X:2
T:Queen Mary
F:/songs
B:Journal of the Folk Song Society, vol.V issue 19, 1915.
S:Sung by Liverpool girls at the Training Home, Southport, Lancashire.
Z:Annie Geddes Gilchrist.
M:6/8
L:1/8
K:D A|A F A A F A|d c B A2 A|
w:Queen Ma-ry, Queen Ma-ry, my age is six-teen, My A E F G F G|B2 A A2 A|A F A A G A|
w:fath-er's a farm-er in yon-der green, With plen-ty of mon-ey to d c B A2 A/ A/|A E F G F E|D d d d2|]
w:dress me in silk, Come a-long, bon-ny las-sie, and give me a waltz. Sharp collected versions in Somerset as <i>Kitty is My Name</i>, <i>Miss Janey</i> and <i>My Name is Sweet Daisy</i>; these are unpublished. There are several sets in the Greig-Duncan collection, and in Maud Gomme's <i>Traditional Games of England, Scotland and Ireland</i>. The apparent ancestral piece seems to have appeared on at least one broadside; there is one such in the Madden collection, entitled <i>A Young Maid's Lamentation for the Want of a Husband</i>, beginning, <i>My name its Jane, and my age is sixteen...</i>. The song also survived outside the context of children's games; a set appears in <i>Sam Henry's Songs of the People</i> (Huntington and Herrmann, 1990). It came from Pat Hackett of Stone Row, Coleraine, in 1928; the text is collated from what Henry described as &quot;the best [parts] of three versions received&quot;. <b>Nae Bonnie Laddie tae Tak' Me Awa'</b> My name it is Jean and my age is fifteen, My father's a farmer, he leeves near the Green, He has money in plenty, that mak's me sae braw, And there's no bonnie laddie tae tak' me awa'. When I rise in the morning my spirits is low, The very first thing tae the taypot I go, With my toes in the ashes I sit by the wa' And sigh for a laddie tae tak' me awa'. My shoes they are made o' the 'lastic so strong, That they are admired by both old and young, A sixpence would cover my heels, they're so sma', Yet there's nae bonnie laddie tae tak' me awa'. It's ten times a day I luk in the glass, I think tae mysel' I'm a gye bonnie lass, Wi' my hands on my hinches I gie a "Ha, ha!" Saying, "Is there nae bonnie laddie tae tak' me awa'?" At church every Sunday I'm sure to be there, But the clergy ne'er mentions in preachin' or prayer, In preachin' or prayer there's nae word ava Tae order young men tae tak' lasses awa'. Each evening at duskis I mak' mysel' clean, Wi' ruffles an' ribbons as gay as a queen, Wi' the finest hair cushions and curls sae braw, Yet there's nae bonnie laddie tae tak' me awa'. And when I come hame then my mother does cry, "For as braw as ye're dressed a' the lads pass ye by, Ere I was your age I had lads twenty-twa, But I think ne'er a laddie will tak' ye awa'." This speech o' my mother's it mak's me quite mad, For tae think that I'm courted by never a lad, Yet I hope the time's comin' when it will end a' And some bonnie laddie will tak' me awa'. Then be not offended at what I hae said, For it's but the language o' every young maid, It's the wish o' a' wishes o' yin and o' a' That some bonnie laddie will tak' them awa'.