Hi,

Steve, one of the important Scottish versions is sung by Sam Davidson 1863–1951 of Auchedly, Tarves Aberdeen; a farmer of North Seat Farm and well known singer who learned ballads from his farm hands. This dates 1907 when Greig collected it but is probably from the late 1800s.

1. A brisk young sailor came courting me,
He stole frae me my liberty;
He stole it with my ain free goodwill,
And I canna deny but I love him still.

2. Such a foolish young girl was I
To lay my love on a sailor boy;
A sailor boy altho' that he be,
He aye pro'ved true when he courted me.

3. As lang as my apron was to my toe
He followed me thro' frost and snow;
But now my apron's to my knee
He cares nae mair for my company.

4. There's an alehouse in yonder town
My love gangs and he sets himself down,
He takes another fair maid on his knee,
And he tells her what he has done to me?

5. There's a blackbird on yonder tree,
Some says it's blind and canna see,
I wish it had been the case with me,
When first I fell in his company.

6. I wish, I wish but I wish in vain,
I wish I were a maid again,
But a maid again I'll never be
Till an apple grows on an orange tree.

6. I wish my baby it was born,
And set upon its nurse's knee,
And I myself were dead and gone
And the long green grass growing over me.

7. I saw her love come in last night[1]
To search for his own heart's delight,
He ran upstairs, the doors he broke,
He found his love hanging on the rope.

8. He's ta'en his knife and he's cut her down,
And in her breast this note it was found:
"I promised to be this young man's wife,
And for his sake hae ta'en my life."

9. "You'll go dig my grave both long, wide and deep,
Put a marble stone at my head and my feet,
And in the midst a turtle-dove,
To let all the world know that I died in love."

1. dialogue abruptly shifts to 3rd person

What's clear here is the suicide is part of the UK tradition, and there are other versions. "Butcher Boy" is not used in the Scottish versions with the suicide.

* * * *

I'm looking at the New England versions now and they are very similar to many of the UK versions. Davidson's version (posted above) has the "Brisk Young Sailor" stanza not found in the US as such. The Helen Hartness Flanders Ballad Collection has several versions that sound like UK versions. This corresponds fairly closely to I Wish, I Wish.

Butcher Boy - voice performance by Mrs. John Fairbanks at N. Springfield, Vermont. Dated 10-05-1939.

I Wish I wish I wish in vain,
I wish I was a maid again,
But a maid again I'll never be,
Til an orange grows on an apple tree.

When I wore my dresses low
He followed me through frost and snow,
Now I wear them to my chin,
He'll pass the door, and won't stop in.

Here's another example (first four stanzas given) from Flanders with the Davidson's "Blackbird" stanza. The informant is Irish:

Butcher Boy - voice performance by William Webster at Wakefield (Rhode Island). Classification #: LAP24. Dated 11-13-1952.

In Jersey City where I dwelled,
A butcher boy I loved so well,
He courted me my heart away
And then with me, he would not stay.

There is a house right in this town,
Where my love goes she sits him down,
He takes a strange girl on his knee,
And tells to her what he once tells to me.

Oh grief, oh grief I will tell you why,
Because she has more gold than I
Her gold will melt and silver fly,
She'll see the day she'll be as poor as I.

There is a bird, right in this tree,
Some say she's blind and she cannot see she
I wish to the Lord it's the same with me,
Before I fell into his company.

These are transcriptions I've made that are unavailable online and are not listed in Roud index. The titles were given by Flanders and may not be local titles.

Richie