Bonnie Jeannie Deans

DESCRIPTION: The singer is far from Scotland but thinks of "Auld Reekie" [Edinburgh] "home of Scotland's bonniest lass, my bonnie Jeannie Deans." She wins a pardon for her sister from the Queen. "Sir Walter Scott's immortalized you"
AUTHOR: Harry Lynn (source: FolkSongAndMusicHall)
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (Greig/Duncan4); c.1890 (broadside, NLScotland L.C.Fol.70(119a)); FolkSongAndMusicHall estimates it was written in 1887
KEYWORDS: pardon Scotland royalty
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig/Duncan4 715, "Bonnie Jeannie Deans" (1 text)
FolkSongAndMusicHall, "Bonnie Jeannie Deans"
Roud #6129
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(119a), "Bonnie Jeanie Deans," Barr (Glasgow), c.1890; also L.C.Fol.70(118b), "Jeanie Deans"
NOTES [85 words]: From the NLScotland commentary to broadside L.C.Fol.70(119a): "Jeanie Deans, 'the cow-feeder's daughter', was the heroine of Walter Scott's 'The Heart of Midlothan' (1818). This song outlines her journey on foot to London to obtain a pardon for her sister, Effie." From the NLScotland commentary to broadside L.C.Fol.70(118b): "The character of Jeanie Deans was loosely based on Helen Walker [d.1791] who did indeed walk to London to obtain a pardon for her sister who was imprisoned for murdering her child." - BS
Last updated in version 7.0
File: GrD4715

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