Information about Willie Mathieson's collecting and his lost...
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1952.06.B4
Original Tape ID
Summary
Information about Willie Mathieson's collecting and his lost ledger.
Willie Mathieson wrote down the ballad 'Andrew Lammie' when he was ten, and neither the dominie [schoolmaster] nor his parents knew that he wrote songs down. Willie's first ballad book was a small ledger, which he lent to Mitchell, a sort of tramp and casual farm worker from New Deer, in 1902. It was never returned; it contained ballads he doesn't know now. He never heard Mitchell sing but he was a fine diddler.
A ballad is different from a song, because it ends in tragedy: 'The Gypsies' is a ballad because the Gypsies were to be hanged for abducting the lady; 'Andrew Lammie' is a ballad and 'Jim the Cairter' is a song. There is a large memorial to Mill o Tifty's Annie in Fyvie churchyard and her gravestone can be seen though the lettering is difficult and all that Willie could make out was the name Agnes.
Item Subject/Person
Mathieson, Willie
Recording Location
County - Aberdeenshire
Parish - Ellon
Village/Place - Ellon
Language
Scots
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Good