Origins: Laird of Udny

Subject: ADD: Laird of Udny
From: Joe Offer
Date: 29 Jun 20 - 12:10 AM

Somebody found this on a Sylvia Herold recording and sang it this afternoon. Anybody know anything about it or the Laird?
-Joe-

Title: The LAIRD OF UDNY

Trad? From the singing of Sylvia Herold
(She sings “ae nicht” for “one night”

I am the Laird of Udny’s walls
And I’ve come here with right good cause
I’ve suffered more than thirty falls
Just gallopin’ o’er the plain, so

Let me in this one night, this one night, this one night,
Let me in this one night, or I’ll never come back again-oh

My mother she is sound asleep
And the bedroom door does chirrup and cheep
The bedroom door does chirrup and cheep
And I cannot let you in, so

Go you home this one night, this one night, this one night,
Go you home this one night and never come back again

I’ll oil your door so it won’t squeak
And it will neither chirrup nor cheep
No it will neither chirrup nor cheep
And I’ll come slippin’ in, so

Let me in this one night, this one night, this one night,
Let me in this one night or I’ll never come back again-oh

Well, when he got in he was so glad
He’s taken the bonnet from offen his head
And he kissed her on the cheek so red
And the old wife heard the din-oh

But well she liked that one night, that one night, that one night,
Well she liked that one night that she let her laddie in-oh

Well, when he got in he was so glad
He’s knocked the bottom-boards out of the bed
And he got the lassie’s maidenhead
And the old wife heard the din-oh

But well she liked that one night, that one night, that one night,
Well she liked that one night, that she let her laddie in-oh

I am the Laird of Udny’s walls
And I’ve come here with right good cause
I’ve suffered more than thirty falls
Just gallopin’ o’er the plain, so

Let me in this one night, this one night, this one night,
Let me in this one night or I’ll never come back again-oh

Subject: RE: Origins: Laird of Udny
From: Reinhard
Date: 29 Jun 20 - 12:54 AM

Roud 135, Greig-Duncan 4:778

This night-visiting song is known as Cold Haily Windy Night and as Cold Blow and a Rainy Night in England but as Let Me In This Ae Nicht and as The Laird o' Windy Wa's in Scotland. “Windy walls” is an euphemism for the outdoors. The protagonist comes to the girl's window in bad weather and begs her to let him in. The girl protests but he convinces her to let him in discreetly. He takes her maidenhead and steals away.

Subject: RE: Origins: Laird of Udny
From: Reinhard
Date: 29 Jun 20 - 01:54 AM

What goes round comes around … Sylvia Herold asked for the lyrics for this song in 2004 in the thread Lyr Req: Laird of Udny.

Subject: RE: Origins: Laird of Udny
From: Joe Offer
Date: 29 Jun 20 - 02:14 AM

Thanks, Reinhard. Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry:

Let Me In This Ae Nicht

DESCRIPTION: The (Laird o' Windy Wa's) comes to the girl's window (in bad weather) and begs her, "Let me in this ae nicht." The girl protests. He convinces her to let him in discreetly. She does, and he takes her maidenhead and steals away
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1776 (Herd)
KEYWORDS: sex nightvisit bawdy mother father trick grief courting request rejection storm father lover mother soldier
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond),Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (6 citations):
GreigDuncan4 778, "The Laird o' Windywa's" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Kennedy 90, "Glaw, Keser, Ergh Ow-cul Yma [It Rains, It Hails and Snows and Blows]" (1 text + Cornish translation, 1 tune)
Reeves-Sharp 22, "Cold Blow and a Rainy Night" (1 text)
Whitelaw-Song, p. 245, "Let Me In This Ae Night" (1 text)
DT, AENICHT COLDRAIN*
ADDITIONAL: David Herd,"Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, Heroic Ballads, etc." (Edinburgh, 1870 (reprint of 1776)), Vol. II, pp. 167-169, "Let Me In This Ae Nicht"
Roud #135
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Aye She Likit The Ae Nicht" (chorus, theme)
cf. "Love Let Me In (Forty Long Miles; It Rains, It Hails)" (plot)
cf. "Rise Up Quickly and Let Me In (The Ghostly Lover)" (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Laird o Windy Wa's
The Laird o Udny
Cold Haily Windy Night
Cold Blow and a Rainy Night
NOTES [254 words]: This is a complicated story. Kennedy seems to split this song from "Cold Blow and a Rainy Night" but I unhesitatingly lump them. [As do I - RBW.] The plot combines elements of the first three night-visiting songs cross-referenced, but has a distinctly different ending, more reminiscent of "The Barley Straw."
Kennedy's Cornish words are a revivalist translation from the English. Digital Tradition mentions a 19th-century broadside in Baring Gould's collection, but offers no details, and it's not in Kennedy. - PJS
Archie Fisher and Kennedy both say this is part of a longer song found in Herd. But is it a part, or a relative (compare "Aye She Likit The Ae Nicht")? I flatly don't trust Kennedy's list of versions.
Paul Stamler wanted to file this as "Cold Haily Windy Night," on the basis that it's the one best known to folkies, citing recordings by Steeleye Span and Martin Carthy. But I had already assigned the title I learned.... - RBW
The "laird o' windy-wa's," not capitalized in Herd, seems to me to be a comment rather than a title; after all, in Herd, the singer says "The morn it is the term-day, I maun awa', I canna stay," hardly the statement of a Laird. The "term-day" is the termination day of the farm help hired for six months. (See also, "South Ythsie," "Straloch" and "O Bonny Sandy.")
Kennedy's text, at least, shares little with the Herd or GreigDuncan4 texts. On the other hand it is very close to GreigDuncan5 983, "Forty Long Miles" and Kidson's Traditional Tunes pp. 58-59, "Forty Miles." - BS
Last updated in version 3.2
File: DTaenich

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Subject: RE: Origins: Laird of Udny
From: GUEST,RA
Date: 29 Jun 20 - 07:56 AM

Udny is a village in Aberdeenshire, eulogised in the song 'Bonny Udny' as sung by Lizzie Higgins et al.

Subject: RE: Origins: Laird of Udny
From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh
Date: 29 Jun 20 - 12:54 PM

Yes, it occurred to me earlier, on seeing the title of this thread, to mention that to many Scottish people - of a particular age now, I suppose - the "Laird of Udny" would immediately bring to mind the deeds of Jamie Fleeman (i.e. James Fleming); in fact, the fame of these stories in previous ages might explain how "laird of windy wa's" in Herd became "Laird of Udny", via oral transmission. Jamie was "The Laird o' Udny's Feel", and like many of the jesters, "clowns" and old retainers in the service of noblemen, this fellow was wise enough to play the fool. There are numerous tales recording his wit, and no doubt some, at least, can be found somewhere or other in the Internet.