Hi,

I'm going to make several long posts of my headnotes. They are in a rough draft stage but won't change much. The entire headnotes, nearly completed, are here: http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/9-seventeen-come-sunday.aspx

Part 1 (footnotes at the end):

["Seventeen Come Sunday" is a series of ballads and songs[1] about a mature man or soldier who spies a young "pretty maid" or "bonny lass" and asks her a series of questions to seduce her. One question he asks is "How old are you, my pretty maid/bonnie lass?" to which she replies "I'm seventeen come Sunday." Although her age varies (fifteen/sixteen etc.), this question and answer represents the identifying stanza of these ballads-- hereafter called the "seventeen come Sunday" stanza and also the "How old" (How old are you?) stanza. The identifying stanza is not always present and usually follows the "Where are you going/errand for my mammy" stanza. The "Seventeen Come Sunday" ballads were very popular in The British Isles and also found in North America and Australia. The "seventeen come Sunday" stanza has become a ballad commonplace in the US and is found in a variety of related songs. Two songs that are similar to, or derived from "Seventeen," 9A. I Love my Love (Owre Yon High, High Hill) and 9B. Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss , have been added as appendices.

The earliest record of the "seventeen come Sunday" songs comes from Scotland in the first half the 1700s[2]. My A versions, Aa-An, have a variety of titles but all feature the Waukrife Mammy(Wakeful Mother) who awakens and finds her young daughter in bed with a man. The wakeful mother blows the fire or take a coal from the fire to illuminate the room and tries identify her daughter's lover. He creeps from the bed, pushes her mother away(into the fire) and runs outside where he hides in a field. The mother takes her daughter by the hair to the floor and with a hickory switch (stick) beats her and she is now a "weel-paid dochter" (well-punished daughter). The "seventeen come Sunday" identifying stanza (How old are you?) is present in Ac, Ae and Ag-An. According to Thomas Lyle[3], the Scottish variants of Waukrife Mammy date before Robert Burns time in both Aryshire and Renfrewshire. Since Burns was born in 1759, ascribing a date of c.1750 for Aa, Wakerife Mammy seems to be conservative since Burns and Cunningham both call it "an old song[4]." Lyle indicates in his notes (Ancient Ballads and Songs, 1827) that the famous version, Waukrife Minnie from the pen of Robert Burns (my Ab) and the additional stanzas from Alan Cunningham (my Ad) are both "faulty." Lyle provides no explanation why Burns and Cunningham stanzas are "faulty" although several of Burns's stanzas are amended. Lyle names no informants and his version would seem to be an arrangement of standard stanzas sung "chiefly from tradition." Aa is given now in full from Ancient Ballads and Songs: Chiefly from Tradition, Manuscripts, and Scarce Works (edited by Thomas Lyle):

THE WAKERIFE MAMMY.

1. As I gaed o'er the Highland hills,
I met a bonnie lassie;
Wha' look'd at me, and I at her,
And O but she was saucy.

2. Whare are ye gaun, my bonnie lass,
Whare are ye gaun, my lammy;
Right saucily she answer'd me,
An errand to my mammy.

3. An' whare live ye, my bonnie lass,
Whare do ye won, my lammy;
Right modestly she answer'd me,
In a wee cot wi' my mammy.

4. Will ye tak' me to your wee house,
I'm far frae hame, my lammy;
Wi' a leer o' her eye, she answer'd me,
   I darna for my mammy.

5. But I fore up the glen at e'en,
To see this bonnie lassie;
And lang before the gray morn cam',
She wasna' half sae saucie.

6. O weary fa' the wakerife cock,
An' the fumart lay his crawing;
He wauken'd the auld wife frae her rest,
A wee blink or the dawing.

7. Wha straught began to blaw the coal,
To see gif she could ken me;
But I crap out from whare I lay,
And took the fields to skreen me.

8. She took her by the hair o' the head,
As frae the spence she brought her,
An' wi' a gude green hazel wand,
   She's made her a weel paid dochter.

9. Now fare thee weel, my bonnie lass,
An fare thee weel, my lammy,
Tho' thou has a gay, an' a weel-far't face,
Yet thou has a wakerife mammy.

Following are Lyle's notes which are given in full[5]: "The 'Wakerife mammy,' is here noted down with some trifling corrections, from the west country set of the Ballad, where its day of popularity amongst the peasantry, was equal, at least, with that of the foregoing one. Burns says that he picked up a version of it from a country girl's singing in Nithsdale, and that he never either met with the song or the air to which it is sung elsewhere in Scotland. We marvel not a little at this, after considering how very common the Ballad has been over the shires of Ayr and Renfrew, both before and since the Poet's day; so common, indeed, is it still, that we have had some demurings about inserting it here at all. The air is a very pretty one, with two lines of a nonsensical chorus, sung after each stanza, which certainly merits other verses to be adapted for it, when like many other wanderers of the day, it then might again be received into favour. Burns's copy, in Johnston's Museum, differs a good deal from the foregoing one, besides wanting the commencing stanza. Cunningham's set of words in the second volume of his 'Songs of Scotland,' is equally faulty. "

In Aa, the "Wakerife Mammy" the action is described in first person by a gentleman[6] who meets a bonny lass as he's going over the Highland hills. He then poses a number of questions to the lass including two of these fundamental questions: 1) Where are you going? 2) Where do you live? 3) How old are you? That evening he goes to her mammy's house, quietly enters and gets in bed with the lass-- noting that after their lovemaking she "wasn't half as saucy." The cock crows arousing her wakeful mother who enters the room and blows on the coals of the fire (or takes a coal from the fire) to see if she knows her daughter's lover. He creeps out of the bed, pushes her mammy towards (into) the fire and runs outside where the fields hide him. The mother takes the daughter by the hair to the floor and with a hickory switch makes her a well-punished (well beaten) daughter. In Ac and Al her daughter begs her mammy to "hold her hand" and stop the beating, pointing out her mammy had done the same thing before. From the field her lover bids her "fare-thee-well" saying she has a fair face but a wakeful mother.

Although Lyle presumes that his version (Aa) is a correct version, it is missing several stanzas, most importantly the "How old are you" stanza known as the "seventeen come Sunday" stanza. Whether the "seventeen come Sunday" stanza is part of the ur-ballad[7] or was added later is a matter of speculation. Since its existence is confirmed by Ac (1795), Ae, and Ag-An, it would be safe to presume that it is an original stanza[8]. Other questions such as "Will you take a man?" may have been added by singers and ballad writers because by 1795, a hackneyed print version (Ac) appeared that included both questions[9]. Also missing in Lyle's "correct" version is a standard short chorus which by the mid-1800s included the chorus variant, "with a rolling eye."

In the early versions of Waukrife Mammy there's no indication that her lover is a soldier yet by the mid-1800s the "Soldier Will you marry me?" stanza has been attached (see: "My Rolling Eye," Ford, c. 1850). The addition of the soldier comes from the first extant revision usually titled "Maid and Soldier" (see B, covered later)-- showing a mixture of A and B.

The only duplication in the A versions is a nearly identical version to Lyle's Aa which is my Af, "The Waukrife Mammy," dated 1830 from a Scottish chapbook (no publisher given) printed in Falkirk from the chapbook, "Two Old Songs- The Perjured Maid, The Waukrife Mammy (view at http://digital.tcl.sc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/rbc/id/2273/rec/2). The circa 1830 date (it's also dated 1840 at the same site) indicates it has probably been reprinted from Lyle's 1827 version.

Ab, is the famous version from Robert Burns who gave the source as "a country girl in Nithsdale." The identity of the "country girl" is revealed in Cromek's " Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song ," 1810, which has a song, "Oh who is this under my window," that was also taken from the same informant. The first half of the headnote is:

This old song is taken down from the singing of Martha Crosbie, from whose recitation Burns wrote down the song of "The Waukrife Minnie."

According to Cunningham, Martha Crosbie also entertained young Alan Cunningham at his father's house[10]. Although Cunningham does not mention her as Burns' source in 1825, he says, " I have heard it often sung in my youth, and sung with curious and numerous variations ." Cunningham adds " I believe it to be a very old song ."

According to Cunningham[11], Burns text was reworked by the Bard: " I am of opinion, nevertheless, that a large portion of it is the work of Burns himself. That several of the verses have been amended by him I have not the least doubt. It may gratify some to know that he lessened the indelicacy without impairing the wit of the song ."

Cunningham's allegation that Burn expurgated the ballad because of its content is probably not accurate. The ballad, which is about the seduction of a young lass has always been regarded as somewhat bawdy and Burns stanzas are also. It's clear that Burns took down the stanzas he heard and edited them-- but not to expurgate them. However, aside from the the obvious bawdy nature of a ballad about the seduction of a young virgin by an older man whose mother wakes and finds them in bed-- explicit bawdy details about the sex act itself are not found-- they are only implied. When James Reeves included a version of Seventeen Come Sunday in his 1958 book, The Idiom of the People, he speculated, " The original of this song, whatever it was, shocked all other editors, from the eighteenth century onwards. " It now seems with 15 versions of A to consider (Aa-An) that the original is known. With the title of Ac is " The Lassie Lost Her Maidenhead a' for Her Waukrif Mammie " (the lass lost her virginity despite her wakeful mother), it's clear that the Edinburgh publisher was not concerned about the appearance of impropriety. It is true that Patrick Weston Joyce, Baring-Gould and Cecil Sharp changed or edited their published texts.

Here is Burns' text[12] taken from Martha Crosbie, a carder and spinner of wool from Nithsdale, circa 1788. His brief comment on the ballad follows:

I PICKED up this old song and tune from a country girl in Nithsdale. I never met with it elsewhere in Scotland:

A Waukrife Minnie

1. Whare are you gaun, my bonnie lass?
Whare are you gaun, my hinnie?
She answered me right saucilie?
An errand for my minnie.

2. O, whare live ye, my bonnie lass?
O, where live ye, my hinnie?
By yon burn-side, gin ye maun ken,
In a wee house wi' my minnie.

3. But I foor up the glen at e'en,
To see my bonnie lassie;
And lang before the grey morn cam'
She was na hauf sae saucie.

4. O, weary fa? the waukrife cock,
And the foumart lay his crawin'!
He waukened the auld wife frae her sleep,
A wee blink or the dawin.

5. An angry wife I wat she raise,
And o'er the bed she brought her;
And with a mickle hazel rung
She made her a weel-payed dochter.

6. O, fare thee weel, my bonnie lass,
O, fare thee weel, my hinnie:
Thou art a gay and a bonnie lass,
But thou hast a waukrife minnie.

This is a simple translation which may help the reader, not versed in Scot dialect, to better understand the text. "Mammy" is obviously "mother" and "bonnie" is "pretty":

1. "Where are you going, my bonnie lass?
Where are you going, my honey?"
She answered me right saucily: -
"An errand for my mammy."

2. "O, where live you, my bonnie lass?
O, where live you, my honey?"
"By yon stream side, if you must know,
In a little house with my mammy."

3. But I went up the glen at evening,
To see my bonnie lassie,
And long before the grey morn came,
She was not half so saucy."

4. "O, woe befall the wakeful cock,
And the polecat stop his crowing!
He awakened the old woman from her sleep,
A little bit before the dawning."

5. An angry wife I know she rose,
And out of the bed she brought her,
And with a large hazel switch,
She made her a well-punished daughter.

6. "O, fare-thee-well, my bonnie lass!
O, fare-thee-well, my honey!
You are a gay and a bonnie lass,
But you have a wakeful mammy!"

The text from Burns when compared to Lyle's text shows that Burns, in fact, didn't do many revisions (see Cunningham's comments above). Line 3 of stanza 2, and lines 1 and 2 of stanza 5 appear to be the recreations-- just 3 lines out of 24. Burns' version is incomplete having 6 stanzas compared to the 9 stanzas given by Lyle and the 11 stanzas found in the 1795 print. Stanzas 3 and 4 do not correspond to the majority of versions but are corroborated by Lyle. The possibility that Lyle added stanzas to Burns version exists but considering Lyle's notes on his version and his corrections of several of Burns stanzas-- this is doubtful. In 1825 two additional stanzas, my Ad, were given by Alan Cunningham, supposedly from tradition[13] in " The Songs of Scotland, Ancient and Modern " Volume 2, p. 244-245. One of the stanzas with slight variation appears first in Select Scottish Songs, Ancient and Modern , Volume 2 by Robert Hartley Cromek, 1810. Whether Cromek's stanza is originally from Cunningham is unknown. Here's Cromek's stanza:

The peasantry have a verse superior to some of those recovered by Burns, which is worthy of notice.[Cromek, editor]

O though thy hair was gowden weft,
An' thy lips o' dropping hinnie,
Thou hast gotten the clog that winna cling
For a' you're waukrife minnie."

Here are the two stanzas given by Cunningham, the first is corroborated by Lyle's version:

I have heard it often sung in my youth, and sung with curious and numerous variations. One verse contained a lively image of maternal solicitude, and of the lover's impudence and presence of mind. The cock had crowed, and

Up banged the wife to blow the coal,
To see gif she could ken me?
I dang the auld wife in the fire,
And gaur'd my feet defend me.

Another verse, the concluding one, made the lover sing as he went down the glen:

O though thy hair were hanks o' gowd,
And thy lips o' dropping hinnie;
Thou hast got the clod that winna cling,
For a' thy wakerife minnie.

The supposed last stanza (it's clear the "Fare Thee Well stanza should be last) has the rare expression " clod/clog that winna cling " which translates[14] literally to "bread that will not shrink" but refers to her pregnancy and a fetus that will not shrink but grow larger. In Crawfurd's version it's " clog that winna cling " which agrees with Cromek.

The first extant version of Waukrife Mammy that included the important "How old are you?" stanza is my Ac, " The Lassie Lost Her Maidenhead a' for Her Waukrif Mammie " dated 1795 (Edinburgh?) published in " Four Excellent New Songs: The Lassie Lost Her Maidenhead a' for Her Waukrif Mammie. Johnie Cope. Rinorden, Or The Mountains High The General Toast. Entered and Licenced ." It's also the first extant print version and being 11 stanzas long, it supplies a few missing stanzas.

Whether the "How old are you?" identifying stanza was added from an earlier version and when it originated is unknown. It's simply part of the series of questions used to seduce the bonnie lass. Here is the text in full- I've supplied a few editorial emendations in brackets.

The Lassie Lost Her Maidenhead a' for Her Waukrif Mammie.

1. As I went o'er the Highland hills,
I met a bonnie lassie;
She looked at me, and I at her,
And vow[15] but she was saucy.
    To my rou tou fal dee lal, &c

2. Where are you going, my bonny lass?
Where are you going, my honey?
Right modestly she answer'd me,
An errand for my mammie.
    To my rou tou fal dee lal, &c

3. What is your age, my bonny lass?
What is your age, my honey?
Right modestly she answer'd me,
I'm fifteen years come Sunday.
    To my rou tou fal dee lal, &c[16]

4. Will you take a man, my bonny lass?
Will you take a man, my honey?
Right modestly she answer'd me,
I dare not for my mammie.

5. Where do you live, my bonnie lass?
Where do you live, my honey?
Right modestly she answer'd me,
In a wie[wee] house wi' my mammie.

6. I went into my love's chamber,
To see if she was wauking,
But we had not spoke a word or to [two]
Till her mother heard us talking.

7. Then she began to blaw the coal,
To see if she could ken me;
But I creeped out at the bed-foot,
And took the fields to screen me.

8. Then she took her by the hair of the head,
And to the floor she brought her,
And with a good green hazel rung,
She made her a well paid daughter.

9. O haul your hand, mother she says
You're liek for to devour me;
For I would never have done the like,
If you had not done't[17] before me.

10. Blink o'er the burn, my bonny lass,
Blink o'er the burn, my honey,
For you've got the clod that will not cling,
In spite of your waulkrif mammie.

11. So fare thee well, my bonnie lass,
So fare thee well, my honey,
For I would come and see you again,
Weren't for your wakerif mammy.
   With my rou tou fal dam dail,
   All, all de to my tou.

The earliest extant appearance of the identifying stanza in print is found in this 1795 version that probably was printed in Edinburgh (two sources have: Edinburgh?) It sent to me by Steve Gardham[18]. The Scottish dialect has been tempered and there's a second chorus for the last stanza which may have been used throughout. In this version the lass is just fourteen but will be fifteen on Sunday. The obvious rewriting found in this version points to an older unknown print. Since Thomas Lyle is certain that "Waukrife Mammy" dates before Burns time (1750s) it's likely that a missing print version from the late 1600s or early 1700s may be found someday.

The following early Scottish version, Ae, is a validation of Ac (the 1795 print), except it was taken from tradition in Lochwinioch Scotland by Andrew Crawfurd about 1829. Titled, "The Well Pay't Dochter (The Well-Punished Daughter)," it was transcribed by Emily Lyle from Andrew Crawfurd's Collection. Crawfurd, a disabled doctor and avid ballad collector, was born in 1786 and died in 1854. It's written in heavy dialect and "rinkand" (wakened) is used for "waukrife" (wakeful); "well pay't dochter" is "well-punished daughter." Compare Crawfurd's 10 stanzas to the 1795 print's 11 stanzas.

The Well Pay't Dochter - collected in Lochwinioch Scotland from William Orr,, dated c.1829; from Andrew Crawfurd's Collection of Ballads and Songs : edited E. B. Lyle; Edinburgh: Scottish Text Society, 1975

1.As I gade o'er the Hieland hills,
I met a bonnie lassie;
She lookit at me, and I at her,
And vow but she was saucie.

2. Whar are you gaun, my bonnie lass
Where are you going, my hinnie
Richt scornfullie she anserit me,
An eirrand for my mannie.

3. What is thy aige, my bonnie lass,
What is thy aige, my hinnie,
Richt scornfullie she anserit me,
I am fyftein cum Sunday.

4. Whar do thou lieve, my bonnie lass
Whar do thou lieve, my hinnie
Richt scornfullie she anserit me,
In a wee house wi' my minnie.

5. Will tu tak a man, my bonnie lass
Will tu tak a man, my hinnie
Richt scornfullie she anserit me,
I daurna not for my minnie.

6. As I gade into my love's roum,
To see if my love was waukand,
Her minnie was blawand the fyre
For she hard us taukand.

7. Then she began to blaw the ingle [coal],
To see if she wad ken me;
But I creipit out at the bed-fit [feet],
And to the woods to screin me.

8. She teuk her by the hair of the heid,
And unto the flore she brocht her,
And wi a gode hazel rung,
She's made her a well pay't dochter.

9. Blink owr the burn, my bonnie lass,
Blink owr the burn, my hinnie,
Thou's gat the clog that winna cling,
In spyte o thy rinkan minnie.

10 It's fare thou weil, my bonnie lass,
Fare thou weil, my hinnie,
It's I wad cum and see thee again,
Weren't for your rinkand minnie.

________________________________

Footnotes:

1. A ballad tells a story. Some versions may be considered songs-- especially the children's songs and versions from the US with floating stanzas.
2. The estimation of the ballad dating from the "early 1700s" comes primarily from Thomas Lyle's notes in his 1827 book "Ancient Ballads and Songs." Both Burns and Cunningham knew the ballad in the 1700s and considered it "old." An early date of the late 1600s in Scotland is also reasonable.
3. See Thomas Lyle's notes in his 1827 book " Ancient Ballads and Songs: Chiefly from Tradition, Manuscripts, and Scarce Works ." A biography of Lyle may be found in " The Modern Scottish Minstrel; Or, The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century " edited by Charles Rogers, 1857.
4. Burns says in 1790: "I PICKED up this old song and tune from a country girl in Nithsdale." In 1825 Cunningham says, "I have heard it often sung in my youth, and sung with curious and numerous variations." Cunningham adds "I believe it to be a very old song."
5. Lyle's notes are found in the already mentioned, "Ancient Ballads and Songs: Chiefly from Tradition, Manuscripts, and Scarce Works," 1827.
6. Calling him a "gentleman" is hardly accurate but infers that he's a mature, older man.
7. An ur-ballad is the unknown complete original ballad which may be reconstructed by using stanzas of existing versions.
8. The original would be "the ur-ballad."
9. "The Lassie Lost Her Maidenhead a' for Her Waukrif Mammie" dated 1795 (Edinburgh?) published in "Four Excellent New Songs: The Lassie Lost Her Maidenhead a' for Her Waukrif Mammie. Johnie Cope. Rinorden, Or The Mountains High The General Toast. Entered and Licenced."
10. Cunningham provides this info first in "The Songs of Scotland, Ancient and Modern" Volume 2, p. 244-245. See also his 1834 edition of Burns works.
11. Found in Cunningham's 1834 edition of Burns works.
12. The Scots Musical Museum, Volume 3, 1790, No. 288 with music (see original above headnotes).
13. Cunningham wrote a number of ballads that he published as tradition. This comment is a reference to his besmeared reputation and the possibility that he wrote the stanzas.
14. Child provides this definition in The English and Scottish Popular Ballads - Volume 5, page 324: clod, got the clod that winna cling, W, 154, 15: the loaf of bread (?) that will not shrink (but will rise?), referring to the impending increase of her size.
15. Dialect for "wow" it also appears as the exclamation, "O."
16. Chorus throughout
17. dont't
18. Steve Gardham of Hull supplied the text in an email January 2018. He is a consultant on this study and has supplied information and details. See his notes also in The Wanton Seed.

* * * *

Richie