Laird o Drum, The [Child 236]

DESCRIPTION: The Laird o Drum, instead of wooing a noble lady, chooses to court a poor working girl. All his relatives oppose this, but he notes that the girl is willing to work; instead of costing him money (as his previous wife did), she will help him earn it
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1803 (Skene ms.; cf. Herd 1776)
KEYWORDS: courting poverty
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1665-1710 - Life of Margaret Coutts, second wife of Alexander Irvine of Drum (previously married, in 1643, to Mary Gordon of Huntley. Drum died in 1687)
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber,Bord)) US(NE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (13 citations):
Child 236, "The Laird o Drum" (6 texts)
Bronson 236, "The Laird o Drum" (26 versions+1 in addenda)
Bronson-SingingTraditionOfChildsPopularBallads236, "The Laird o Drum" (2 versions: #5, #23)
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #46, pp. 1-2, "The Laird o' Drum" (1 text plus 2 fragments)
Greig/Duncan4 835, "The Laird o' Drum" (24 texts, 16 tunes)
Porter/Gower-Jeannie-Robertson-EmergentSingerTransformativeVoice #40, pp. 184-186, "The Laird o' Drum," (1 text, 1 tune)
Dixon-ScottishTraditionalVersionsOfAncientBallads VIII, pp. 53-56, "The Laird o' Drum" (1 text)
Buchan/Moreira-TheGlenbuchatBallads, pp. 183-184, "The Laird o' Drum" (1 text)
Barry/Eckstorm/Smyth-BritishBalladsFromMaine pp. 300-303, "The Laird of Drum" (1 text with variants, 1 tune) {Bronson's #26}
Creighton-MaritimeFolkSongs, p. 28, "The Laird O'Drum" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ford-VagabondSongsAndBalladsOfScotland, pp. 4-9, "The Laird o' Drum" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #1}
Whitelaw-BookOfScottishBallads, pp. 136-138, "Laird of Drum" (1 text)
DT 236, LAIRDDRM*
Roud #247
RECORDINGS:
Lucy Stewart, "The Laird o' Drum" (on FSBBAL2) (on LStewart1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Muldoon, the Solid Man" (tune, as sung by Jeannie Robertson)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
I Canna Wash
NOTES [126 words]: Whitelaw-BookOfScottishBallads is from George R Kinloch, Ancient Scottish Ballads (London: Longman Rees Orme Brown & Green, 1827 ("Digitized by Microsoft")), pp. 199-205, "Laird of Drum," "obtained from recitation," and is quoted extensively in Child's notes to 236A.
Bodleian, 2806 c.11(7), "The Laird o' Drum" ("The laird o' Drum is a hunting gane"), unknown, n.d. could not be downloaded and verified. - BS
Porter and Gower note that Jeannie Robertson used the tune of an "Irish-American music hall song with the title, "Muldoon, the solid Man," for several of her songs, including "Laird o Drum." Some 6 of Roud's 23 "Muldoon" variants attributed to his number 3355 appear to actually be Robertson and Stewart family versions of "Laird o Drum." - DGE
Last updated in version 5.3
File: C236

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography