Butcher Boy- Lizzie Higgins (Aber) 1970 Munro
[From Edinburgh; School of Scottish Studies.SA1952.04.B8 (B13). Also see: MTCD337-8 Lizzie Higgins - in memory of: Lizzie Higgins
Listen: http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/play/65600;jsessionid=188816C257A0E249BBC41B53806EFCD5
http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/fullrecord/65600/1
R. Matteson 2016]
Summary - In this murder ballad, a butcher boy meets a young girl, whom he promises to marry. He goes to meet her one day, suggesting they take a walk down by the sea, where he pulls out a knife, stabs her to death and then throws the body in the water. On returning home he goes to bed, only to be haunted by visions of Hell. The crime is later discovered, and the butcher boy is hung on the gallows.
The Butcher Boy- sung by Lizzie Higgins of Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire. Recorded by Ailie Edmunds Munro, 1970.
1. My parents gave me good learning,
Good learning they gave unto me,
They sent me to a butcher shop,
For a butcher boy to be.
2. It was there I met with a fair young girl,
With a dark and a rolling eye,
And I promised for to marry her,
In the bonny month of July.
3. He went down to her mother's house,
Between the hours of eight or nine,
And he asked her for to walk with me,
Down by the foaming brine.
4. Down by the foaming brine we'll go,
Down by the foaming brine,
For that would be a pleasant walk,
Down by the foaming brine.
5. But they walk-ed east and they walk-ed west
And they walk-ed all around,
Till he pulled a knife from out of his coat
And he stabbed her to the ground.
6. She fell upon her bended knee,
And for mercy she did cry,
Roarin' Billie dear, don't murder me
For I'm not prepared to die.
7. He took her by her lily-white hand,
And he dragged her to the brim,
And with a knife he . . . [1]
And he pushed her body in.
8. He went on to his own mother's house,
Between the hour of twelve and one,
Oh little did his mother think
What her own son had done.
9. He asked her for a handkerchief,
To tie around his head.
And he asked for a candle light
For to show him up to bed.
10. No sleep, no rest could this young man get
No rest he could not find
For he thought he saw the flames of hell
Approaching at his side.
11. But the murder was soon found out,
And the gallis was his doom,
For the murder of sweet Mary Ann
Lies where the roses bloom.
1. not clear