Uploaded May 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
Four Maries / The Four Marys / Mary Mild / Mary Hamilton (Child No. 173) (Fragment) - Recited, then sung by Regina "Jeannie" Robertson (Mrs. Jean Higgins), Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Recorded by Jean Ritchie and her husband George Pickow for the BBC on 1953-11-28.
Note by Kevin W.:
Jeannie Robertson did not have a tune for the ballad until she heard Jean Ritchie sing her version of it for her. Jeannie said that as a child she heard it recited, not sung, from relatives in Pertshire, Scotland. The verses she recites recall the ones remembered by Charlotte Higgins of Blairgowrie, Perthshire.
Notes by Jean Ritchie on the Mudcat.org forum:
I got other verses from Jeannie Robertson when we met in 1952, and she said the first two verses "like a poetry," and I told her to try singing them, as they were actually the first two verses of her "Four Maries." She couldn't believe it at first, tried it, then finally it fit. She was so happy!
Yes, the 1953 recording of Jeannie Robertson was done by myself and my husband George Pickow, towards the end of my Fulbright year in the British Isles and Northern Ireland (or as we say at home, England, Scotland and Ireland). Hamish Henderson was along as friend, guide, and collector with us on behalf of his University.
Song transcription to be corrected:
A knock came tae the kitchen door,
It soonded through aa the room,
That Marie Hamilton had a ween
Tae the highest man in the toon,
Whaur is the ween ye had last nicht?
Whaur is the ween, I say?
They looked high and they looked low,
And they looked below the bed,
And there they found the dear wee ween,
Laying in a pool o' blood.
...
Sink ye, or swim ye, ye'll get nae mair frae me.
Oh rise, Mary Hamilton, and come alang wi me.
This day ye're gaun tae Edinborough toon,
A rich weddin for tae see.
...
...
She went up the tall booth stair,
And the heels did click o' her sheen,
[And she was smiling,]
When she came doon again,
The tears did blind her ee,
For she was condemned tae dee.
Four Maries / The Four Marys / Mary Mild / Mary Hamilton (Child No. 173) (Fragment) - Recited, then sung by Regina "Jeannie" Robertson (Mrs. Jean Higgins), Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Recorded by Jean Ritchie and her husband George Pickow for the BBC on 1953-11-28.
Note by Kevin W.:
Jeannie Robertson did not have a tune for the ballad until she heard Jean Ritchie sing her version of it for her. Jeannie said that as a child she heard it recited, not sung, from relatives in Pertshire, Scotland. The verses she recites recall the ones remembered by Charlotte Higgins of Blairgowrie, Perthshire.
Notes by Jean Ritchie on the Mudcat.org forum:
I got other verses from Jeannie Robertson when we met in 1952, and she said the first two verses "like a poetry," and I told her to try singing them, as they were actually the first two verses of her "Four Maries." She couldn't believe it at first, tried it, then finally it fit. She was so happy!
Yes, the 1953 recording of Jeannie Robertson was done by myself and my husband George Pickow, towards the end of my Fulbright year in the British Isles and Northern Ireland (or as we say at home, England, Scotland and Ireland). Hamish Henderson was along as friend, guide, and collector with us on behalf of his University.
Song transcription to be corrected:
A knock came tae the kitchen door,
It soonded through aa the room,
That Marie Hamilton had a ween
Tae the highest man in the toon,
Whaur is the ween ye had last nicht?
Whaur is the ween, I say?
They looked high and they looked low,
And they looked below the bed,
And there they found the dear wee ween,
Laying in a pool o' blood.
...
Sink ye, or swim ye, ye'll get nae mair frae me.
Oh rise, Mary Hamilton, and come alang wi me.
This day ye're gaun tae Edinborough toon,
A rich weddin for tae see.
...
...
She went up the tall booth stair,
And the heels did click o' her sheen,
[And she was smiling,]
When she came doon again,
The tears did blind her ee,
For she was condemned tae dee.
