Tune Req: Bonnie Susie Cleland -- Different Tune

Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: BONNIE SUSIE CLELAND (from Motherwel
From: Bruce O.
Date: 19 Mar 99 - 01:10 PM

Wm. Motherwell, only, collected a full version of the ballad (Child #65), and gave it in his 'Minstrelsy: Ancient and Modern', 1827, with the tune noted by Andrew Blaikie in the Appendix (The copy in DT is missing two verses). My copy of Motherwell doesn't have the tunes, so here, transposed from F to G is Blaike's tune via Bronson's 'The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads', II, Child #65.

Bonnie Susie Cleland
[Never Before Published]

There lived a lady in Scotland,
   Hey my love and ho my joy;
There lived a lady in Scotland,
   Who dearly loved me;
There lived a lady in Scotland,
   An she's fa'n in love wi' an Englishman,
And bonnie Susie Cleland is to be burnt in Dundee.

The father to the daughter came,
   Hey my love, &c.
The father to the daughter came,
   Who dearly, &c.
The father to the daughter came,
   Saying, will you forsake that Englishman,
And bonnie Susie Cleland is to be burnt in Dundee!

If you will not that Englishman forsake,
   Hey my love, &c.
If you will not that Englishman forsake,
   Who dearly loved, &c.
If you will not that Englishman forsake,
   O I will burn you at the stake,
And bonnie, &c.

I will not that Englishman forsake,
   Hey my love, &c.
I will not that Englishman forsake,
   Who dearly, &c.
I will not that Englishman forsake,
   Though you should burn me at a stake,
And bonnie, &c.

O where will I get a pretty little boy,
   Hey my love, &c.
O where will I get a pretty little boy,
   Who dearly loves me.
O where will I get a pretty little boy,
   Who will carry tidings to my joy,
And bonnie, &c.

Here am I a pretty little boy,
   Hey my love, &c.
Here am I a pretty little boy,
   Who dearly loves thee;
Here am I a pretty little boy,
   Who will carry tidings to thy joy,
And bonnie, &c.

Give to him this right hand glove,
   Hey my love, &c.
Give to him this right hand glove,
   Who dearly loved me;
Give to him this right hand glove,
   Tell him to get another love,
For bonnie, &c.

Give to him this little pen-knife,
   Hey my love, &c.
Give to him this little pen-knife,
   Who dearly, &c.
Give to him this little pen-knife,
   Tell him to get another wife,
For bonnie, &c.

Give to him this gay gold ring,
   Hey my love, &c.
Give to him this gay gold ring,
   Who dearly, &c.
Give to him this gay gold ring,
   Tell him I'm going to my burning,
And bonnie, &c.

Her father he ca'd up the stake,
   Hey my love, &c.
Her father he ca'd up the stake,
   Who dearly, &c.
Her father he ca'd up the stake,
   Her brother he the fire did make,
And bonnie Susie Cleland was burnt in Dundee.

X:1
T:[Bonnie] Susie Cleland
S:Motherwell's Minstrelsy via Bronson, TTCB
Q:120
L:1/8
M:3/4
K:G
D|G3A Bc|d2cBz2|A3B cB|AGE2zD/E/|G3A Bc|d2cBzB/c/|c3 d ee|\
d4zd|g3f ee|d2cBzB/B/|A2G2cB/B/|AGE2zD/E/|G3A Bd|e2d2ee/e/|\
d3BA2|G4z|]

Subject: RE: Bonnie Susie Cleland -- Different Tune
From: Bruce O.
Date: 04 Mar 99 - 05:17 PM

"Bonnie Susie Cleland" (10 verses from Wm. Motherwell's collecting) is the last of 9 versions of #65, "Lady Maisry" in F. J. Child's 'The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'.

Subject: RE: Bonnie Susie Cleland -- Different Tune
From: Maelgwyn (inactive)
Date: 25 Feb 99 - 09:17 PM

Eww! Anyone know the lyrics for that version? I need a few morbid songs in my repertoire.

Subject: RE: Bonnie Susie Cleland -- Different Tune
From: Susan of DT
Date: 24 Feb 99 - 07:31 PM

It is pretty gruesome. In one version he rips the baby from her burning body to save it. yick.

Subject: RE: Bonnie Susie Cleland -- Different Tune
From:
Date: 23 Feb 99 - 09:00 PM

It is a sad song.

The funny thing is that I remembered it for happy reasons ... and only the lines, "Hey my love and O my joy" and "wha' dearly loves me" ... the first I mis-remembered as "O my love and O my joy," which could have come from the Song of Songs.

Had thought to find a love poem, from what I remembered. The tricks the mind plays!

Subject: RE: Bonnie Susie Cleland -- Different Tune
From: MAG (inactive)
Date: 23 Feb 99 - 07:44 PM

Cilla Fisher has done it too, with a tune slightly different from the one Jean Redpath uses (funny, I just mentioned them both on the vocal embellishment thread).

Heartrending as this story is, I think I'll scream if I hear it one more time. DEPRESSING.

Mary Ann

Subject: RE: Bonnie Susie Cleland -- Different Tune
From: Susan of DT
Date: 23 Feb 99 - 07:16 PM

Jean Redpath recorded it on Father Adam. I remember well a time when another not-great singer asked me to sing Suzie Clelland with her at a singing circle and I realized that she was using Redpath's tune and I was using Lisa's.

Subject: Bonnie Susie Cleland -- Different Tune
From:
Date: 23 Feb 99 - 02:52 PM

I have a memory of a tune for Bonnie Susie Cleland, different from the one here from the singing of Lisa Null.

On the refrains, hey my love and o my joy, and wha' dearly loves me, as best I can remember, it goes (let's say it's in the key of C)

hey my love and o my joy (F E D E C A G)

wha' dearly loves me (E F G A G)

I have no idea how to make this appear clearly in the body of the message, or make it into a tune that could be played ... but if anyone can figure out from this scrawl what the tune might be, I'd be grateful for it.

Just to help ... I have no idea where I heard it.

Many thanks for any help with this... Joshua Newman