The Little Wee Croodin' Doo- Henry Broadwood (Sussex) pre-1893
[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 version has "croodin'" instead of "croodlin." A "Croodin' Doo" is a "Cooing Dove," although one of the earliest translations of this title is "Cooing Pigeon." Haha! See: Chambers 1929 Child K
R. Matteson 2018]
THE WEE LITTLE CROODIN' DOO
SECOND VERSION.
SUNG BY MR. HENRY FOWLER BROADWOOD,
Noted by Lucy Broadwood. (BORN 1811, DIED 1893), OF LYNE, SUSSEX.
1. "Where hae ye been the live-long day,
My wee little croodin' doo?
"I've been to see my stepmother,
Mammy, mak' my bed noo.
2 "And what did your step-mother give ye to eat,
My wee little croodin' doo?"
* "She gave me a wee, wee blue fish.
Mammy, mak' my bed noo."
3 "And what did ye do with the bones of the fish,
My wee little croodin' doo?"
"I gave them to my wee, wee dog.
Mammy, mak' my bed noo."
4 "And what did your dog when he'd eat of the bones,
My wee little croodin' doo?"
"He stretched his wee leggies and died:
Mammy, as I do noo."
The first musical impression that I can remember came from this song, sung by my father as I sat astride his knee when little more than two years old and in our Tweed-side home. I understood nothing of the plot and remember wondering why tears poured down my cheeks, for I was not conscious of naughtiness but rather of a strange new joy. My father learned the song when a little child from his mother, the daughter of Daniel Stewart of Glenfinlas and Glenbuckie in the Braes of Balquhidder, Perthshire. He sang it constantly to children, for whom it invariably had a strong fascination partly due to the pathos of his fine voice but chiefly due, I think, to the sincerity of the folk-ballad. Child includes many versions of the "Croodin' (or Croodlin') Doo" under the title "Lord Randal" in his English and Scottish Ballads. For variants of the "Lord Randal" form see "Lord Ronald" and "Three Drops of Poison" in this Journal. - L. E. B.
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Footnote:
*or "She gave me a little wee fish
Covered with green and with blue."
** For interesting Irish and Italian variants of the above ballad-story, see Appendix in this Journal.