The Maid of the Sweet Brown Knowe

Original Track ID

SA1956.172.B8

Original Tape ID

SA1956.172

Summary

This song tells the story of a man who courts the maid of the Sweet Brown Knowe. He asks her to marry him, saying he will do his best by her. The girl says, however, that she would prefer to stay one more season on the Sweet Brown Knowe. He protests at her reply, showing her his lands down in the valley, where crops grow and the horse and plough work daily, all for her sake. She retorts that if they are indeed at their daily work then it is not for her, for she has heard about him visiting a local inn where he buys drinks for everyone and goes home at dawn. He replies that if he does that, the money he uses is all his own. He says he will never spend her fortune, because he hears she has none. He chides her: she thought she had broken his heart with her refusal, but he will now leave her where he found her.

Willie Mitchell first heard the song sung by a young Irish woman in Dundalk.

Item Notes

6 verses. Irish song. A broadside version of this song, almost identical in text, was published by P. Brereton of Cook St, Dublin around 1867, under the title 'A new song call'd The Maid of the Sweet Brown Howe'.

See also:
'Broad-Sheet Ballads, being a collection of Irish popular songs' (Padraic Colum, c. 1913) pp. 16-17
Bodleian Library Broadsides Collection, catalogue no. 2806 b.9(179)

Recording Location

Language

English

Genre

Song Information

Collection

SoSS

Classification

R562 LP7

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good