Leezie Lindsay- McGill (NB) 1927 Barry
[From British Ballad from Maine, 1929; Barry, Eckstorm and Smyth. Barry's notes follow. It should be noted that McGill's version, properly titled Leezie Lyndsay, was likely prompted by Child's texts.
R. Matteson 2013, 2016]
Leezie Lindsay- Sent in November, 1927, by Mrs. James McGill, Chamcook, New Brunswick. Melody recorded by Mr. George Herzog.
1. "Will ye gang tae the Hielans, Leezie Lyndsay,
Will ye gang tae the Hielans wi' me?
Will ye gang tae the Hielands, Leezie Lyndsay,
My bryde and my darling tae be?"
2. "O what hae ye got in the Hielans, sir,
O what hae ye got?" quoth she;
"O what hae ye got in the Hielans, kind sir,
Gin I gang tae the Hielans wi' thee?"
3. "O, I hae got a hoose, Leezie Lyndsay,
O, I hae got a fine ha',
O, If hae got a hoose, Leezie Lyndsay,
A hoose in the Hielans for thee."
4 "I'll no gang tae the Hielans wi' thee, sir,
I'll no gang tae the Hielans wi' thee;
For dark is the nicht, an' the road it is lang,
I'll no gang tae the Hielans wit thee."
On September 28, 1928, Mrs. McGill sang the first and last of the foregoing stanzas, with slight verbal changes: "you" for "thee," and in the third line of stanza 4, "the nicht it is dark." A fifth stanza, communicated, with the melody, by Mrs. McGill, in July, 1928, is as follows:
5. "Will ye gang tae the Hielans, Lezzie Lindsay,
Will ye geng, bonnie Lezzie wi' me?
Will ye gang tae be wife tae Macdonell,
His bride and his darlin' tae be?"
The relation of the above texts to the ballad of "Lizzie Lindsay," at given by Child in nine versions, is difficult to establish. Child's texts agree in the main features of the story; Lizzie Lindsay, with some misgivings, follows her lover, who represents himself as a poor man's son, to the Highlands. Once arrived in the Highlands, weary and homesick, she regrets her decision, whereupon her lover reveals himself as a rich young laird of a grand estate. Mrs. McGill's fifth stanza, which may be a fragment of the older tradition of the ballad, has kept the name Macdonell, and appears not to belong closely with the four stanzas of the text as originally sent in. Her earlier text, in fact, is nearer to the secondary tradition of the ballad-- less a version of the ballad itself than a song pendant to the ballad.
Burns sent with the air to Johnson, a single stanza of "Lizzie Lindsey" corresponding to the first stanza of Mrs. McGill's text, with a promise of additional verses from his own pen, which he never wrote. Two songs by Robert Allan, built up on the Burns fragment were printed in The Scottish Minstrel, third edition, II, 100, 101; a third, similarly built up, by Robert Gilfillan was printed in Graham's, Songs of Scotland, II, 82. No one of the three keeps to the thread of the romance, as we have it in the older tradition of the ballad. A detail of the secondary tradition, which distinguishes at once the later from the earlier form, is in the second of Allan's two songs, according to which, the lover declares himself to be a noble lord. we have a similar situation in the third stanza of Mrs. McGill's first text.
The characteristic feature of the secondary tradition of the ballad, the declaration by the lover of his true estate, has backed into the traditional form of the older ballad as well. In Gavin Greig's A text (Last Leaves, p. 164), the suitor says, in answer to the question of Lady Dysie's old mother:
"My father he's laird o'Kinkussie,
My mother she's lady the same,
My name it is Donald Macdonald,
To tell it I never think shame."
This stanza, in the form in which we have it, shows the effect of the secondary tradition on the form of the similar stanza found in child B, 9 (compare C, 7; D, 7; E, 16; F, 10; H, 8):
"My father he is an auld shepherd,
My mither, she is an auld dey;
My name it is Donald Macdonald,
My name I'll never deny."
The retention of the name Macdonell in Mrs. McGill's fifth stanza brings this part of her text into closer relation with Greig A. The melody to which Mrs. McGill sings the ballad is clearly old, and, no doubt, traditional. There are only two known melodies to the ballad, the air sent to Johnson by Burris, of which several variants exist, and an air printed by Christie (II, 88). The Museum air was printed in The Scottish Minstrel, third edition, II, 100, 101, in two variants or "sets," as the editor called them, fitted to the words of Robert Allan's two songs. Mrs. McGill's air shows more affinities with the second "set" of the Museum air than with the first, yet it has undergone considerable change through the introduction of a second strain.