The Murder of Miss Mary Brown- Maggie Stewart (Aber) 1954
[No source given. From: School of Scottish Studies (online). Track Duration (h:m:s) - 00:02:09. Track ID - 62089. Original Tape ID - SA1954.102
The informant, Maggie Stewart (her father William Stewart and mother, Mary Croll) was Jeannie Robertson's aunt. Naturally their versions are very similar. Porter's and Gower in "Jeannie Robertson; Emergent Singer, Transformative Voice" write about Maggie's influence on Jeannie's singing: "They also heard their aunt, Margaret Stewart, who was celebrated in the community for her fine singing voice and vast collection of songs inherited from her mother."
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 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 addtional 2 stanzas, the first based on "Green Grows the Laurel."
R. Matteson 2016]
The Murder of Miss Mary Brown- Sung by Maggie Stewart of Aberdeenshire. Recorded by Hamish Henderson in August, 1954. Listen: http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/play/62089;jsessionid=4335B26EE774A4315DD8555DB4BC7EA1
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 at the beginning
He called her his dear.
O early one morning,
About the break of day,
He came to her window,
To her he did say:
"Rise up bonnie Mary,
And come along with me,
Until we'll be married
Such strange thing(s) we'll see.
He took her over mountains
And he took her and over dales
And he left poor Mary
To weep and to wail[1].
O pardon me sailor
Come pardon me my life
And out of his pocket,
He drew out a pen knife.
For he cut her into pieces
And he cut her into three
And he buried poor Mary
Under a bonnie green tree.
I'll go home to my parents,
And tell them what I've done
I'll ask them to pardon
Their prodigal son.
1. To weep and to cry