Johnny and Mary

DESCRIPTION: "Down the burn and thro' the mead, His golden locks wav'd o'er his brow, Johnnie, liltin', tuned his reed, And Mary wiped her bonnie mou'." The poor but handsome couple find happiness and treasure in each other's company
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1869 (Herd)
KEYWORDS: love courting nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ford-VagabondSongsAndBalladsOfScotland, pp. 272-273, "Johnnie and Mary" (1 text)
Roud #8498
NOTES [74 words]: This is either incredibly bawdy or incredibly dumb. I'm betting on the latter.
Ford reports that it is from Bickerstaffe's 1762 opera "Love in a Village." The obscurity of this work is shown by the fact that I checked eight different reference works (six devoted solely to classical music) without finding a single reference to opera or composer. For more on the very confusing story of Bickerstaffe, see the notes to "The Miller of Dee." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: FVS272

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