The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #15389 Message #3006599
Posted By: Joe Offer
14-Oct-10 - 01:52 AM
Thread Name: Origins: The Bonnie Wee Window / ...Lassie
Subject: ADD Version: A Bonnie Wee Lassie
Here is a complete transcription of the Burl Ives version of this song.
A BONNIE WEE LASSIE
A Bonnie Wee Lassie whose name it was Nell,
Lived in a house where her grandmother dwelled.
The house it was small, and the windows no less,
Having four panes one needed a glass,
That nice little window,
The cute little window,
The sweet little window
Where grandmother dwelled.
"Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, I think it amiss,
Before going away just give me one kiss."
"That I will, Nellie," he answered her true;
To her surprise he poked his head through
That hole in the window,
That nice little window,
That cute little window
Where grandmother dwelled.
He gave her three kisses and great was the smack;
To his surprise he couldn't get his head back
From that hole in the window,
That nice little window,
That cute little window
Where grandmother dwelled.
He ripped and he tore, and he cursed and he swore,
Grandma heard the racket, jumped out on the floor;
She grabbed for the poker and a lick she gave one,
Another like that would have broke his backbone,
With his head in the window,
That nice little window,
That cute little window
Where grandmother dwelled.
She lifted the ladle from out of the pot,
No batter e'er took the beating he got;
He ran down the road with might and with main,
While around his shoulder the sash and the frame
Of that nice little window,
That cute little window,
That sweet little window
Where grandmother dwelled.
Traditional Scottish ballad
Additional verse by MacKinlay Kantor
source: The Burl Ives Song Book (Ballantine Books, 1953), pages 202-203