Uploaded May 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago

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Four Maries / The Four Marys / Mary Mild / Mary Hamilton (Child No. 173) (Fragment) - Sung by Mary Taylor, aged 83, of Saxby All Saints, Lincolnshire. Daughter of Joseph Taylor who sang for Percy Grainger in 1908. Recorded by Peter Kennedy for the BBC in 1953.

Song transcription to be corrected:

Last nicht there were four Marys,
This nicht there'll be but three;
There was Mary Smeaton, an' Mary Beaton,
An' Mary Carmichael, an' me.

Oh, little did my mither think,
When first she cradled me.
That I would dee sae far frae hame,
Or hang on a gallows tree!

They'll tie a napkin roun' my een,
An' they'll no let me see tae dee;
An' they'll ne'er let me on to my father an' mither,
But I'm awa' o'er the sea.

I wish I could lie in our aine kirkyard,
Aneath the auld yew tree;
Where ye pu'd the gowans and thread the rowans
My brothers, my sisters an' me.

But little I'll care for a nameless grave
When I'm home In eternity;
So I'll pray that the faith o' the de'ein' thief
By grace may be granted tae me.

Last nicht there were four Marys,
This nicht there'll be but three;
There was Mary Beaton, an' Mary Seaton,
An' Mary Carmichael, an' me.