Bonnie Banks o' Airdrie- Bell Robertson c.1840
[This fragment is from Bell Robertson of Aberdeenshire and Airdrie is similarly found in the 1881 book, "The Gypsy Tents." ]
From: Scottish Tinker Songs
by Peter A. Hall
Folk Music Journal, Vol. 3, No. 1, Music of the Travelling People (1975), pp. 41-62
The Bonnie Banks o' Airdrie. Five versions were found in the century preceding the Child anthology and Gavin Greig got only one fragment, without tune, from Bell Robertson. The piece seemed rare but in the past twenty years, apart from a number in the archives of the School, versions have been recorded from travellers, John McDonald, Duncan Williamson and Jessie McDonald, the last named having been published in The Scottish Folksinger (19).
It is instructive to compare the Bell Robertson fragment published in Last Leaves with the corresponding verses from the Jessie McDonald set.
Bell Robertson:
1. "Will ye be a rank robber's wife?
Aiken ay so bonnie, 0.
Or will ye die by my penknife?
On the bonnie banks o Airdrie, O."
2. "I winna be a rank robber's wife,
Aiken ay so bonnie, 0.
But I'd rather die by your penknife,
On the bonnie banks o Airdrie, O."
Jessie McDonald:
3. "Would ye be a rank robber's wife,
Eek in aye sae bonnie-o!
Or would ye die by my penknife?
On the bonnie banks o' Airdrie-ol"
4. "I'll not be a rank robber's wife,
Eek in aye sae bonnie-o!
I'd rather die by your penknife,
On the bonnie banks o' Airdrie-o!"
Bell Robertson heard her version sung by "a tinker boy nearly 70 yearsa go". This would be about 1840, and suggests a distinctive version in the mouths of travellers for upwards of a century, the locale being given as Airdrie as is the case with a set in Groome's book The Gypsy Tents (1880). The ballad seems to be much more common than was thought hitherto, or perhaps a lack of investigation into the tinker repertoire has hidden its existence from us.