English & Other 299. Trooper and Maid
CONTENTS:
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[Randolph says the Buchan chorus, "Bonny lass, gin I come near you" (Child A) is the foolish old song mentioned below by Stenhouse. See: Unprintable Ozark Folksongs and Folklore: roll me in your arms, Volume 1 By Vance Randolph.]
CCCXXXVII.
WHA IS THAT AT MY BOWER DOOR? This tune, in old times, was known by the name of " Lass, an I come near thee," which was the first line of the chorus of a foolish old song.
Lass, an 1 come near thee,
Lass, an I come near thee,
I'll gar a' your ribbons reel,
Lass, an I come near thee.
The verses adapted to this tune in the Museum were written by Burns on purpose for that work. Mr Cromek says, that Mr Gilbert Burns told him, "this song was suggested to his brother by the ' Auld Man's Address to the Widow,' printed in Ramsay's Tea-Table Miscellany, which the poet first heard sung, before he had seen that Collection, by Jean Wilson, a silly old widow-woman, then living at Tarbolton, remarkable for the simplicity and naivette of her character and for singing old Scots songs with a peculiar energy and earnestness of manner. Having outlived her family, she still retained the form of family-worship; and before she sung a hymn, she would gravely give out the first line of the verse, as if she had a numerous audience !"—Reliques.
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Early version of: "As I Roved Out", related to "Trooper and Maid."
The songs of Scotland, ancient and modern; with an intr. and notes ..., Volume 1 edited by Allan Cunningham
THE WAKERIFE MINNIE. (The Wakeful Mother)
Where are ye gaun, my bonnie lass?
Where are ye gaun, my hinnie?
Right saucelie she answered me,
An errand for my minnie.
O where live ye, my bonnie lass?
An' where live ye, my hinnie?
In yon green glen, gin ye maun ken,
In a wee house wi' my minnie.
But I held up the glen at e'en
To see my bonnie lassie; And lang before the gray morn cam' She wasna half sae saucie. O weary fa' the wakerife cock— May the foumart lay his crawing! He wakened the auld wife frae her sleep A wee blink ere the da wing.
An angry wife I wat she rase,
And o'er the bed she brought her; And wi' her tongue and hazel rung She made her a weel paid daughter. Now fare thee weel, my bonnie lass, And fare thee weel, my hinnie; Thou art a sweet and a kindlie queen, But thou hast a wakerife minnie.
Burns says he picked up this song from a country girl in Nithsdale, and never met with either it or the air to which it is sung elsewhere in Scotland. 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 hiiuiie; Thou hast got the clod that winna cling, For a' thy wakerife minnie. I believe it to be a very old song—and I feel it to be a very clever one. There is much life and rustic ease in the dialogue; and the lover's exclamation—
O weary fa' the wakerife cock, May the foumart lay his crawin! is particularly happy. It has been imputed to Burns, and is every way worthy of him; but it was well known on the Nith long before the great poet came to dwell on its banks. I have often heard the person sing it from whose lips Burns wrote it down.
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Background
In the introduction to Folk Songs of Britain and Ireland, Peter Kennedy describes collecting “As I roved Out” from Sarah Makem in 1952, following her around her kitchen with a portable tape recorder because she could remember the old songs best when she was working. The meeting turned into a ceili with family and neighbors joining in to contribute their songs, too. The chorus of Sarah’s recording of "As I Roved Out" became the opening theme for the radio show by the same name that broadcast during the 1950’s from Belfast, becoming a touchstone for a generation of listeners. The songs and singing impacted young listeners especially, who were hearing the old styles with fresh ears.
Kennedy cites many recorded and printed versions of the song, collected in the North of Ireland, England and Scotland, including a version called "A Wakerife Minne" collected by Robert Burns. Versions were also collected in America by Cecil Sharp and others.
An excerpt from Kennedy's notes:
This love song has a question and answer pattern which is found in the older type of Anglo-Scots ‘riddling’ ballads. In fact there is a Scots ballad, The Trooper and the Maid (Child no. 299), of similar theme from which the Anglo-Irish form may well derive. A similar courtship duet also appears in the Seduction Song Rolling in the Dew (No. 189, Kennedy) and in Where are you going to, my Pretty Maid?
The age of our incomparable maiden is given as ‘sixteen Monday morning’, but other versions, and that used as a convenience title by scholars, have ‘seventeen come Sunday’. It is a classic encounter, with the stage just right for rural romance: a bright May morning, the girl with shining hair hanging down over her shoulders, and the boy invited to return later when the moon shines bright and clearly. In the lingua franca of British folksong, ‘she leads his horse to the stable’.
Folk Songs of Britain and Ireland, ed. Peter Kennedy, pub. 1975
(See the recommended songbook list for more info)
The song ends with a line that is resonant of riddle ballads, answering the maid's question with an idiomatic "Never."
Lryics
http://chivalry.com/cantaria/lyrics/irovedout-2.html
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
And her buckles shone like silver
She had a dark and a roving eye
And her ear-rings tipped her shoulder
Chorus
"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"
Chorus
"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"
Chorus
"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?"
Chorus
I went to the house on the top of the hill
When the moon was shining clearly
She arose to let me in
But her mammy chanced to hear her
Chorus
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
Chorus
"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"
Chorus
"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?"
Chorus
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
Chorus