I Wish I Wish

Contributors

Higgins, Charlotte, 1895-1971 (612)

Fieldworkers

Henderson, Hamish, 1919-2002 (10) Fleming, Maurice, 1926-2020 (1486)

Date 10 July 1961

Track ID 37180

Part 1

Track Information

Original Track ID

SA1961.44.A4

Original Tape ID

SA1961.044

Summary

In this song, a young woman has been abandoned by her lover after falling pregnant by him. She sees him courting another girl and telling her "things he once told me". She wishes she were a maid again but knows that this will never be "till an apple it grows on an orange tree". She wishes her own baby could be born so that she might die.

Item Notes

7 verses of 4 lines.

See:
Greig-Duncan vol. 6, pp. 255-263, no. 1189
'Scottish Folksinger' (N. Buchan & P. Hall, 1973) p. 93

Recording Location

County - Angus

Parish - Dundee

Village/Place - Dundee

Language

English

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Fair