Johnnie o Braidislee
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1973.113.B1
Original Tape ID
Summary
In this ballad, Johnnie goes hunting against the wishes of his mother, and kills a deer. While resting, he is spotted by an old man, who betrays him to the local foresters. When the foresters move to attack him, he kills all of them but one, but is himself mortally wounded.
Item Notes
11 verses of 4 lines with the last line of each verse repeated. Many versions of this song mention places in Aberdeenshire, such as Monymusk and Esslemont; however, scholars generally agree that early versions suggest that this is originally a Border ballad.
See:
Greig-Duncan vol. 2, pp. 232-245, no. 250
'Tocher' 36/37 (1981-1982) pp. 426-427
'Ballad Book' (M. Leach, 1955) pp. 324-332
'Traveller's Joy' (M. Yates, 2006) pp. 84-85
'Scottish Ballads' (E. Lyle, 1994) pp. 48-50
'Scotland Sings' (E. MacColl, 1953) pp. 29-30
'101 Scottish Songs' (N. Buchan, 1962) pp. 42-43
'Bothy Songs & Ballads' (J. Ord, 1930) pp. 467-469
'Singing Island' (E. MacColl & P. Seeger, 1960) p. 84
'The Scottish Ballads' (R. Chambers, 1829) pp. 182-186
'Ballads of Scotland' vol. 1 (W. E. Aytoun, 1858) pp. 44-47
'Ancient Scottish Ballads' (G. R. Kinloch, 1827) pp. 36-43
'Book of Scottish Ballads' (A. Whitelaw, 1845) pp. 405-407
'Minstrelsy Ancient & Modern' (W. Motherwell, 1827) pp. 17-24
'Everyman's Book of British Ballads' (R. Palmer, 1980) pp. 112-115
'Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border' vol. 2 (W. Scott, 1806) pp. 328-335
'Last Leaves of Traditional Ballads' (A. Keith & G. Greig, 1925) pp. 92-95
Recording Location
County - Kinross-shire
Parish - Kinross
Village/Place - Kinross
Item Location
County - Aberdeenshire
Language
Scots
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Good