Information about Willie Mathieson's collecting and his lost...

Original Track ID

SA1952.06.B4

Original Tape ID

SA1952.006

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

Language

Scots

Genre

Information

Collection

SoSS

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good