Eddy text

A PRETTY FAIR MAID
From Mrs. Margaret Davis, Perrysville, Ohio.
A pretty fair maid all in her garden
A silor boy came passing by;        
He stepped aside and thus addresssed her
Saying"Pretty fair maid, won't you be my bride?"

2. “I have a sweetheart on the ocean,
For seven long years has been to sea,
And if he stays for seven years longer,
No other man shall marry me.”

3. “Perhaps your sweetheart he is drownded,
Perhaps he’s in some battle slain,
Perhaps he’s to some pretty girl married
And he shall ne’er return again.”

4. “Oh, if my sweetheart he is drownded,
Or if he’s in some battle slain,
Or if he’s to some pretty girl married,
I’ll love the girl that married him.

5. “My sweetheart he is neither drownded
Nor is he in some battle slain,
Nor is he to some pretty girl married,
For he is by my side again.”

6. He put his hand in both his pockets,
His fingers they were long and slim,
And unto me he drew a gold locket,
And to my feet his knees did bend.

7. “I have six ships all on the ocean,
And they are loaded to the brim,
And if I’m not worthy of such a young lady,
I care not if they sink or swim.”

"objectively creepy intrigues me."
Not so creepy

Our note to the County Clare versions


Lady in Her Father’s Garden (Laws N42; Roud 264)
Tom Lenihan Knockbrack, Miltown Malbay Recorded 1980
Recorded at singer’s home, July 1980

This is probably one of the most popular of all the 'broken token’ songs, in which parting lovers are said to break a ring in two, each half being kept by the man and woman. At their reunion, the man produces his half as a proof of his identity.
Robert Chambers, in his Book of Days, 1862-1864, describes a betrothal custom using a 'gimmal' or linked ring:

'Made with a double and sometimes with a triple link, which turned upon a pivot, it could shut up into one solid ring... It was customary to break these rings asunder at the betrothal which was ratified in a solemn manner over the Holy Bible, and sometimes in the presence of a witness, when the man and woman broke away the upper and lower rings from the central one, which the witness retained. When the marriage con¬tract was fulfilled at the altar, the three portions of the ring were again united, and the ring used in the ceremony'.

The custom of exchanging rings as a promise of fidelity lasted well into the nineteenth century in Britain and was part of the plot of Thomas Hardy’s ‘Far From The Madding Crowd’.
These 'Broken Token' songs often end with the woman flinging herself into the returned lov¬er's arms and welcoming him back
Tipperary Travelling woman, Mary Delaney who also sang it for us, knew it differently and had the suitor even more firmly rejected:

"For it's seven years brings an alteration,
And seven more brings a big change to me,
Oh, go home young man, choose another sweetheart,
Your serving maid I'm not here to be."

Ref: The Book of Days, Robert Chambers, W & R Chambers, 1863-64.
Other CDs: Sarah Anne O'Neill - Topic TSCD660; Daisy Chapman - MTCD 308; Maggie Murphy - Veteran VT134CD.

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