Lizzie Lindsay- Kilbride (MA) 1953 Olney/Flanders
[From Flanders; Ancient Ballads III, 1963. Flanders/Coffin notes follow.
R. Matteson 2013, 2016]
Lizie Lindsay
(Child 226)
The story of Lizie Lindsay is the story of a girl whose noble suitor, disguised as a shepherd, requests that she "go to the Highlands" with him. Lizie is most reluctant, for she knows nothing of the man or his home. Her maid, however, is much impressed by the lover and wishes she were in a position to take his offer. Lizie finally gives in, dresses up, and leaves upon her arrival at her new home, she is quite homesick and regretful, but it is not long before she learns her lover is rich and she has indeed married well.
The tradition of this ballad in America is muddled by the fact that a derivative song, "The Blaeberry Courtship" (Laws N19), has borrowed stanzas from it and given stanzas to it and by the fact that it has become a storyless lyric in most areas. Phillips Barry, British Ballads from Maine, 297-300, discusses the problems associated with Child 226 quite thoroughly in connection with a New Brunswick text that is almost exactly like the Massachusetts one below. He comes to the conclusion that his text contains material from both the Child ballad and from the derivative. However, the Child version may not be completely free from the influence of "The Blaeberry Courtship" either.
Coffin, 135-136, gives an American bibliography and a summary of the problems associated with Child 226. See also Greig and Keith, 164 (Scottish). There are a few references to "The Blaeberry courtship" in Coffin, 135 (American), and in Dean-smith, 53 (English), but the best bibliography (Anglo-American) is in Laws, ABBB, 212.
Lizzie Lindsay- As sung by Mrs. Frances Kilbride of Brookline, Massachusetts, who learned, it from hearing her father and mother sing it. Mr. MacGregor, Mrs. Kilbride's father, was born in Scotland, and, came to this country with his daughter, who
was twenty-four years of age at t,he time. Mrs. Kilbride was born in Glasgow. When three months old she was taken by her parents to the North Coast (outside of Aberdeen), where she remained until coming to America. M. Olney, Collector
September 21, 1953. Structure: A B A C (4,4,4,4); Rhythm divergent; Contour: undulating; Scale: hexachordal
"Will ye gang tae the Hielands, Lizzie Lindsay,
Will ye gang tae the Hielands wi' me?
Will ye gang to the Hielands, Lizzie Lindsay,
My bride, my darling tae be?"
"Oh, what hae ye got in the Hielands, sir,
Oh, what hae ye got?" quoth she.
"Oh, what hae ye got in the Hielands, kind sir,
Gin I gang tae the Hielands wi' thee?"
"Oh, I hae got a hoose, Lizzie Lindsay,
I hae got a fine ha';
Oh, I hae got a hoose, Lizzie Lindsay,
A hoose in the Hielands for thee."
"I'll no gang tae the Hielands wi' thee, sir,
I'll no gang tae the Hielands wi' thee;
For dark is the nicht, and the road it is lang;
I'll no gang tae the Hielands wi' thee."
Will ye gang tae rhe Hielands, Lizzie Lindsay,
Will ye gang, bonnie Lizzie, wi' me?
Will ye gang tae be wife tae MacDonald,
His bride and his darlin' tae be?"
Mrs. Kilbride says, "There is one more verse- a reply- but I cannot recall it."