Miss Brown of Dublin City- Jeannie Robertson (Aber) c.1917 REC
[From: School of Scottish Studies. Original Tape ID - SA1953.198. Classification - GD201; LP36; R15. See also at the bottom of this page a second recording by Robertson titled, The Murder of Thomas Brown (with a few word changes).
This ballad, loosely based on the early 1800's broadside "Polly's Love," or traditional versions thereof, surfaced in the early 1900s and was recorded in the 1950s-- both in Ireland and Scotland. This is the first recording made --titled, "Miss Brown of Dublin City," by Scottish traveller, Jeannie Robertson and was recorded in September of 1953 at the time when Robertson, from Aberdeen, was staying at Alan Lomax's flat in London.
Robertson said in 1953 that she learned the ballad "over thirty ago" when she was about nine from and old woman in Aberdeen. Since Robertson was born in 1908 that would date the ballad about 1917. If I assume that the "old woman" knew the ballad when she was young, it would take it back to the mid-1800s.
An Irish version from the 1950s is longer with an additional 2 stanzas, the first based on "Green Grows the Laurel."
R. Matteson 2016]
Miss Brown of Dublin City- Sung by Jeannie Robertson; Sept. 1953. Reporters - Hamish Henderson; Jean Ritchie. Listen: http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/fullrecord/24303/1
In Dublin's fair city
In Dublin's fair town
In Dublin's fair city
There lived a Miss Brown.
For she courted a sailor
For seven long years,
And from the beginning
He called her his dear.
But one morning very early,
All by the break o' day.
For he came to her window
And to her he did say:
"Rise up bonnie Mary
And come along with me;
For such things they will happen
And such things we will see."
But he took her over mountains
And he took her over dales;
And he left his poor Mary
For to weep and for to wail[1].
"Oh sailor, Oh sailor,
Come spare me my life,"
But out of his pocket,
He drew a pocket knife.
Oh he stabbed her and he ripped her
And he cut her in three
And he buried poor Mary
Underneath a green tree.
1. cry (hard to hear)
-----------------
The Murder of Thomas Brown (just a few word changes different) made a month later in October 1953.
In Dublin's fair city
In Dublin's fair town
In Dublin's fair city
There lived a Miss Brown.
For she courted a sailor
For seven long years,
And from the beginning,
He called her his dear.
But one morning very early,
All by the break o' day.
He came to her window
And to her he did say:
"Rise up bonnie Mary
And come along with me;
For such things they will happen
And such things we will see."
But he took her over mountain(s)
And he took her over dale(s);
And he left his poor Mary
To weep and to wail[1].
"Oh sailor, Oh sailor,
Come spare me my life,"
But out of his pocket,
He drew a pocket knife.
Oh he stabbed her and he ripped her,
And he cut her in three;
And he buried poor Mary
Underneath a green tree.
1 cry (hard to hear)