Elder Bardee- Andrew (NY) 1939 Thompson
[From: Thompson, Body Boots & Britches (1939) pp. 37-38. His notes follow. Cf. Elder Bardee by Lawrence Older, 1960 REC
R. Matteson 2016]
Andrew Barton is the best guess that can be made for Elder Bardee of ballad-fame. To be sure, the name of the Young Pretender, Charles Stuart, is substituted for that of the noble English family of Howard, but stranger things have happened in a ballad. From an Anglican point of view, an adherent of the Church of Scotland might well be called in derision Elder, and Bardee carries a more satirical ring than Barton.
Elder Bardee - Sung by P.W. Andrew of Cornith, New York. Collected by Harold W. Thompson.
There was three brothers in Scotland did dwell,
Three loving brothers were they;
They all did cast lots to see which of them
Should go robbing all round the salt sea.
The lot it fell on Elder Bardee,
The youngest of the three,
And for to maintain those other two
He went robbing all round the salt sea.
He had not sailed but one day, two, or three,
Before three vessels he spied,
Sailing far off, and sailing far off,
Till at length came sailing close by.
"Who there? Who there?" cried Elder Bardee,
"Who there that sails so nigh?"-
"We are three merchant vessels from old England shore,
And if no offense, let us pass by."
"O no, O no!" cried Elder Bardee,
"O no, that can never be.
I'll have your ships, your cargoes, my boys,
And your bodies I'll cast in the sea."
The news it reached King Henry's ears,
The man that wears the crown.
To think he had lost three of his ships,
And his merry men they were all drowned!
"Go build a ship both strong and secure,
As you shall understand,
And on board place Captain Charles Stewart
To take that bold command."
They built a ship both strong and secure,
As you shall understand,
And on board placed Captain Charles Stewart
To take that bold command.
He had not sailed but one day, two, or three,
Before a vessel he spied,
Sailing far off, and sailing far off,
Till at length came sailing close by.
"Who there, who there," cried captain Charles Stewart,
"Who there that sails so nigh?"
"We are the bold robbers from Merry Scotland,
And if no offense, let us pass by."
"O no, O no," cried Captain Charles Stewart,
"O no, that never can be.
I'll have your ship, your cargo, my boys,
And your bodies I'll carry with me."
Broadside, broadside, those ships they did come;
The cannon loud did roar.
They took Elder Bardee and his whole company
To the land of old England's shore.