Butcher Boy- John Argo (Aber) 1952 Henderson
[From Edinburgh; School of Scottish Studies; SA1952.21.A5
Listen:
http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/play/19665;jsessionid=188816C257A0E249BBC41B53806EFCD5
http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/fullrecord/19665/1
R. Matteson 2016]
Item Notes - Music transcribed in School of Scottish Studies. 12 verses. Gavin Greig was John Argo's wife's grandfather, but Argo's versions are quite independent of Greig's, although he used Greig's 'Folk-song of the North-East' to remind himself of verses.
Summary - In this song the young man promises to marry his pregnant girlfriend but instead goes to her home, asks her out for a walk, stabs her and throws her body in the water. He goes home but is caught and hanged.
The Butcher Boy- John Argo of Ellon, Aberdeenshire. Recorded by Hamish Henderson in 1952. John Argo heard this song from his mother while she was nursing his baby brother.
1. My parents gave me good learning,
Good learning gave to me
And they tend me to a butcher boy,
A butcher's boy to be.
2 I fell in love with a nice young girl,
She's a dark and a rolling eye;
And I promised for to marry her
In the month of sweet July.
3 The girl being with child[1] by me,
Upon on me did cry,
"O Willie dear, you'll marry me,
Or else for you I'll die."
4 I went down to her mother's house,
'Tween the hours of eight and nine,
And I ask-ed her to a walk with me
Down by the rolling stream.
5. We walk-ed up and we[2] walked down
And we walked all along,
Till he drew a knife from out his breast,
And he stabbed her to the ground.
6. She fell upon her bending knee,
And for mercy she did cry;
"O Willie dear, don't murther me
And leave me here to die."
7. He took her by the lily-white hand,
And he dragged her all along,
Till he dragged to the river bank,
And he plunged her body in.
8. He went up to his mother's house,
'Tween the hours of twelve and one,
But little did this poor mother think,
What her only son had done.
9. The only question she put to him,
"Was why his hands were stained with blood,
In answering he said it was,
"A bleeding from his nose."
10. He asked her for a handkerchief,
To wrap around his head,
And also a candle,
To show him to his bed.
11. No peace, no rest could this young man get,
No peace, no rest could he find,
For he thought he saw the flames of hell,
Approaching in his mind.
12. This murther[3] being found out,
The gallows was his doom,
For the murdering of sweet Mary Ann
Where the roses were in bloom.
1. sings "girl"
2 sings "I"
3 unclear