When John and I Were Married

DESCRIPTION: When the singer married John her cranky old mother gave them nothing. They saved their money and slept in a bed of straw. Now they are happy: "love will live in cottage low as weel's in lofty ha'" so marry whom you love.
AUTHOR: Robert Tannahill (1774-1810) (source: Ramsay)
EARLIEST DATE: 1838 (Ramsay)
KEYWORDS: love marriage nonballad mother
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig/Duncan7 1278, "Clean Pease Strae" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Whitelaw-BookOfScottishSong, p. 450, "When John and Me" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Phillip A Ramsay, The Poetical Works of Robert Tannahill (London, preface 1838), p. 37, "When John and I Were Married"
Roud #7140
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.14(42), "Clean Pea Strae" ("When John an' me were married"), J. Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866; also 2806 c.15(310)[some words illegible], "When John and Me Were Married"
NOTES [71 words]: Both Greig/Duncan7 versions add a first verse along the line of 'Let's go to the mill [barn] and thrash [take another round] at the straw. Greig/Duncan7 1278B is only that verse; if 1278A, which adds Tannahill's verses to that first, [didn't exist,] I would have considered this a separate song. Perhaps this verse is what's left of the older "Clean Pease-Strae" which Ramsay has as the tune of "When John and I Were Married." - BS
Last updated in version 3.2
File: GrD71278

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