The Little Wee Croodin' Doo- Cremer (Lan.) 1909
[From: Songs from Scotland and the North Country by Lucy E. Broadwood, Cecil J. Sharp, A. G. Gilchrist; Journal of the Folk-Song Society, Vol. 5, No. 19 (Jun., 1915), pp. 104-121.
This is a rare English version of Croodin' Doo.
R. Matteson 2011, 2018]
8. THE LITTLE WEE CROODIN' DOO.
FIRST VERSION
SUNG BY MRS. F. D. CREMER,
Noted by A. G. Gilchrist. AT ECCLES, LANCASHIRE, FEB. I2TH, I909.
1. "Oh, where have you been this live - long day,
My lit - tle wee croo - din' doo? ' [i.e., cooing dove]
"I've been to see my step mo-ther,
Mar - mee, oh, make my bed noo!"
2 "And what did your step-mother give you to eat,
My little wee croodin' doo ? "
" She gave me but a wee, wee fish
All covered with green and blue."
3 " And what did you do with the bones of the fish,
My little wee croodin' doo ? "
" I gave them to my wee, wee dog-
Marmee, oh make my bed noo ! "
4 " And what did your dog when he'd ate up the fish,
My little wee croodin' doo ? "
" He stretched his wee, wee limbs and died-
Marmee, as I do noo-
Marmee, as I do noo! "
Mrs. Cremer learnt this song from her mother, who was a Yorkshire woman. The song probably came over the Border, as "Bonnie wee croodin' Doo" is a Scottish nursery form of " Lord Randal." See Journal, Vol. ii, No. 6; and Vol. iii, No. 10,
for notes on this ballad and the " step-mother " variation of the theme. Mrs. Cremer's version of the text is a good deal like that printed in Chambers' Popular Rhymes, as sung by Mrs. Lockhart, Sir Walter Scott's daughter, but the tune is not the same.
-A. G. G.