Three Bonnie Lassies from Bunyon

Original Track ID

SA1960.138.A6

Original Tape ID

SA1960.138

Summary

A song in which a young woman, eager to marry, takes steps to bring this about. She has a good dowry from her father and permission from her mother to marry. She will have her shoes mended and her petticoat dyed green, and be dressed like a queen when she meets her suitor.

Item Notes

5 verses of 5 lines (last line of each verse is repeated). An Irish song, one of many variants on the ballad 'The Maidens Sad Complaint for want of a Husband' by Lawrence White, published c. 1674-1679. A more typical Scottish variant is 'I am Gaun tae the Garret' or 'I maun Gang tae the Garret'.

See:
Greig-Duncan vol. 7, p. 197
'Scotland Sings' (E. MacColl, 1953) p. 161
'Bothy Songs & Ballads' (J. Ord, 1930) p. 58
'Kerr's Cornkisters' (W. Kemp & J. S. Kerr, 1950) pp. 27-28
'Scottish Songs Ancient & Modern' (J. Gilchrist, 1865) p. 409
'Walton's New Treasury of Irish Songs & Ballads' vol. 2 (Dublin, 1966) p. 27
'The Scots Musical Museum' vol. 5 (J. Johnson & R. Burns, 1853) p. 465, no. 453

Recording Location

Language

English

Genre

Song

Collection

SoSS

Classification

R818 GD1381

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good