early" instead of the Scot, "saucy":
"As I Roved Out" sung by Sarah Makem as recorded by Jean Ritchie, November 1952
As I roved out on a May morning
On a May morning right early
I met my love upon the way
Oh, Lord but she was early.
Chorus:
And she sang lilt-a-doodle, lilt-a-doodle, lilt-a-doodle-dee,
And she hi-di-lan-di-dee, and she hi-di-lan-di-dee and she lan--day.
Her boots were black and her stockings white
Her buckles shone like silver
She had a dark and a rollin' eye
And her ear-rings tipped her shoulder.
Chorus:
And she sang lilt-a-doodle, lilt-a-doodle, lilt-a-doodle-dee,
And she hi-di-lan-di-dee, and she hi-di-lan-di-dee and she lan--day.
Irish folklorist Sean O'Boyle from Armagh brought Jean and her husband, George Picklow, to meet Sarah in Keady. After the recording Jean believed Sarah (about 52 years old) only knew those two stanzas[36]. Ritchie later recorded her father's version of "Seventeen" with Doc Watson. Sarah's 1956 version also had two stanzas and it seems likely that family and musical friends added stanzas to create the following complete version--although the stanzas are attributed to Sarah by her great-granddaughter[37]:
As I Roved Out - Makem family long version
As I roved out on a May morning
On a May morning right early
I met my love upon the way
Oh, Lord but she was early.
Chorus:
And she sang lilt-a-doodle, lilt-a-doodle, lilt-a-doodle-dee,
And she hi-di-lan-di-dee, and she hi-di-lan-di-dee and she lan-day.
2. Her boots were black and her stockings white
Her buckles shone like silver
She had a dark and a rolling eye
And her ear-rings tipped her shoulder.
3. "What age are you my bonny wee lass
What age are you my honey?"
Right modestly she answered me
"I'll be seventeen on Sunday."
4. "Where do you live my bonny wee lass
Where do you live my honey?"
"In a wee house up on the top of the hill
And I live there with my mammy."
5. "If I went to the house on the top of the hill
When the moon was shining clearly
Would you arise and let me in
And your mammy not to hear you?"
6. I went to the house on the top of the hill
When the moon was shining dearly
She arose to let me in
But her mammy chanced to hear her.
7. She caught her by the hair of the head
And down to the room she brought her
And with the butt of a hazel twig
She was the well-beat daughter
8. "Will you marry me now my soldier lad
Will you marry me now or never?
Will you marry me now my soldier lad
For you see I'm done forever"
9. "I can't marry you my bonny wee lass
I can't marry you my honey
For I have got a wife at home
And how could I disown her?"
An additional ending stanza was added by Tommy Makem to the family version.
10. A pint at night is my delight
And a gallon in the morning
The old women are my heart break
But the young ones is my darling.
Tommy's last stanza is a reworking of the popular broadside ending of Seventeen come Sunday. The "hazel twig" stanza (7th) is from the Waukrife tradition while stanzas 3-6 and 7-8 are from the Maid and Soldier revision. Dozens of cover's have been made of the Makem version. David Hammond (on "I Am The Wee Falorie Man," 1958) recorded a cover version of the two stanza fragment of Sarah Makem. The great Northern Irish singer Len Graham, and a singer from the border, County Louth, Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin recorded a version of the long Makem/Clancy version as well as The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem and The Woods Band. Joe Heaney's arrangement of the Makem family's "As I Roved Out" is combined with Ennis' "As I Roved Out" which became one of his signature songs in concert. "The Night Visit (As I Roved Out)" by Irish musician Christy Moore is a variant of Ennis' version that came from a secondary tradition.
This brief Irish study concludes with a version collected from Mary Delaney who learned it in the 1940s from County Tipperary traveller, ‘Snap’ Cash. It's from the recording From Puck to Appleby: Songs and stories from Jim Carroll's and Pat Mackenzie's recordings of Irish Travellers in England:
New Ross Town- from Irish traveller Mary Delaney, learned about 1944.
For, as I went out on a moonlight night
As the moon shined bright and clearly,
When a New Ross girl I chanced to meet,
She looks at me surprising;
We had a roo ry rah, fol the diddle ah,
Roo ry, roo ry, roo ry rah.
"Oh, will I go, my dear," he says,
"Or will I go my honey?"
Nice and gay she answered me,
"Go down and ask me mammy."
We’ll have roo ry rah, fol the diddle ah,
Roo ry rah she was a tome old hag.
Oh, I went down to her mammy’s house
When the moon shined bright and clearly,
She opened the door and let me in
And her mammy never heard us;
We had ...
"Oh, soldier dear, will you marry me
For now is your time or ever,
Oh, Holy God, will you marry me?
If you don’t and I’m ruined for ever;"
With my ...
"You are too young, my dear," he says,
"You are too young, my honey."
"For if you think I am too young,
Go down and ask me mammy;"
We’ll have ...
"How old are you, my dear," he says,
"How old are you, my honey?"
Nice and gay she answered me,
"Gone seventeen since Sunday."
With my ...
"Now I have a wife and a comely wife,
And a wife, I won’t forsake her,
There’s ne’er a town I would walk down
Where I’d get one if I take her."
With my roo ry rah, fol the diddle ah,
Roo ry rah you are a tome old hag.
Delaney's version obviously is not related to either of the popular "As I Roved Out" versions but is from the tradition of the first revision, Maid and Soldier.
* * * *
The English Tradition
The English descent comes first from "The Maid and Soldier" broadside, a revision made in the late 1700s in Scotland. Three separate printings of the were made c. 1820s in London and Birmingham. About ten years later a different revision titled "Soldier and The Fair Maid" was printed with a different opening and ending. Only two different "Soldier and The Fair Maid" broadsides from Yorkshire and Pocklington have survived. About the same time or shortly thereafter the standard "Seventeen Come Sunday" titled broadsides began to be printed with the same opening stanza (beginning "As I walked out one May morning") as the "Soldier and The Fair Maid." The ending which is sometimes varied slightly is different.
Bob Hart, from East Sussex, was born in 1892 at Sotherton, a village near Halesworth. The following version sung about 1969 is from the recording Bob Hart - A Broadside (MT CD 301-2). This version was probably learned in the early 1900s and is curious because it begins similarly to the Irish version by the Makems:
Seventeen Come Sunday
As I strolled out one May morning,
One May morning so early,
I met a dark and a handsome maid
And, me goodness, she was early--
Chorus: With her rue-dum-dah, whack-fol-lah
Whack-fol-the-riddle-iddle-li-ido
Her shoes were black, her stockings white,
And her buckles shone like silver.
She had a dark and a handsome eye,
And her hair hung down to her shoulders [Chorus]
How old are you, my fair pretty maid,
How old are you, my honey?
She answered me, so cheerfully,
"Oh, I'm seventeen come Sunday [Chorus]
"Could you love me, my pretty fair maid?
Could you love me, me honey?"
She answered me, quite tearfully,
"Oh, I can't because of Mummy [Chorus]
"But if you come to me mother's house
When the moon is shining brightly,
I will come down and let you in,
And Mother shall not hear me [Chorus]
So I went to her mother's house
When the moon was shining brightly.
She did come down and let me in,
And I stayed with her 'til the morning [Chorus]
She said "Young man, will you marry me?"
I said "Oh no, me honey.
For the fife and drum is my delight
And I'm happy as a soldier." [Chorus]
The "early" (fourth line, first stanza) originally was probably "saucy/sassy." It appears to be most closely related to the broadsides, "Maid and Soldier" and "Soldier and the Fair Maid," which has an abbreviated ending. Versions related to "Soldier and the Maid" are rare in England. Aside from Hart's and the version by Amos Ash most of the English texts are based on or similar to The Seventeen broadsides which were widely printed and influenced tradition. This next version was collected by Percy Grainger, a pianist and composer, who collected ballads and folk songs in England during the early 1900s. Grainger collected a number of versions and this was perhaps his best-- it was used for his British Folk Song Setting Nr. 8 tune:
SEVENTEEN COME SUNDAY- from the singing of Mr. Fred Atkinson of Redbourne, Kirt on-Lindsey, Lincolnshire, Sept. 3, 1905
As I rose up one May morning,
One May morning so early,
I overtook a pretty, fair maid
Just as the sun was dawning
CHORUS: With my rue rum ray,
Fother diddle ay,
Wok fol air diddle i-do.
Her stockings white, and her boots were bright
And her buckling shone like silver;
She had a dark and a rolling eye
And her hair hung round her shoulder.
"Where are you going, my pretty, fair maid,
Where are you going, my honey?"
She answered me right cheerfully
"I've an errand for my mummy."
"How old are you, my pretty, fair maid
How old are you, my honey?"
She answered me right cheerfully
"I am seventeen come Sunday."
"Will you take a man, my sweet pretty maid
Will you take a man, my honey?"
She answered me right cheerfully
"I darst not for my mummy."
"Will you come down to my mummy's house
When the moon is shining clearly?"
If you come down, I'll let you in
And me mummy shall not hear me."
I went down to her mummy's house
When the moon shone bright and clearly?
She did come down, and let me in
And I lay in her arms till morning.
"Oh, it's now I am with my soldier lad,
His ways they are so winning.
The drum and fife are my delight
And a pint o' rum in the morning."
This version from Lincolnshire sticks closely to the "Seventeen Come Sunday" broadsides of the 1840s-1880s which helped popularize the ballad. Although it was frequently sung and collected in the late 1800s and early 1900s, a large number of melodies were collected where only a single stanza of text was bothered to be taken down or no text was written down at all. The text was either considered promiscuous or simply commonplace as based on printed broadsides. Certain prominent English collectors including Baring-Gould, Sharp, Hammond, and Kidson left most of the text off. In some of the versions they published the text was recreated or edited. Baring-Gould and his associates in Devon collected at least five versions but only one complete text is found in his MS. The text he published in 1892[38] was complete rewritten. Sharp collected at least 20 versions in England and a number in the US. Over a dozen melodies in Sharp's collection have no text or a single stanza. The version[39] he published in 1905 attributed to Lucy White, was in actuality a composite of collected texts, then edited. Composers Vaughan Williams, Butterworth and Grainger all collected versions with Grainger bagging nearly a dozen. These texts too were rarely complete. Because the ballad was considered bawdy and commonplace many good texts may have been missed. The ones that are extant in England are closely aligned to the Seventeen Come Sunday broadsides.
* * * *
The North American Tradition
The North American tradition is varied and the "How old are you?' stanza and the "Fare thee well" stanza have become attached to other songs. The "Fare thee well" stanza has been adapted and become "Fly Around, my Pretty Little Miss" a play-party song and fiddle tune. Standard versions of "Seventeen" have been collected but most are short or fragments. The early song notes by authors such as Cox (Folk Songs of the South, 1925) and the Brown Collection (Belden and Hudson) associated "Seventeen" with "The Milkmaid" an entirely different courting song with a similar opening line (Where are you going, my pretty maid).
"Seventeen" has been collected in the US & Canada in a wide geographical area but has shown little of the popularity found in the UK. Only traces of the early Scottish form (Waukrife Mammy) have been found (see Sharp A and Eddy B). In North America the ballad is based mainly on the reductions, "Maid and Soldier" and the later reduction "Seventeen Come Sunday." Many of the North American versions are so short, missing critical stanzas, that an identification is impossible. This is the case in earliest extant US version which I've dated c.1850. It appears in Cox's "Folk Songs of the South," 1925:
"Seventeen Come Sunday." Contributed by Miss Bessie Bock, Farmington, Marion County; learned from her grandmother, a lady of Scotch-Irish descent, who learned it when a little girl and who would be eighty years old if now living.
1 "O where are you going, my pretty maid?
O where are you going, my honey? "
She answered me so modestly,
"An errand for my mommie."
2 "How old are you, my pretty maid?
How old are you, my honey? "
She answered me so modestly,
"I'm seventeen come Sunday."
3 "0 where do you live, my pretty maid?
O where do you live, my honey?"
She answered me so modestly,
"In a wee, wee cot with my mommie."
4 "Will you marry me, my pretty maid?
Will you marry me, my honey? "
She answered me so modestly,
"If it weren't for my mommie."
These core stanzas of "Seventeen" are missing both the opening and ending stanzas used for identification. The ballad may date to the late 1700s in North America when it was brought here by settlers but it was not printed and in general has lost its form. There are at least two US versions that are related to the older Scottish Waukrife Mammy tradition. The following version is No. 127, I'm Seventeen Come Sunday in English Folk Songs From the Southern Appalachians by Campbell and Sharp, edited Karpeles, 1932 edition. I've titled this "Sixteen Next Sunday" since "sixteen" is the age found in that and many older US versions. This text has the Scottish archaic ending, with the "moon is shining clearly" stanzas from the first revision, "Maid and Soldier." The opening is similar to standard "Seventeen" broadsides. The "She answered me, te hee hee hee" line is common in America but apparently has its roots in Scotland (see Duncan Williamson's version).
Sixteen Next Sunday- Sung by Mr. GEORGE P. FRANKLIN at Stuart, Va., Aug. 26, 1918. Hexatonic (no 7th)-- Sharp A
1. As I walked out one morning in May
Just as the day was dawning,
There I spied a pretty little Miss
So early in the morning.
Te loo - rey, loo - rey, loo - rey loo,
Te loo - rey, loo - rey Ian dy.
2 Where are you going, my pretty little Miss?
Where are you going, my honey?
She answered me, te hee hee hee,
I'm looking for my mummy.
3 How old are you, my pretty little Miss?
How old are you, my honey?
She answered me, te hee hee hee,
I'll be sixteen next Sunday."
4 If I come to your house to-night,
And the moon is shining clearly,
Will you arise and let me in,
If your mammy does not hear me?
5 I went to her house that night,
The moon was shining clearly;
She arose and let me in,
But her mammy she did hear me.
6 She took her by the hair of the head,
And to the floor she brought her,
And by the help of a hazel rod,
She made one wilful daughter.
7 So fare you well, my pretty little Miss,
So fare you well, my honey.
It's all I want to know of you,
You've got one darned old mummy.
Curiously all of Sharp's versions were collected in an area of Virginia that was featured in George Foss's article (short book), From White Hall to Bacon Hollow (http://www.klein-shiflett.com/shifletfamily/HHI/GeorgeFoss/whall.html). Versions of "Seventeen" have been found in the Appalachians, New England and Maritime Canada and have migrated west to Ohio, Illinois and the Ozarks. The ballad in its pure form (as related to the main British forms) is rare in North America. The following old version is from "Folk Songs of the Catskills," page 482 by Norman Cazden, Herbert Haufrecht, Norman Studer, 1982. This is a fairly complete version related to the first revision "Maid and Soldier" with several changes. It was collected from George Edwards (1877-1949) and his cousin "Dick" Edwards. George was one of Cazden's most important informants. My brief bio follows:
George Edwards was born March 31, 1877 in Hasbrouck, a small place on the Neversink River. George's father, Jehila "Pat" Edwards was a scoopmaker by trade but worked as an unskilled laborer. Pat loved liquor and would sing in bars for free drinks. He died in 1927. George's mother Mary Lockwood was the stable influence in his life. She was a singer, mostly of hymns. She died in 1925. George's cousins were Charles Hinckley and "Dick" Edwards, both singers.
"Where Are You Going, My Pretty Fair Maid?" Sung by George Edwards (1877-1949) and his cousin "Dick" Edwards about 1948; collected by Cazden.
1. Where are you going, my pretty fair maid,
And where are you going my honey
she answered me most modestly,
I'm on an errant for my Granny."
REFRAIN: With my rosy diddler dow, fal de diddle dow,
Whack! the dooey diddle die doe -dow.
2. May I go along, my pretty fair maid
May I go along, my honey?
she answered me most modestly,
I durst not for my Granny.
3. "You come along to my Granny's house
Whne hte wind blows keen and fairly,
I will arise and I'll let you in
My granny will not hear me.
4. Then I went to her Granny's house
When the wind blew keen and fairly;
She arose and let me in.
And her Granny did not hear me. (Refrain)
5. One day I met the pretty fair maid:
"It's cold and stormy weather."
She answered me most modestly,
"I am ondone forever!" (Refrain)
6. Now I have a wife in fair London town,
And why should I disclaim her?
[But] every town that I go in.
Get a girl if I can gain her. (Refrain)
7. Oh, come all you pretty fair maids,
Rises early Monday morning:
The bugle horn is my delight
And the sailor is her darling.(Refrain)
In the US there's a wide assortment of uses of the "Seventeen come Sunday" stanzas including several songs which use floating verses that are based on, or originated from "Seventeen Comes Sunday." Particularly popular is the "How old are you" stanza and another stanza which seems to be derived from the Scottish ending stanza which begins, "Fare thee well my bonnie lass." It has been adapted in the US and has become "Fare you well, my pretty little miss" and then "Fly around my pretty little miss." The "Fly Around" versions are mixed with stanzas from other songs and have become fiddle tunes, dance songs or play-party songs. The following titles are associated with these hybrids:
Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss
Fare You Well, my Blue-Eyed Girl (Justus Begley/ Rufus Crisp)
Fly Around, My Blue-Eyed Girl (Brown Collection)
Pretty Little Miss
Little Betty Ann (Sharp EFSSA)
Shady Grove (tune/lyrics)
Daisy
Cedar Creek or, Swing a Lady
How Old Are You My Pretty Little Miss?
Wheevily Wheat (floating title, Lomax, Stith Thompson)
New Orleans (Bertha Beard, NC)
An adaption of the Scottish "Fare thee well" verse is found in The Skillet Lickers' "Fly Around" version on Old-Time Fiddle Tunes and Songs from North Georgia' County CD-3509:
Fare you well my pretty little miss,
Fare you well my honey.
If I'm not there by the middle of the week,
You can look for me on Sunday.
It's clearly taken from "Seventeen" and in the next evolution becomes:
Fly around my pretty little miss,
Fly around my daisy--
Another "Fly Around" song by Justus Begley in 1937 is titled "Fara You Well, My Blue-Eyed Girl" and has:
Fare you well my blue-eyed girl,
Fare you well my daisy
A stanza from Grammy Fish's version of "Seventeen" has the daisy" text[40]:
Where are you going my pretty maid
My little blue-eyed daisy?
I am not going very far
For really I am lazy.
Wheevily Wheat which usually has the "over the water to Charlie" stanza and the "wheevily wheat/ barley" identifying stanza has become a floating title with random associated stanzas-- some with the "How are you" stanzas of "Seventeen." As an example I give the Wheevily Wheat B version from "Round the Levee" edited by Stith Thompson, 1916. He comments:
Another version of "Weevily Wheat," collected by Miss Mary S. Brown of Gatesville, Texas, from Wallace Fogle, a famous play-party singer of Coryell County, runs as follows. The boys and girls line up opposite each other; the boys begin swinging at one end, and girls at the other, each swinging his or her partner.
Way down yonder in the maple swamp,
The water's deep and muddy.
There I spied my pretty little miss,
O there I spied my honey.
How old are you, my little miss,
How old are you, my honey?
She answered with a ha-ha laugh,
"I'll be sixteen next Sunday."
The higher up the cherry tree,
Riper grows the cherry,
Sooner a boy courts a girl,
Sooner they will marry,
So run along home, my pretty little miss,
Run along home, my honey,
Run along home, my pretty miss,
I'll be right there next Sunday.
Papa's gone to New York town,
Mama's gone to Dover,
Sister's worn her new slippers out
A-kicking Charley over.
Wheevily Wheat is a floating title but should have the Wheevily Wheat stanza(s) in it-- in the preceding lyrics Wheevily Wheat does not appear. The first stanza is similarly found in the related "Cedar Creek" or "Swing a Lady" play-party song. The last line is a reference to "Bonnie Sweet Prince Charlie" who, in a bizarre twist, is part of Robert Burn's song that introduces "pretty little pink" also related, although randomly, to the "How old are you" songs in the US. "Charlie" is Prince Charles Edward Stewart, 1720-1788 and the related songs have the "Over the water to Charlie" lines. Here's a "Seventeen" version from Oklahoma that has the "Charlie" reference[41]:
My Pretty Maid- sung by Robert L Risinger of Norman, Oklahoma-- no date give, before c.1950.
1. "Where are you going, my pretty little miss?
Where are you going, my honey?
She answered me with a 'Uh, uh, huh,
I'm going home to mommy.'
2. ‘How old are you my pretty little miss,
How old are you my honey?’
She answered me with a 'Uh, uh, huh,
"I'll be sixteen next Sunday."
3. "Where do you live my pretty little miss,
Where do you live my honey?"
She answered me with a "Uh, uh, huh,
I live at home with mommy."
4. Will you marry me my pretty little miss,
Will you marry me my honey?"
She answered me with a "Uh, uh, huh,
I would if it wasn't for mommy."
5. "Where are you going, my pretty pretty maid?
Where are you going, my darling?
Down to the river to water my geese
and over the river to Charlie."
The following titles are play-party songs that are related by the use of similar floating stanzas:
Bile Dem Cabbage Down
Pretty Little Pink
Charlie's Neat
Coffee grows on white oak trees
Shady Grove
Here are two core stanzas of "Seventeen" used as floating stanzas in Tales and Songs of Southern Illinois by Charles Neely:
Come trip with me, my pretty little miss,
Come trip with me, my honey;
Come trip with me, my pretty little miss;
I'll be sixteen next Sunday.
How old are you, my pretty little miss,
How old are you, my honey?
She answered me with a "Tee, hee, hee"
"I'll be sixteen next Sunday."
Another association with the "How old are you" stanza is found in Child 243 Gypsy David/Davy (House Carpenter). This is the most popular House Carpenter text, as recorded by Carter Family in 1940-- and widely copied (originally recorded by Cliff Carlisle 1939, covers include Bascom Lunsford and later Doc Watson). Here are the first three stanzas, the second is the "How old are you" stanza:
Black Jack David
Black Jack David came ridin' through the woods,
And he sang so loud and gaily.
Made the hills around him ring,
And he charmed the heart of a lady.
And he charmed the heart of a lady.
"How old are you, my pretty little miss?
How old are you, my honey?"
She answered him with a silly little smile,
"I'll be sixteen next Sunday.
I'll be sixteen next Sunday."
"Come go with me, my pretty little miss.
Come go with, me my honey.
I'll take you across the deep blue sea,
Where you never shall want for money.
Where you never shall want for money."
The wide variety of titles songs that have borrowed the floating verses "How old" and "Fare-thee well" is confusing. The 1916 Texas version "Wheevily Wheat, B" was reprinted with additional stanzas by the Lomaxes as "Wheevily Wheat' in their 1940 book American Ballads and Folk Songs. The following example shows a composite of "Seventeen" and "Pretty Little Pink":
"New Orleans" sung by Bertha Hubbard Beard, recorded about 1970s. She was born in 1880 Alexander County, learned from her father.
I'll put my knapsack on my back,
My rifle on my shoulder,
I'll march away to New Orleans
And there I'll be a soldier.
CHORUS: Fal la linka do, oh do oh do,
Fal la linka do, oh di dee.
How old are you my pretty little miss,
How old are you my honey?
She answered me with a modesty,
I'll be sixteen next Sunday.
CHORUS: Fal la linka do, oh do oh do,
Fal la linka do, oh di dee.
Will you marry me my pretty little miss,
How old are you my honey?
She answered me with a modesty,
I'll have to ask my Mommy.
CHORUS: Fal la linka do, oh do oh do,
Fal la linka do, oh di dee.
I'll put my knapsack on my back,
My rifle on my shoulder,
I'll march away to New Orleans
And there I'll be a soldier.
CHORUS: Fal la linka do, oh do oh do,
Fal la linka do, oh di dee.
Well the coffee grows on white oak trees,
And the river flows with brandy
The streets all lined with ten-dollar bills
And the girls aa sweet as candy.
CHORUS: Fal la linka do, oh do oh do,
Fal la linka do, oh da dee.
The "knapsack" stanza (see David S. McIntosh's article, "Marching down to New Orleans," Midwest Folklore, Vol. 4, No. 3, Illinois Issue, Autumn, 1954, pp. 139-148) is found in several composite versions and has the "soldier" which in the UK was included in the "Maid and Soldier" revision. "Coffee Grows" is a floating stanza usually associated with "Four in the Middle," a play party song. Although "Swing a Lady" (see Sharp EFFSA II, 1932 as collected in KY in 1917 and Ritchie's family version) does not have the "Fly Around" stanza, it's part of the extended Seventeen family. Here are the first two stanzas:
Cedar Swamp (Swing a Lady)- from Cora and Alice Turner of Pine Mountain, Kentucky, 1927.
Way down yonder in the cedar swamp,
The water's deep and muddy,
There I saw my pretty little miss,
There I kissed my honey.
"How old are you, my pretty little miss,
How old are you, my honey?
How old are you, my pretty little miss,
"Sweet sixteen next Sunday."
It's clear that Wheevily Wheat B from Texas (1916 Thompson's "Round the Levee") is closely related to "Swing a Lady" and it does have the "Fly around" stanza. For more information about versions from North America see "US & Canada versions" and the appendix, 9B. Fly Around my Pretty Little Miss.
* * * *
The Case for Censorship
Patrick Weston Joyce, Baring-Gould and Cecil Sharp edited their published texts. James Reeves said this about "Seventeen" in his book The Idiom of the People (1958): "The original of this song, whatever it was, shocked all other editors, from the eighteenth century onwards." In 1958 it's probable that Reeves knew only Burns short version. There are 15 versions in this study (Aa-Ao) and after analyzing them it's clear what the original (the ur-ballad) was or approximately what it was. The ballad in the early original Scot form, Waukrife Mammy, is about a man who by chance meets a saucy young girl as he's "gaun o'er yon hict hict hill (the Highland hills)." He asks the lassie a series of questions which are designed to seduce her. The courtship dialogue reveals, among other things, where she's going, what her age is, and where she lives. At night he goes to see her at her mammy's house, and after lovemaking (Burn's sings, "she wasn't half as saucy"), the cock crows and wakes her mammy. When her mammy takes a coal from the fire to see if she knows him, he pushes her to the fire and runs out to the field to hide from her. The penalty for losing her virginity is a beating by her wakeful mammy with a hickory switch. The daughter is now pregnant in spite of her wakeful mammy.
Certainly the ballad story of a man who seduces a young girl and later serendipitously enters her house at night and takes her virginity was not considered morally acceptable behavior by many people. Patrick Weston Joyce (1827-1914) commented in his 1873 book, "Ancient Irish Music":
"I cannot tell when I learned the air and words of this song, for I have known them as long as my memory can reach back. Some portions of the old song are spirited and well adapted to the air; others are very rude and worthless; and for several reasons it could not be presented to the reader. I give instead, what may be called a new song, in which I have incorporated the best lines of the original, including two verses almost unchanged."
It's not clear whether Joyce is talking about "Seventeen" or the similar "I'm Going to Be Married on Sunday" since that title is associated with a different song. It would seem, however, that the "old song" with the questionable stanzas was the "Waukrife Mammy" version of "Seventeen." Baring-Gould, who knew both the Burns version and the Catnach "Maid and Soldier[42],"assumed it was "Seventeen" and lists Joyce's reworked song as a version. Here's the first stanza of Joyce's "new song" titled "I'm Going to Be Married on Sunday." His reworked text includes only the one key line from "Seventeen":
Twas down in the meadows one morning last spring,
I met a fair maiden who sweetly did sing
She was milking a cow while her clear voice did ring,
"O I'm sixteen years old on next Sunday,
I’m sixteen years old on next Sunday!”
The last line is clearly "Seventeen." The introduction of the girl "milking a cow" is found in a parallel group of different ballads which have different forms and titles, among them "Dabbling in the Dew" and "The Milkmaid."
The English forms of "Seventeen" were themselves censored revisions-- perhaps to make the Scottish text less specific. It is presumed then that "Maid and Soldier" and the "Seventeen" revision were sanitized rewrites of the main story. These revisions were not enough for some collectors. Sabine Baring-Gould, an Anglican priest from Devon, collected several texts including "As I Walked out" sung by Edmund Fry of Lydford, Devon in 1889. Baring Gould also knew Burns' text and a Seventeen broadside text and wrote them in his notebook. His published version (Songs and Ballads of the West, 1892) was reworked, using only just the first stanza here, to produce the recreation "On a May Morning so Early" attributed to Roger Huggins, at Lydford but reworked by Sheppard.
1 As I walked out one May morning,
One May morning so early:
I there espied a fair pretty maid,
All in the dew so pearly.
CHORUS: O! 'twas sweet, sweet spring,
Merry birds did sing,
All in the morning early.
The remainder of text veers further away from tradition and this recreation with its syrupy chorus doesn't resemble tradition at all. Cecil Sharp following Baring Gould example when publishing "I'm Seventeen Come Sunday" by Mrs. Lucy White, of Hambridge in Folk Songs from Somerset: Gathered and Edited with Pianoforte Accompaniment edited by Cecil James Sharp, Charles Latimer Marson, 1905. Sharp writes in his notes:
"The words have been softened and to some extent reconstructed by Mr. Marson."
Not mentioned in Sharp's notes is that Lucy White's melody is a composite of text from different informants. The text is not badly reconstructed by Marson and represents a variant of the standard "Seventeen" broadside text. Gone from the text is any specific reference to premarital sex. The "fair pretty maid" most properly marries the soldier in Sharp's text.
Whether the rationale for censoring texts of "Seventeen" versions by Joyce, Baring-Gould, Sharp and others is justified-- considering the foul murder ballads left untouched that they published-- is a matter of debate. The texts of Waukrife Mammy are not graphic or overtly sexual, since the sexual details are implied-- still the Scottish story itself and the age of the saucy lass who is sometimes just fourteen years old, is a cause of concern.
The Appendices, Associations and Related Texts, Themes
Two appendices have been created that are obviously based on, or similar to "seventeen." 9A. I Love my Love (Owre Yon High, High Hill) is Scottish and has a similar opening and theme as "Seventeen" but a different chorus. 9B. Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss is derived from the Scottish ending stanza (Fare-thee-well my bonnie, bonnie lass) which has been adapted.
A myriad number of associations exist. There are associations of "text" and "theme." The associations of text are primarily centered around the "How old are you?" and "Where are you going?" lines which are ballad commonplaces. Some textual associations exist in ballads with a similar theme. This is the case with the popular song, "The Milkmaid" (also titled "Farmer's Daughter") which begins with a series of similar questions (only first two stanzas which are similar are given):
"Where are you going, my pretty maid?"
"I'm going a-milking, sir," she said,
"Sir," she said, "sir," she said;
"I'm going a-milking, sir," she said.
"May I go with you, my pretty maid?"
"You're kindly welcome, sir," she said.
"Sir," she said, "sir," she said;
"You're kindly welcome, sir," she said.
Cox (Folk Songs from the South, 1925) and Belden/Hudson (Brown Collection 1952) grouped "Seventeen" with the Milkmaid-- an entirely different song. Perhaps "The Milkmaid/Farmer's Daughter" and the similar "Dabbling in the Dew" sprang from the opening question, a ballad common place: "Where are you going, my pretty fair maid(bonnie lass)?" The second question
"May I go with you, my pretty maid?" is occasionally but rarely found in "Seventeen" also (see: Jean Orchard's version). The ending of Fish's New Hampshire version has borrowed from "The Milkmaid"-- so there has been some blending.
"My Roving Eye (Ma Rovin' Eye, etc)" is used as a title for several versions of "Seventeen" and its name is derived from the chorus. It was first reported by Ford and that version of Waukrife Mammy dates back to c.1850 in Scotland. A similar chorus is used in some versions (Jeanie Robertson) of the Scottish song, "The Overgate," a different song.
The "How old are you" stanza in the US is found in a number of play-party variants-- most are constructed with floating stanzas from the "Pretty Little Pink/Coffee Grows/Fly Around" family and stanzas from "Seventeen" (see US & Canada Versions for details).
The Relationships with Child Ballads
The two Child ballads that are most closely associated with "Seventeen" are Child 243: The Daemon Lover (Gypsy Davy/House Carpenter) and Child 299: Trooper and the Maid.
The first revision of Seventeen (Maid and Soldier), dated late 1700s, introduces textual elements of Child 299 Trooper and the Maid including the Soldier replacing the lover and the line, "When the moon shines bright and clearly." Presumably the "Maid and Soldier" revision was created to sanitize the bawdy Scottish text and removed the "waukrife mammy" and other bawdy parts of the story. Further evidence of the use of Trooper and the Maid in this first revision is supplied with the addition of stanza 7 of "Maid and Soldier":
7. Oh! soldier, will you marry me?
Now is your time or never,
And if you do not marry me,
I am undone[ruined] forever.
This stanza is found in the "Seventeen" revisions and mirrors the ending of Trooper and the Maid. Francis J. Child seemed reluctant to include Trooper and the Maid in his ouvre of 305 popular ballads but he inserted it near the end as ballad 299. Surprisingly no mention of Waukrife Mammy or any of the "Seventeen" ballads was made in Child's headnotes. The theme of Trooper and the Maid is not similar to the Scottish "Waukrife Mammy." The story as told by Child is[43]:
"A trooper (soldier) comes to the house of his mistress in the evening and is kindly received. They pass the night together and are wakened by the trumpet. He must leave her; she follows him some way, he begging her to turn back. She asks him repeatedly when they are to meet again and marry. He answers, when cockle shells grow siller bells, when fishes fly and seas gang dry."
This parallel but different ballad, Trooper and the Maid, became a small part of the "Seventeen" ballads with the first revision. It would not be until the mid-1900s with Seamus Ennis 1947 version that the two different texts would be blended. An examination of Child 299- B from the early 1800s shows some of the similar text:
'The Trooper' Motherwell's Manuscript, p. 27; from the recitation of Widow Nicol.
1.4: By chance the maid was in the close,
The moon was shining clearly,
She opened the gates and let him in,
Says, Ye're welcome hame, my dearie.
7 'O when shall we two meet again?
Or when shall we two marry?'
'Whem cockle-shells grow siller bells;
No longer must I tarry.'
The "Maid and Soldier" revision of "Waukrife Mammy" was made by the late 1700s in Scotland[44] and it was printed in the 1820s-30s in England. By the mid-1800s versions of "Waukrife Mammy" (see Ford's "My Rolling Eye") had incorporated stanzas from "Maid and Soldier." The two revisions ("Soldier and the Fair Maid" and Seventeen Come Sunday") which were made by c.1840 changed only the beginning and ending of "Maid and Soldier" but did not include more text from "Trooper and the Maid."
A.L. Lloyd, who titled his version of Seventeen, "The Soldier and the Maid" in 1956 on his Tradition album The Foggy Dew and Other Traditional English Love Songs, commented this in the liner notes:
"The encounter of the licentious soldier with the obliging young girl was an old story when Roman troops patrolled the great wall between England and Scotland. For newer versions, listen to the gossip around any army camp, any day, anywhere. Of the many ballads in the family of The Trooper and the Maid, this is perhaps the best."
This comment by Lloyd and Ennis version "When Cockle Shells" which is a composite- first part "Seventeen" last part "Trooper" have muddied the water and a bridge has been erected between two very different ballads with only a brief sexual encounter in common.
In Child No. 243, James Harris (The Daemon Lover/Gypsy Laddie), there are several stanzas of "Seventeen" that have been found inserted into American versions titled "The House Carpenter" or "Gypsy Davy." This use was already mentioned earlier in the headnotes. Here are the first stanzas of "Black Jack David" obtained from Mr. Frank Irvin, Mascoutah, Illinois[45]:
Black Jack David came riding down the lane,
Singing so loud and gaily,
Making all the woods round him ring
To charm the heart of a lady,
To charm the heart of a lady.
"How old are you, my pretty little miss?
How old are you, my honey?"
She answered me with a smile and kiss,
"I'll be seventeen next Sunday.
I'll be seventeen next Sunday."
"Will you go with me, my pretty little miss?
Will you go with me, my honey?"
She answered me with a smile and kiss,
"I'll go with you next Sunday,
I'll go with you next Sunday."
The "How old" stanza is also in the popular Carter Family/Cliff Carlisle version of Black Jack David which was covered by a number of musicians from the 1940s on. In the US the "How old are you" identifying stanza has been attached to a number of different songs.
Children's Songs: "Haliky Daliky" "Where Are Ye Gaun, my Wee Bonnie Lass," "My Pretty Little Miss"
There are at least three examples of Scottish children's songs (game songs), my I, that originated in the early 1900s. The earliest extant version, Haliky Daliky dated c.1930, was collected by Ewan MacColl who commented in Folkways liner notes, (MacColl and Behan, The Singing Streets, 1958): "A ring game learned in 1957 from Sylvia Rapoport, a 36 year old London housewife who learned it as a child in the Gorbals district of Glasgow." A example of the song can be seen/heard by Stewart Cameron & Phyllis Davison performing a Medley of Scottish Children's Songs on Youtube.
Haliky Daliky
Where are you going, my bonnie wee lass?
Where are you going, my dearie?
Where are you going, my bonnie wee lass?
A message for my mammy.
CHORUS: Haliky, daliky, daliky dee,
Haliky, daliky, dearie,
Haliky, daliky, daliky dee,
A message for my mammy
MacColl and Seeger also supplied a different version "Where Are Ye Gaun, my Wee Bonnie Lass" that they call a skipping song and ball-bouncing game in their 1986 book "Till doomsday in the afternoon: the folklore of a family of Scots Travellers, the Stewarts of Blairgowrie."
Children's Rhymes: Skipping songs and ball-bouncing game (e):
O, whaur are ye gaun, my bonnie wee lass?
Whaur are ye gaun, my dearie?
Whaur are ye gaun, my bonnie wee lass?
A message tae my mammy.
Chorus: A ha-cha-cha-chee, an' a ha-cha-cha-chaw,
A ha-cha-cha-chee an' a dandy;
A ha-cha-cha-chee, an' a ha-cha-cha-chaw,
A message tae my mammy.
O what is your name, my bonnie wee lass?
What is your name, my dearie?
What is your name, my bonnie wee lass?
My mammy ca's me Nancy.
Can I get a kiss my bonnie wee lass?
Can I get a kiss, my dearie?
Can I get a kiss my bonnie wee lass?
I'll hae tae ask my mammy.
One children's song, "My Pretty Little Miss" was collected by Owens in Texas in 1936. "Swing and Turn: Texas Play-Party Songs." The game instructions follow, "As all sing the first verse they move to the middle of the circle and then outward. They do this movement twice for the four phrases of the song. On the second stanza the boys swing each girl right and left, going around the circle until they reach their original partners."
1. Oh, come along, my pretty little Miss,
Oh, come along, my honey,
Oh, come along, my pretty little Miss,
I'll marry you next Sunday.
2. Oh, come along, my pretty little Miss,
Oh, come along, my honey,
Oh, come along, my pretty little Miss,
I won't be home 'till Monday.
3. How old are you, my pretty little Miss,
How old are you, my honey?
How old are you, my pretty little Miss,
I'll marry you next Sunday.
How old was she?
Although "seventeen" is known as the standard age that the pretty fair maid will be on Sunday, this is not the age in the older versions. The age of "seventeen" became standard after a large number of broadsides titles "Seventeen Come Sunday" or "I'm Seventeen Come Sunday" were printed in England beginning about 1840. In the first print version dated 1795, she is fourteen but will be fifteen:
What is your age, my bonny lass?
What is your age, my honey?
Right modestly she answer'd me,
I'm fifteen years come Sunday.
This is corroborated by other early Scottish versions (see for example Crawfurd). In tradition in North America and the UK her age is usually "sixteen come Sunday." The revisions "Maid and Soldier" to "Seventeen Come Sunday" more properly have her being sixteen and turning seventeen on Sunday.
Many of the Irish versions from the mid-1950s on and some other versions in the UK and US have Monday as her birthday.
* * * *
Some Conclusions
The four forms of A-D represent A, Waukrife Mammy, the original Scottish form from the early 1700s and the three revisions, B-D. The first revision, B, "Maid and Soldier" from the late 1700s introduced minor elements of Child 299, "Trooper and the Maid" into the story and eliminated the waukrife mammy. The last revision "Seventeen Come Sunday" added a happy ending where the maid becomes the soldier's wife and follows him to the battlefield.
Although few early Irish versions were collected, the Irish tradition is similar to the Scottish. Both borrowed from the "Maid and Soldier" and the later tradition in the early 1900s has, in most variants, separated from "Waukrife Mammy." In 1947 Seamus Ennis recorded an Irish variant "When Cockle Shells" (later titled "As I Roved Out") which was composite with Trooper and the Maid. This popular version, disseminated in part through his tradition Irish music radio program of the same name, was covered by a number of artists. Ennis' song entered tradition and a number of variants including "Night Visit" by Christy Moore have been recorded. The version is still popular today. A different version also titled "As I Roved Out" was recorded in Ireland by Sarah Makem. The Makem family long version is a recreation with revision stanzas and one from Waukrife[46]. The Makem version with its colorful chorus was arranged by Joe Heaney (a composite of Makem and Ennis) and sung by Len Graham and others.
The Seventeen ballads usually use a nonsense syllable chorus and have a number of different textual forms-- some with the last two lines repeated, some with the first two, while others repeat the last line after the chorus. Some choruses include "wi' my rovin'/rollin' eye" and a number of versions have been titled after this and other choruses. The choruses printed in broadsides are only one line, I assume as a reference-- in tradition the choruses were always longer. The print authors simply wrote a line indicating a chorus was to be sung-- but didn't write it out in full. This practice is corroborated by the 1795 print which gives the full chorus at the end-- while the first chorus is short.
The "Seventeen" ballads were not popular in North America in their original forms but the "How old" stanza and "Fare-thee-well" (Fly Around) stanza have been used as floating stanzas in play-party/fiddle dance songs. Here's a brief line of descent for the British versions:
British Line of Descent with four forms:
Waukrife Mammy (Scottish tradition/print) late 1600s-early 1700s Form 1>
Maid and Soldier (tradition/print) late 1700s early 1800s (1st revision) Form 2>
Soldier and the Fair Maid (print) c. 1830s (2nd revision) Form 3>
Seventeen Come Sunday (print/tradition) c. 1840 (3rd revision) Form 4>
As I Roved Out- Ennis (Irish Tradition) 1947 (Composite w/ Trooper and the Maid)
As I Roved Out- Makem (Irish Tradition)1952 (Composite of several forms)
* * * *
In closing here's a version with core stanzas from down under as sung by Sally Sloane in 1956:
Listen: https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-214812725/listen
'My Pretty Little Maid' sung by Sally Sloane (1894-1982). Recorded by John Meredith at Teralba, Australia on 16 June and 13 October, 1956.
1. Where are you going my pretty little maid,
Where are you going my honey?
Where are you going my pretty little maid,
Where are you going my honey?
She answered him quite modestly,
On erran' for my mommie.
CHORUS (after each verse): With my tu-rum ra, fal a diddle da,
Right fal-la-diddle dolly die, do.
2. How old are you my pretty little girl,
How old are you my honey, [repeat as before]
She answered him quite modestly,
I'm seventeen come Sunday.
3. Will you marry me, my pretty little girl,
will you marry me, my honey?
She answered him quite modestly,
"I dare not for my Mommie."
4. Will come unto my Mama's house,
When the moon shines bright and clearly?
O, I'll rise up and let you in,
And the auld woman will not hear me.
* * * *
[R. Matteson 2018
Port St. Lucie, Florida]
_____________________
Footnotes:
1. A ballad tells a story. Some versions may be considered songs-- especially the children's songs and versions from the US with floating stanzas.
2. The estimation of the ballad dating from the "early 1700s" comes primarily from Thomas Lyle's notes in his 1827 book "Ancient Ballads and Songs." Both Burns and Cunningham knew the ballad in the 1700s and considered it "old." An early date of the late 1600s in Scotland is also reasonable.
3. See Thomas Lyle's notes in his 1827 book "Ancient Ballads and Songs: Chiefly from Tradition, Manuscripts, and Scarce Works." A biography of Lyle may be found in "The Modern Scottish Minstrel; Or, The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century" edited by Charles Rogers, 1857.
4. Burns says in 1790: "I PICKED up this old song and tune from a country girl in Nithsdale." In 1825 Cunningham says, "I have heard it often sung in my youth, and sung with curious and numerous variations." Cunningham adds "I believe it to be a very old song."
5. Lyle's notes are found in the already mentioned, "Ancient Ballads and Songs: Chiefly from Tradition, Manuscripts, and Scarce Works," 1827.
6. Calling him a "gentleman" is hardly accurate but infers that he's a mature, older man.
7. An ur-ballad is the unknown complete original ballad which may be constructed by stanzas of existing versions.
8. The original would be "the ur-ballad."
9. "The Lassie Lost Her Maidenhead a' for Her Waukrif Mammie" dated 1795 (Edinburgh?) published in "Four Excellent New Songs: The Lassie Lost Her Maidenhead a' for Her Waukrif Mammie. Johnie Cope. Rinorden, Or The Mountains High The General Toast. Entered and Licenced."
10. Cunningham provides this info first in "The Songs of Scotland, Ancient and Modern" Volume 2, p. 244-245. See also his 1834 edition of Burns works.
11. Found in Cunningham's 1834 edition of Burns works.
12. The Scots Musical Museum, Volume 3, 1790, No. 288 with music (see original above headnotes).
13. Cunningham wrote a number of ballads that he published as tradition. This comment is a reference to his besmeared reputation and the possibility that he wrote the stanzas.
14. Child provides this definition in The English and Scottish Popular Ballads - Volume 5, page 324: clod, got the clod that winna cling, W, 154, 15: the loaf of bread (?) that will not shrink (but will rise?), referring to the impending increase of her size.
15. Dialect for "wow" it also appears as the exclamation, "O."
16. Chorus throughout
17. dont't
18. Steve Gardham of Hull supplied the text in an email January 2018. He is a consultant on this study and has supplied information and details. See his notes also in The Wanton Seed.
19. See Sharp A, Eddy B.
20. See for example, Henry A and Makem family's "As I Roved Out."
21. "Lady and Soldier" stanza 4 lines 1 and 2. The second line is found in Trooper and the Maid (Motherwell variant).
22. A.L. Lloyd, who titled his version of Seventeen, "The Soldier and the Maid" in 1956 on his Tradition album The Foggy Dew and Other Traditional English Love Songs, commented this in the liner notes: "The encounter of the licentious soldier with the obliging young girl was an old story when Roman troops patrolled the great wall between England and Scotland. For newer versions, listen to the gossip around any army camp, any day, anywhere. Of the many ballads in the family of The Trooper and the Maid, this is perhaps the best."
23. The first version "Lady and Soldier printed in Edinburgh in 1800 is missing the "soldier" stanza (soldier is mentioned nowhere in the text) which means it was named after and based on an earlier unknown print version.
24. From "Maid and Soldier" broadside printed in London at 115 Long Alley by Thomas Batchelar about 1820, (1817-1828).
25. Since the story is so consistent, a missing print version is indicated. The first public print, dated 1795, is clearly taken from another print and reworked.
26. Patrick Weston Joyce (1827-1914) commented in his 1873 book, "Ancient Irish Music": "I cannot tell when I learned the air and words of this song, for I have known them as long as my memory can reach back.
27. In their book the full arrangement was "adapted by Sarah & Tommy Makem and Pat, Tom, and Liam Clancy"
28. See stanza in the Waukrife Mammy section from Cromek, Select Scottish Songs, Ancient and Modern, Volume 2, 1810.
29. "Ancient Ballads and Songs: Chiefly from Tradition, Manuscripts, and Scarce Works" by Thomas Lyle.
30."The Waukrife Mammy" dated 1830 from a Scottish Chapbook (no publisher given) Printed for the booksellers; Falkirk. From "Two Old Songs- The Perjured Maid, The Waukrife Mammy."
31. Since only two words are different I assume the chapbook version is a reprint of Thomas Lyle's 1827 book "Ancient Ballads and Songs: Chiefly from Tradition, Manuscripts, and Scarce Works."
32. No imprint. The date is verified by Google books, the location is listed as "Edinburgh?" by two sources.
33. I know two English versions with Maid and Soldier text. The best is "Seventeen Come Sunday," sung by Amos Ash of Combe Florey, Somerset, May 1905. From: Henry Hammond Manuscript Collection (HAM/2/1/9).
34. See: Musical Traditions Records' CD notes, 2011 titled "Sarah Makem: As I Roved Out" (MTCD353-5).
35. Information from a bio at the Irish Traditional Musicians Archive.
36. Ritchie was sure of this in her comments at the Mudcat Discussion Forum. I was further corroborated by other recordings in the 1950s made by Peter Kennedy and Diane Hamilton, 1956. The same 2 stanza version was sung by cousin Annie Jane Kelly.
37. This is according to the song notes of Musical Traditions Records' 2011 release titled "Sarah Makem: As I Roved Out" (MTCD353-5).
38. "On a May Morning so Early," an arrangement with rewritten text as taken down by Mr. Sheppard from Roger Huggins, at Lydford (Dartmoor, Devon); published in Songs and Ballads of the West: A Collection Made from the Mouths of the People by Sabine Baring-Gould, 1892.
39. "I'm Seventeen Come Sunday" in Folk Songs from Somerset: Gathered and Edited with Pianoforte Accompaniment edited by Cecil James Sharp, Charles Latimer Marson, 1905.
40. "Hi Rinky Dum," as sung by Grammy Fish of New Hampshire in 1940-- from Country Dance and Song, No. 9, 1978. Also Warner Traditional American Folk Songs and Flanders recording Track 20a, classification #: LAO17. dated 11-16-1940.
41. "My Pretty Maid" sung by Robert L Risinger of Norman, Oklahoma-- no date give, before c.1950. From Ballads and Folk Songs of the Southwest by Ethel and Chauncey Moore, 1964. This version is much older than 1964.
42. Both ballads were written down as versions in Baring-Gould's MS study (see online ).
43. Quoted from "The English and Scottish Popular Ballads," by Francis James Child; Volume 9: Ballads 266-305; Published August/September 1894.
44. This date is proved by the print of 1800, "Lady and the Soldier."
45. From: Tales and Songs of Southern Illinois, page 143, Charles Neely, 1938.
46. Although this has been discussed the family version was an extension of the original two stanzas recorded by Sarah Makem in the 1950s by friends (Clancy brothers) and family.
______________________________
Related texts:
This is the most popular House Carpenter text, as recorded by Carter Family in 1940-- and widely copied. It has the "How old are you" stanza: Black Jack David
Black Jack David came ridin' through the woods,
And he sang so loud and gaily.
Made the hills around him ring,
And he charmed the heart of a lady.
And he charmed the heart of a lady.
"How old are you, my pretty little miss?
How old are you, my honey?"
She answered him with a silly little smile,
"I'll be sixteen next Sunday.
I'll be sixteen next Sunday."
"Come go with me, my pretty little miss.
Come go with, me my honey.
I'll take you across the deep blue sea,
Where you never shall want for money.
Where you never shall want for money."
__________________________________
Farmer's Daughter: from The Souvenir Minstrel: A Choice Collection of the Most Admired Songs, Duets
by Cornelius Soule Cartée, 1833
THE FARMER'S DAUGHTER.
WHERE are you going, my pretty maid?
I'm going a milking, sir, she said;
May I go with you, my pretty maid?
It's just as you please, kind sir, she said.
What is your father, my pretty maid:
My father's a farmer, sir, she said;
Then I will marry you, my pretty maid;
It's not as you please, kind sir, she said.
What is your fortune, my pretty maid?
My face is my fortune, sir, she said;
*... I can't marry you, my pretty maid;
Nobody ask'd you, sir, she said.
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I'm Going to Be Married on Sunday from "Ancient Irish music," No. 17, 1873 by P. Joyce
Twas down in the meadows one morning last spring,
I met a fair maiden who sweetly did sing
She was milking a cow while her clear voice did ring,
"O I'm sixteen years old on next Sunday,
I’m sixteen years old on next Sunday !”
2. 'Tis quite time to marry when a girl is sixteen;
'Twas Willy that told me, so it's plain to be seen;
For he's handsome and manly and fit for a queen,
And just twenty years old on next Sunday,
Just twenty years old on next Sunday !
3. On next Sunday morning our wedding shall be,
All the lasses and lads will be present to see;
And oh, how they’ll wish to be Willy and me,
And be married like us on next Sunday,
Be married like us on next Sunday !
4. My friends say sixteen is too youthful to marry,
And for two or three more they would have me to tarry,
They say it is better my milk-pail to carry,
And put off my wedding on Sunday,
And put off my wedding on Sunday.