The False Bride
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1960.201.A1
Original Tape ID
Summary
In this song, a young man goes to the wedding of his former sweetheart, and tells her that she is falsely beguiled. He toasts the bride as the bonny lass that should have been his, but says [to the groom] that she is only his old shoes. He is asked how many blackberries grow in the sea and he replies as many as ships sail in the forest. He says he will take a long sleep and they can cover him over with lilies.
Item Notes
6 verses of 4 lines; song performed twice. This song is commonly known by names such as 'The False Bride', 'I Once Had a Lass' or 'It Wisna my Fortune to Get Her'. In this and other versions, the man dies of grief. However, some versions end with the protagonist shrugging off the rejection in the sure knowledge that he will find another partner.
See:
Greig-Duncan vol. 6, pp. 310-327, no. 1198
'Bothy Songs & Ballads' (J. Ord, 1930) p. 175
'Traveller's Joy' (M. Yates, 2006) pp. 109-110
'Come Gie's a Sang' (S. Douglas, 1995) pp. 24-25
'Singing Island' (E. MacColl & P. Seeger, 1960) p. 31
'The Sang's the Thing' (S. Douglas, 1992) pp. 226-227
'Last of the Tinsmiths' (S. Douglas, 2006) pp. 173-174
'Irish Street Ballads' (C. O Lochlainn, 1978) pp. 170-171
'Folksongs of Britain & Ireland' (P. Kennedy, 1975) p. 352
'Scottish Studies' 16 (J. Porter & H. Gower, 1972) p. 149
'Jeannie Robertson' (J. Porter & H. Gower, 1995) pp. 244-245
'Traditional Ballad Airs' vol. 2 (W. Christie, 1881) pp. 134-135
'Everyman's Book of English Country Songs' (R. Palmer, 1979) pp. 152-153
'Folk-Song of the North-East' (G. Greig, K. Goldstein, A. Argo, 1963 reprint) art. XXIV
Language
Scots
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Good