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Young Emslie

Date 11 October 1979
Track ID 66259
Part 1
Part 2

Track Information

Original Track ID

SA1979.141.B3

Original Tape ID

SA1979.141

Summary

In this tragic ballad, Emslie's sweetheart, Edward, returns from sea with a lot of money. Fearing for his safety, she warns him not to tell her parents. She then has a foreboding dream that Edward has been murdered, and on waking confronts her parents. They admit murdering him, and the girl has them executed.

Stanely Robertson explains that there are many versions in England and Scotland and gives some variant titles.

Item Notes

8 verses of 4 lines; song performed twice - first performance cut short due to tape error, then song and preamble repeated in full. Also known as 'Young Emma' or 'Edwin (or Edmund) in the Lowlands Low'.

See:
'Tocher' 9 (1973) pp. 16-17
Greig-Duncan vol. 2 pp. 14-21, no. 189
'Folksongs Sung in Ulster' (R. Morton, 1970) pp. 53-54
'Jeannie Robertson' (J. Porter & H. Gower, 1995) pp. 234-236
'Sam Henry's Songs of the People' (G. Huntington, 1990) p. 434
'Folk-Song of the North-East' (G. Greig, K. Goldstein & A. Argo, 1963 reprint) art. CXXIII

Recording Location

County - Aberdeenshire

Parish - Aberdeen

Village/Place - Aberdeen

Language

English

Collection

SoSS

Classification

R182 GD189 LG11

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good