Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
Sir James the Rose (Child No. 213) - Sung by Mrs. Martha "Peasie" Johnstone (Martha Reid), a Traveller of Birnam, Perthshire, Scotland. She learned the song from her grandfather in Aberfeldy. Recorded by Hamish Henderson in February 1957 for the School of Scottish Studies.
Note by Kevin W.:
A beautiful fragment of "Sir James the Rose" (Child 213).
Interestingly it mentions Matilda by name which does not happen in Prof. Child's text:
http://71.174.62.16/Demo/LongerHarvest?Text=Child_d21301
There is a later ballad called "Sir James the Ross, A Historical Ballad" thought to have been composed by Michael Bruce (1746-1767) and printed in the Weekly Magazine or Edinburgh Amusement, September 20, 1770, IX, 371-73. It tells the same story in a much more stilted, literary style. None of its verses resemble the fragment recalled by Martha Johnstone.
This is indeed the older traditional ballad in which Matilda reveals the hiding place of Sir James the Rose to a band of men in search of him. It ends with the heart of the murdered Sir James being presented to Matilda "as a reward" and her request to have him buried under a green tree so she can come and visit him. The burial request is granted but "his grave you may never see for a prisoner you will be".
Martha Johnstone learned the old songs from her grandparents and from older Travellers. We're indebted to her for sharing her songs with people and to Maurice Fleming and Hamish Henderson in the 1950s, Peter Shepheard in the 1960s and Linda Williamson in later years for visiting and recording her.
Martha told Linda Williamson how she tried to teach The Golden Vanity to her grandchildren, to get them interested in the old songs, but they had more interest in television than singing. Most singers, and especially Travellers felt regret at not being able to pass their songs on to a new generation. A song wasn't only a song, it was a living memory of their parents, their forebears. While singing there was a strong emotional connection with the person the song was learned from. When that person passed their memory lived on whenever the song was sung.
The original recording can be listened to here:
tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/21705?l=en
A biography of Martha Johnstone along with many further sound recordings can be found here:
tobarandualchais.co.uk/person/2719?l=en
Linda Williamson's thesis on Scottish Traveller singing can be read here, it is well worth your time if you are interested in Martha Johnstone's song repertoire: era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/8223
Song transcription:
Matilda please do tell me where
Do tell me where Sir James Rose might be
Oh is he in yon hilltop
Or is he in his pasture land
He is not in thon high hilltop
Nor yet in his pasture land
He is not here, perhaps he's gone
Down yon valley
Oh please, oh please do tell me
Where Lord James he is gone
We're only here to detect [*] him
And guard him from his enemy
Oh if that's the truth that you tell to me
I'll take you to Lord James the Rose
He's sleeping in his brechan plaid
Down by the river Tay
Into a gooseberry bush
Oh take me there, oh take me there
Your reward will be granted too
For when they come to that gooseberry bush
Sir James the Rose being sleeping in his brechan plaid
They stabbed him and gave her his heart
Saying there your reward Matilda too
Oh do not bury him in under land
Oh bury him beneath yon green tree
Oh bury him beneath yon green tree
That I can come and visit he
I will bury him beneath yon green tree
But his grave, his grave you will never see
For you're a prisoner for now and forever
For his grave you will never see
* protect?
Sir James the Rose (Child No. 213) - Sung by Mrs. Martha "Peasie" Johnstone (Martha Reid), a Traveller of Birnam, Perthshire, Scotland. She learned the song from her grandfather in Aberfeldy. Recorded by Hamish Henderson in February 1957 for the School of Scottish Studies.
Note by Kevin W.:
A beautiful fragment of "Sir James the Rose" (Child 213).
Interestingly it mentions Matilda by name which does not happen in Prof. Child's text:
http://71.174.62.16/Demo/LongerHarvest?Text=Child_d21301
There is a later ballad called "Sir James the Ross, A Historical Ballad" thought to have been composed by Michael Bruce (1746-1767) and printed in the Weekly Magazine or Edinburgh Amusement, September 20, 1770, IX, 371-73. It tells the same story in a much more stilted, literary style. None of its verses resemble the fragment recalled by Martha Johnstone.
This is indeed the older traditional ballad in which Matilda reveals the hiding place of Sir James the Rose to a band of men in search of him. It ends with the heart of the murdered Sir James being presented to Matilda "as a reward" and her request to have him buried under a green tree so she can come and visit him. The burial request is granted but "his grave you may never see for a prisoner you will be".
Martha Johnstone learned the old songs from her grandparents and from older Travellers. We're indebted to her for sharing her songs with people and to Maurice Fleming and Hamish Henderson in the 1950s, Peter Shepheard in the 1960s and Linda Williamson in later years for visiting and recording her.
Martha told Linda Williamson how she tried to teach The Golden Vanity to her grandchildren, to get them interested in the old songs, but they had more interest in television than singing. Most singers, and especially Travellers felt regret at not being able to pass their songs on to a new generation. A song wasn't only a song, it was a living memory of their parents, their forebears. While singing there was a strong emotional connection with the person the song was learned from. When that person passed their memory lived on whenever the song was sung.
The original recording can be listened to here:
tobarandualchais.co.uk/track/21705?l=en
A biography of Martha Johnstone along with many further sound recordings can be found here:
tobarandualchais.co.uk/person/2719?l=en
Linda Williamson's thesis on Scottish Traveller singing can be read here, it is well worth your time if you are interested in Martha Johnstone's song repertoire: era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/8223
Song transcription:
Matilda please do tell me where
Do tell me where Sir James Rose might be
Oh is he in yon hilltop
Or is he in his pasture land
He is not in thon high hilltop
Nor yet in his pasture land
He is not here, perhaps he's gone
Down yon valley
Oh please, oh please do tell me
Where Lord James he is gone
We're only here to detect [*] him
And guard him from his enemy
Oh if that's the truth that you tell to me
I'll take you to Lord James the Rose
He's sleeping in his brechan plaid
Down by the river Tay
Into a gooseberry bush
Oh take me there, oh take me there
Your reward will be granted too
For when they come to that gooseberry bush
Sir James the Rose being sleeping in his brechan plaid
They stabbed him and gave her his heart
Saying there your reward Matilda too
Oh do not bury him in under land
Oh bury him beneath yon green tree
Oh bury him beneath yon green tree
That I can come and visit he
I will bury him beneath yon green tree
But his grave, his grave you will never see
For you're a prisoner for now and forever
For his grave you will never see
* protect?
