Four Marys- Hally Wood (TX) c.1957 Seeger REC
[This is not a traditional version of the ballad but rather an arrangement (probably by Wood) of Child J-- the tune was included in Child's ESPB. It was included on Volume 4 of Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger's series Blood and Roses, a collection of "traditional ballads from Scotland and North America", Peggy sings an unaccompanied version of "Mary Hamilton" (Child 173). She says that, "I learned this song from the singing of that magnificent Texas woman, Hally Wood. It is rather moving to think of a Texas singer telling the story of a doomed woman moving down ancient Edinburgh streets and laughing on the steps of Parliament..."
Wood's version was also recorded by Sandy Paton and his wide Caroline on Folk Legacy. According to Hally Wood's daughter, Cynthia (Cindy) Tannehill Faulk Ryland: "Mother always credited the unusual tune you're discussing to a Scottish collector . . ."
Following is some biographical information.
R. Matteson 2015]
Hally Wood (m./d. John Faulk) (m./d. Lou Gordon) was born September 29, 1922 and died July 22, 1989. She was a Texas-born singer active in the early days of People's Songs. Voice student at UT in 1955. She recorded Hally Wood sings Texas Folk Songs; Stinson SLP 73. c. 1955 also "Oh, Lovely Appearance of Death." for Elektra.
Bio by Bruce Eder: Born in Washington, D. C., Harriet Elizabeth "Hally" Wood (1922-1989) was the daughter of a U.S. Army doctor, who retired in San Antonio, Texas. While studying music at the University of Texas at Austin, she met John and Alan Lomax, and in 1940, she married John Henry Faulk, with whom she had one daughter. Following the end of World War II, Wood moved to New York City to work with such folk musicians as Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, and Pete Seeger. After divorcing Faulk in 1947, she married Spanish Civil War veteran Lou Gordon. Returning to Austin in 1953, Wood divorced Gordon and earned her bachelor’s degree while transcribing field recordings for the Lomaxes. She once again moved to New York City, performing with the Skifflers and other musicians. Upon moving to Puerto Rico in the late 1950s, Wood married Robert Clarence McCleod Stevenson, professor at the University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras.
Four Marys- sung by Peggy Seeger, as she received from Hally Wood, c.1957
My mother was a brave woman,
A brave woman and bold;
She sent me to the queen's court
When scarce eleven years old.
The queen's meat was so sweet,
The wine it was so fine,
That I had lain in the old king's arms
And rued it all sin syne.
News is to the kitchen
News has come to me
That Mary Hamilton's borne a babe
And thrown him in the sea.
Down came the old queen
Gold tassels round her head;
Mary Hamilton, where's the babe
That lay all in your bed?
Mary, put on your robe of black,
Put on your robe of brown;
Mary, come along with me
To ride to Edinburgh town.
She didn't put on the black, the black,
She didn't put on the brown.
She put on her brightest white
To ride to Edinburgh town.
As she rode up the Canongate
The Canongate rode she;
The ladies leaned over their casements
And wept for that lady.
As she walked up the Parliament Stairs
A loud, loud laugh gave she.
When she walked down the Parliament Stairs
She was condemned to die.
Go bring me the red wine,
The reddest that may be;
I'll drink a toast to the sailory boys
Who brought me over the sea.
Last night I washed the old queen's feet,
Put gold round her hair;
Today she gave me my reward
The gallows to be my share.
They'll put a kerchief round my eyes
They'll never more let me see;
They'll never let on to my mammy and my daddy
I died way over the sea.
Last night there were four Maries,
Tonight there'll be but three;
There's Mary Seaton and Mary Beaton,
Mary Carmichael and me.