Hi,

Not sure Steve, maybe you can suggest something- I still have some work to do and prefer to finish it reasonably before moving on. I'm also doing a painting of the ballad- an American version, which takes a couple days.

Here's part 2 which covers the revisions (Forms 2-4) and then there's the traditional versions after that. Waukrife Mammy is form 1 there are a number of traditional versions to consider as well as the two print versions. The other revisions are represented by broadsides.

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Part 2- 'Seventeen' headnotes:

[This early version of "Waukrife Mammy" is titled after the chorus. It's dated about 1850. From "Vagabond Songs and Ballads of Scotland; With Many Old and Familiar Melodies" edited by Robert Ford, 1899. Notice that the lassie's lover is a soldier (sodger)-- an important detail found in many later versions. Here's the text-- Ford's notes follow:

MY ROLLING EYE. [c.1850]

As I gaed up yon Hieland hill,
   I met a bonnie lassie,
She looked at me and I at her,
And oh, but she was saucy.

CHORUS With my rolling eye,
Fal the diddle eye,
Rolling eye, dum derry,
With my rolling eye.

"Where are you going, my bonnie lass?
Where are you going, my lammie?"
Right modestly she answered me?
"An errand to my mammie."

With my rolling eye, etc.

"Where do you live, my bonnie lass?
Where do you won, my lammie?"
Right modestly she answered me?
"In a wee house wi' my mammie."

With my rolling eye, etc.

"What is your name, my bonnie lass?
What is your name, my lammie?"
Right modestly she answered me?
"My name is Bonnie Annie."

With my rolling eye, etc.

"How old are you, my bonnie lass?
How old are you, my lammie?"
Rightly modestly she answered me?
"I'm sixteen years come Sunday."

With my rolling eye, etc.

"Where do you sleep, my bonnie lass?
Where do you sleep, my lammie?"
Right modestly she answered me?
"In a wee bed near my mammie."

With my rolling eye, etc.

"If I should come to your board-end
When the moon is shining clearly,
Will you rise and let me in
That the auld wife mayna hear me?"

With my rolling eye, etc.

"If you will come to my bower door
When the moon is shining clearly,
I will rise and lat you in,
And the auld wife winna hear ye."

With my rolling eye, etc.

When I gaed up to her bower door,
   I found my lassie wauken,
But lang before the grey morn cam',
The auld wife heard us talkin'

With my rolling eye, etc.

It's weary fa' the waukrife cock
May the foumart lay his crawing,
He wauken'd the auld wife frae her sleep,
A wee blink ere the dawing.

With my rolling eye, etc.

She gaed to the fire to blaw the coal,
To see if she would ken me,
But I dang the auld runt in the fire,
And bade my heels defend me.

With my rolling eye, etc.

"Oh, sodger, you maun marry me,
And now's the time or never;
Oh, sodger, you maun marry me,
Or I am done for ever."

With my rolling eye, etc.

"Blink ower the burn, my bonnie lass,
Blink ower the burn, my lammie,
Ye are a sweet and kindly queen,
For a' yer waukrife minnie."

With my rolling eye,
Fal the diddle eye,
Rolling eye, dum derry,
With my rolling eye.

There are many people living who vividly remember an odd character known as "Rolling Eye " or "Singing Sandy," who from forty to fifty years ago regularly visited the villages of Perthshire and Fifeshire in the capacity of an itinerant musician, and sang only this song. It was customary for Sandy (his real name, I believe, was Alexander Smith, and he hailed originally from Freuchie) in the summer months to have his hat profusely adorned with gay-coloured ribbons and natural flowers. His antics, too, when singing were particularly lively and attractive, and a tremendous slap on the thigh with his hand always, as he started the chorus, was the signal for those standing about to join in. Wherever he went he was followed by a crowd of delighted children, for whose attachment he had the utmost esteem.

Ford's version dated c. 1850 has the standard "sixteen come Sunday" stanza and shows the evolution toward the modern versions with the line, "When the moon is shining clearly," found in the later print versions and in the different ballad Trooper and the Maid (Child 299). The introduction of the soldier as well as the line, "When the moon is shining clearly," indicates revisions in the 1800s included textual elements from Trooper and the Maid. In the later Irish versions some composites are found.

Whether "My Rolling Eye" has been expurgated by Ford is unknown but "runt" found in the line, "But I dang the auld runt in the fire," seems to have been. A number of versions use "rolling" or "roving" eye and the chorus has also been attached to a different ballad, "The Overgate" (see: Jeannie Robertson's version). The following 8 versions of Waukrife Mammy extend the ballad from the mid 1800s to the mid 1900s. Because this study will not cover every version only the titles and sources are now given:

    h. "As I Gaed O'er yon Hech, Hech Hill," sung by Bell Roberston (1841-1922) of New Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire. The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection, version L. Collected in c.1906 but much older, dated c.1860.
    i. "As I Came Our[O'er] yon High, High Hill," sung by Mrs. Margaret Gillespie (1841-1910) later of Glasgow. The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection, version B, collected by Rev. Duncan from his sister in the early 1900s, dated c.1870 but older.
    j. "I'm Seventeen 'gin Sunday" from Ballycastle District, published Oct. 9, 1926, Henry A.
   k. "Bonnie Lassie," sung c. 1930 by William Still of Waterside, Cuminestown, Scotland (Carpenter Collection 1929-1935).
   l. "Weel Paid Dochter," sung by William Farquhar of Brownhill, Bruxie Scotland about 1929 from the James Madison Carpenter Collection, JMC/1/11/165, Disc Side 159, 01:43
   m. "Blink O'er the Burn," sung by Alexander Troup (1851-1939), Damside, Foudland, by Insch, Aberdeenshire Scotland c. 1929; Carpenter Collection.
   n. "Sixteen Come Sunday," dated 1955, sung by Norman Kennedy of Aberdeenshire. Recording "Sixteen Come Sunday," Ballads & Songs of Scotland, 1968 by Sandy Paton of Folk Legacy. Text from Cliff Haslam: Songs and Ballads of Pub, Sea and Shore.
   o. "Ma Rovin' Eye," sung by the Scottish folk group Ossian and recorded in Edinburgh in 1976. This version, presumably traditional, is from the North East of Scotland. From School of Scottish Studies.

Traces of text from Waukrife Mammy (usually the stanza with the mother beating her daughter as a punishment) are found in other versions including two from the United States[19], and several from Ireland[20]. The "fare-thee-well" stanza (last stanza) has been adapted in the US as the play-party song, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss." For more information and identifiers see The Scottish Tradition (below).

The Scottish "Waukrife Mammy" perhaps because of its bawdy theme was rewritten by the late 1700s and early 1800s. The sanitized versions shift the story line to a soldier but retain some of the fundamental original questions.

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The second form of "Seventeen Come Sunday," my B, a sanitized print revision, dates to the late 1700s and early 1800s. The earliest extant print version printed in Scotland about 1800 is titled, "Lady and the Soldier." Subsequent prints in England with complete texts were titled "Maid and Soldier" so "Maid and Soldier" is the master title of B. This revision pre-dates the popular "Seventeen Come Sunday" revision of the mid-1800s (c.1840 to c.1880). Printed in Scotland and England, the "Maid and soldier" revision appears to be made to eliminate the details of the sexual tryst and wakeful mother.

The earliest extant print, dated circa 1800, was a chapbook printed by J. Morren (Edinburgh) "Three Songs: LODGINGS for Single GENTLEMEN, Young Man's Frolic, The Lady and Soldier." Here is the text:

The Lady and Soldier.

1. AS I did walk along the street,
I was my father's darling,
There I spied a pretty maid,
Just as the sun was rising.
      With my rulal, la.

2. Where are you going my pretty maid,
Where are you going my honey?
She answer'd me right modestly,
Of an errand for my mammy.

3. Will you marry me, my bonny lass?
Will you marry me, my honey?
With all my heart kind sir, said she,
But dare not for my mammy.

4. Come ye but to my father's house.
When the moon shines bright and clearly,
And I will rise and let you in,
And my mammy she won't hear me.

5. I have a wife, she is my own,
And how can I disdain her.
And every town that I go through,
A girl if I can find her.

6. I'll go to-bed quite late at night,
Rise early the next morning,
The buglehorn is my delight,
And the hautboy [oboe] is my darling.

7. Of sketches I have got enough,
And money in my pocket,
And what care I for any one,
It's of the girls I've got it.
    With my rulal, la.

FINIS

This version is missing several important stanzas, the "How old are you" stanza and also stanzas after 4 but shows the modern revision form (no wakeful mother), albeit a confused story line. Memorable is the last line in the 6th stanza:

And the hautboy [oboe] is my darling.

In tradition this line has been changed. Also unusual is the use of the word "sketches" in the last stanza which appears to be slang for "plans" but its use has not been duplicated in a traditional version or similar ballad. A number of educated guesses have been made which range from "sketches" being slang for "scenes" meaning "plans" to guesses that "sketches" represents a physical object or denomination of money (see Gardham's notes in Wanton Seed).

These lines[21] from "Maid and Soldier" are similarly found in Trooper and the Maid:

Come ye but to my father's house,
When the moon shines bright and clearly,

The Trooper and the Maid (Child 299) is a different Scottish song with a similar theme and this seems to be the only common text. That the "moon shines bright and clearly" and soldier (trooper) stanzas appear in both suggests that the originator of B, a print revision, borrowed these textual elements from Trooper and the Maid. The "Maid and Soldier" broadsides reflect this new association-- a soldier replaces her unidentified lover. These textual changes persist in the later "Seventeen Come Sunday" revision found in print and tradition. I'm not suggesting that the "Trooper and the Maid" and "Seventeen" are the same. Suggestions that they are the same, perhaps precipitated by Ennis's version, "As I Roved Out," and A.L. Lloyd's notes[22], have caused confusion. The "soldier" and "clearly" changes seems to have been added to the "Waukrife Mammy" text by the late 1700s and early 1800s, which is about the time "Maid and Soldier" was first printed[23]. The "Maid and Soldier" revision, my B, has as identifiers-- the soldier stanza, the "shoes are black" stanza and the "moon shines bright and clearly" stanza(s). Ba (see text above), dated c.1800, is missing the soldier stanza but the title (Lady and the Soldier) shows that the soldier stanza was left off and that Ba was taken from an earlier missing version of B. The story line of B has drastically changed and the opening, the stanzas with "waukrife mammy" and the ending have been eliminated. The "waukrife mammy" has been replaced by "mammy" or "mommie." The Scottish versions of B have retained the Waukrife Mammy opening stanza.

Bb, "Maid and Soldier" printed in London at 115 Long Alley by Thomas Batchelar about 1820 is a longer version of Ba, with a slight variation of the chorus:

Maid and Soldier

1. As I did walk along the street,
I was my father's darling,
A pretty maid there I did meet
Just as the sun was rising.
      With my row de dow.

2. Her shoes were black her stocking white,
The buckles were of silver,
She had a black and rolling eye,
Her hair hung down her shoulders.

3. Where are you going my pretty maid
Where are you going my honey?
She answer?d me right cheerfully,
Of an errand for my mammy.

4. How old are you, my pretty maid?
How old are you, my honey?"
She answered me right cheerfully:
"I'm seventeen come Sunday."

5. Will you marry me, my pretty maid?
Will you marry me, my honey?
With all my heart, kind sir, she said ,
But dare not for my mammy.

6. Come you but to my mammy?s house.
When the moon shines bright and clearly,
I will rise and let you in,
My mammy shall not hear me.

7. Oh! soldier, will you marry me?
Now is your time or never,
And if you do not marry me,
I am undone forever.

8. I have a wife and she is my own,
How can I disdain her,
And every town that I go thro',
A girl if I can find her.

9. I?ll go to bed quite late at night,
Rise early the next morning,
The buglehorn is my delight,
And the oboy [oboe] is my darling.

10. Of sketches I have got enough,
And money in my pocket,
And what care I for any one,
It's of the girls I've got it.

This is the complete known B text and some text from B has been changed in tradition. Stanzas 9 and 10 have undergone the most change in tradition: the oboe (hautboy; oboy) is gone, replaced by a bottle of rum and "sketches" must have not been understood by tradsingers and that stanza was eliminated. B remains as the important first revision and its identifiers show its presence in tradition both in the UK and North America. B also was incorporated into versions of A which is evident in the text of Ford's "My Rolling Eye" and the later versions of Waukrife Mammy. By the mid-1800s versions of A have textual changes from B.

The introduction of the Soldier replacing the lover and the line, "When the moon shines bright and clearly" show that the "Maid and Soldier" revision that was created to sanitize the bawdy Scottish text and removed the "waukrife mammy" has borrowed from Trooper and the Maid. Further evidence is supplied with the addition of stanza 7[24]:

7. Oh! soldier, will you marry me?
Now is your time or never,
And if you do not marry me,
I am undone forever.

The parallel but different ballad, Trooper and the Maid, became a small part of the "Seventeen" ballads with the first revision. It would not be until the mid-1900s with Seamus Ennis version that the two different texts would be blended.

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The Soldier and the Fair Maid broadside, my C, of which there are at least two extant different printings is a 3rd specific form and is my second revision. It is a rewrite of B, "Maid and Soldier" and has the same opening as the Seventeen Come Sunday broadsides. I've dated The Soldier and the Fair Maid broadside as late 1830s and this broadside perhaps predates the Seventeen Come Sunday broadsides. The text below has a different ending stanza and is missing one line (in brackets). It can be regarded as intermediate version between "Maid and Soldier" and "Seventeen Come Sunday" although both were created about the same time. "Soldier and the Fair Maid" was mentioned in Cox's (Folk Songs of the South, 1925) notes.

Soldier and the Fair Maid. (broadside text; Yorkshire, later, Dickinson of York, dated late 1830s)

As I walked out one May morning,
Just as the day was dawning,
There I espied a pretty fair maid,
Just as the sun was rising,
    With my row, dow, dow.

Where are you going my pretty maid,
Where are you going my honey?
She answered me right cheerfully,
An errand for my mammy.

Her shoes were black, her stockings white,
[Her buckles shined like silver,]
She had a black and rolling eye,
And her hair hung over her shoulder.

Will you marry me, my pretty fair maid,
Will you marry me, my honey?
She answered me right cheerfully,
I dare not for my mammy.

How old are you my pretty fair maid,
How old are you my honey,
She answered me right cheerfully,
I am seventeen come Sunday.

Will you come to my mammy's house,
When the moon shines bright and clearly,
I'll come down and let you in,
And my mammy shall not hear me.

I went down to her mammy's house,
When the moon shone bright and clearly,
And she came down and let me in,
And her mammy never heard me.

Come soldier will you marry me?
For now is your time or never,
For if you will not marry me,
I am undone for ever.

No lassie I will not marry,
For all thy father's treasure,
For every town I pass through,
I will have a fresh lass if I can gain her.

This revision, C, eliminates the last stanzas of B which were lost in tradition and expands the 8th. No traditional versions have been recovered that are closely related to C, however the same emendations have occurred in tradition. The last stanza is also found reworded in B.

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My D, "Seventeen Come Sunday," crafted by a broadside writer around 1840, is a 4th form, a revision of B. Maid and Soldier or perhaps C. Soldier and the Fair Maid. This is the standard "Seventeen" form with the "Seventeen Come Sunday" title and a "happy" ending. This happy ending, where the maid stays with her soldier lad at the battle lines, is varied-- the last line sometimes is changed to: "And a merry man in the morning" (see Such broadside). Here's the standard English text from J. Paul and Co., Printers, 2 & 3, Monmouth Court, Seven Dials, dated between 1838-1845:

SEVENTEEN COME SUNDAY. (standard broadside text)

As I walked out one May morning,
One May morning so early,
I overtook a handsome maid,
Just as the sun was rising,
With my ru, rum, ra.

Her stockings white, her shoes were bright,
Her buckles shined like silver,
She had a black and a rolling eye,
And her hair hung over her shoulder.

Where are you going my pretty maid,
Where are you going my honey?
She answered me right cheerfully,
An errand for my mammy.

How old are you my pretty maid,
How old are you my honey,
She answered me right modestly,
I'm seventeen come Sunday.

Will you take a man my pretty maid,
Will you take a man my honey?
She answered me right cheerfully,
I dare not for my mammy.

If you will come to my mammy's house,
When the moon shines bright and clearly,
I'll come down and let you in,
My mammy shall not hear you.

I went down to her mammy's house,
When the moon so bright was shining,
She came down and let me in,
And I lay in her arms till morning.

Soldier will you marry me?
For now is your time or never,
For if you do not marry me,
I am undone for ever.

Now I am with my soldier lad,
Where the wars they are alarming,
A drum and fife are my delight,
And a pint of rum in the morning.

Most of the traditional English versions from the late 1800s and early 1900s adhere to this broadside text with little variation. The alternate ending line, "And a merry man in the morning," is standard in many traditional versions.

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Footnotes:

19. See Sharp A, Eddy B.
20. See for example, Henry A and Makem family's "As I Roved Out."
21. "Lady and Soldier" stanza 4 lines 1 and 2. The second line is found in Trooper and the Maid (Motherwell variant).
22. A.L. Lloyd, who titled his version of Seventeen, "The Soldier and the Maid" in 1956 on his Tradition album The Foggy Dew and Other Traditional English Love Songs, commented this in the liner notes: "The encounter of the licentious soldier with the obliging young girl was an old story when Roman troops patrolled the great wall between England and Scotland. For newer versions, listen to the gossip around any army camp, any day, anywhere. Of the many ballads in the family of The Trooper and the Maid, this is perhaps the best."
23. The first version "Lady and Soldier printed in Edinburgh in 1800 is missing the "soldier" stanza (soldier is mentioned nowhere in the text) which means it was named after and based on an earlier unknown print version.
24. From "Maid and Soldier" broadside printed in London at 115 Long Alley by Thomas Batchelar about 1820, (1817-1828).

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Richie