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Lady Mary Anne

Date January 1970
Track ID 65598
Part 1

Track Information

Original Track ID

SA1970.22.B2

Original Tape ID

SA1970.022

Summary

In this song, a young woman loves a much younger boy. She decides to send him to school for another two years with a blue ribbon around his cap to let the ladies know that he's growing. The singer compares Mary Ann's beauty to a flower. Her sweetheart is described as the offspring of an oak who will grow to become the boast of the forest.

Item Notes

5 verses of 4 lines. On tape SA1973.151 there is an account of how Lizzie Higgins had help from her father (Donald Higgins) in adapting a pipe tune to fit this song. Her version is very close to Robert Burns' 'Lady Mary Ann', which is his adaptation of the traditional ballad known as 'The College Boy'.

See:
Greig-Duncan vol. 6, pp. 410-412, no. 1222
'Scotland Sings' (E. MacColl, 1953) pp. 78-79
'Bothy Songs & Ballads' (J. Ord, 1930) p. 112
'Singing Island' (E. MacColl & P. Seeger, 1960) p. 19
'Scottish Ballad Book' (N. Buchan, 1973) pp. 133-134
'The Scotish Minstrel' vol. 4 (R. A. Smith, 1824) p. 14
'Ballads of Scotland' vol. 2 (W. E. Aytoun, 1858) p. 117
'The Scottish Folksinger' (N. Buchan & P. Hall, 1973) p. 71
'Vagabond Songs & Ballads' vol. 2 (R. Ford, 1901) pp. 183-184
'Songs from David Herd's Manuscripts' (H. Hecht, 1904) p. 145
'Minstrelsy Ancient & Modern' (W. Motherwell, 1827) pp. 86-87
'Folksongs of Britain & Ireland' (P. Kennedy, 1975) pp. 473-474
'Traditional Ballad Airs' vol. 2 (W. Christie, 1881) pp. 212-213
'Everyman's Book of English Country Songs' (R. Palmer, 1979) pp. 178-180
'The Works of Robert Burns' (R. Burns ed. A. Cunningham, 1845 edn) pp. 410-411
'The Scots Musical Museum' vol. 4 (J. Johnson & R. Burns, 1853) p. 390, no.377
'Travellers' Songs from England and Scotland' (E. MacColl & P. Seeger, 1977) pp. 117-118

Recording Location

County - Aberdeenshire

Parish - Aberdeen

Village/Place - Aberdeen

Language

Scots

Genre

Song

Collection

SoSS

Classification

R31 GD1910 LO35 R5404 GD1222

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good