Mrs Greig of Sandlaw
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1960.132.A1
Original Tape ID
Summary
A comic bothy song in which the servant girls at a farm play a trick on Mrs Greig, the strict mistress of the house, who always inspects their room at night in case they have a man hidden under the bed. The girls make a straw man for her to find one night, and thinking it to be a real man, Mrs Greig has it taken out and cudgelled by her husband. When the trick is revealed, the girls are reprimanded, while Mrs Greig and her husband are left to clean up the mess.
Jimmy Taylor heard the song from Alec Johnstone, a farm worker from [near?] Peterhead.
Item Notes
7 verses of 4 lines with vocable refrain of 2 lines. Peter Hall has identified Isabella Greig, wife of Alexander Greig of South Sandlaw farm in Alvah, as the character in this song (Greig-Duncan vol. 2, p. 573).
See also:
Greig-Duncan vol. 2, pp. 429-430, no. 316
'Bothy Songs & Ballads' (J. Ord, 1930) pp. 247-248
'Folk-Song of the North-East' (G. Greig, K. Goldstein & A. Argo, 1963 reprint) art. CLXXVIII
Item Subject/Person
Greig, Isabella
Recording Location
County - Aberdeenshire
Parish - Longside
Village/Place - Auchtydore Farm
Item Location
County - Banffshire
Parish - Alvah
Village/Place - South Sandlaw (farm)
Language
Scots
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Fair