Hi,

Brian Miller emailed me yesterday:

Hi

This was a very long time ago! I believe I found it in a book in Rutherglen Library. From memory it could have been Ford's Vagabond Songs. Or maybe Christie. Might be able to check once home.

I once heard Martin Carthy sing a quite different ballad to the same tune. Pretty sure he said it was from Ford. Later he recorded with Dave Swarbrick another longer version of the two sisters ballad with this tune but lyrics from a different source. Think the CD was called something like Life and Limb.

Hope that helps a bit.

Brian         

PS I was at Strathclyde University from 1968 to 1972. Not Glagow. I believe the recording was made at Blairgowrie TMSA festival singing competition.

* * * *

After checking it was from Christie who used Peter Buchan's text (1828, below) and made some slight changes. Here are the notes and text from Buchan's "Ballads of the North of Scotland" II, 128, 1828.

Buchan's notes: I have seen four or five different versions of this ballad; but none in this dress, nor with the same chorus, which makes me give its insertion here. In this copy, we are informed that the lady's suitor was a king's son, whereas, in most of the others, he was only a baron. The fatal incidents are nearly the same. The old woman, from whose recitation I took it down, says she had heard another way of it, quite local, whose burden runs thus:- “Even into Buchanshire, vari, vari, O.”

THE BONNY BOWS O' LONDON

THERE were twa sisters in a bower,
Hey wi' the gay and the grinding ;
And ae king's son hae courted them baith,
At the bonny, bonny bows o' London.

He courted the youngest wi' brooch and ring,
Hey wi' the gay and the grinding;
He courted the eldest wi' some other thing,
At the bonny, bonny bows o' London.

It fell ance upon a day,
Hey wi' the gay and the grinding;
The eldest to the youngest did say,
At the bonny, bonny bows o' London:

“Will ye gae to the bonnie mill-dam
Hey wi' the gay and the grinding;
And see our father's ships come to land,
At the bonny, bonny bows o' London.”

They baith stood up upon a stane,
Hey wi' the gay and the grinding;
The eldest dang the youngest in,
At the bonny, bonny bows o' London.

She swimmed up, sae did she down,
Hey wi' the gay and the grinding;
Till she came to the Tweed mill-dam,
At the bonny, bonny bows o' London.

The miller's servant he came out,
Hey wi' the gay and the grinding;
And saw the lady floating about,
At the bonny, bonny bows o' London.

“O master, master, set your mill,
Hey wi' the gay and the grinding;
There is a fish, or a milk-white swan,
At the bonny, bonny bows o' London.”

They could not ken her yellow hair,
Hey wi' the gay and the grinding;
The scales o' gowd that were laid there,
At the bonny, bonny bows o' London.

They could not ken her fingers sae white,
Hey wi' the gay and the grinding;
The rings o' gowd they were sae bright,
At the bonny, bonny bows o' London.

They could not ken her middle sae jimp,
Hey wi' the gay and the grinding;
The stays o' gowd were so well laced,
At the bonny, bonny bows o' London.

They could not ken her foot sae fair,
Hey wi' the gay and the grinding;
The shoes o' gowd they were so rare,
At the bonny, bonny bows o' London.

Her father's fiddler he came by,
Hey wi' the gay and the grinding;
Upstarted her ghaist before his eye,
At the bonny, bonny bows of London.

“Ye'll take a lock o' my yellow hair,
Hey wi' the gay and the grinding;
Ye'll make a string to your fiddle there,
At the bonny, bonny bows of London.

“Ye'll take a lith o' my little finger bane,
Hey wi' the gay and the grinding;
And ye’ll make a pin to your fiddle then,
At the bonny, bonny bows o' London.”

He’s ta'en a lock o’ her yellow hair,
Hey wi' the gay and the grinding;
And made a string to his fiddle there,
At the bouny, bonny bows o' London.

He's taen a lith o' her little finger bane,
Hey wi' the gay and the grinding;
And he's made a pin to his fiddle then,
At the bonny, bonny bows o' London.

The first and spring the fiddle did play,
Hey wi' the gay and the grinding:
Said, “Ye'll drown my sister, as she's dune me,
At the bonny, bonny bows o' London.”
* * * *

Richie