Term Lilt

DESCRIPTION: The singer says her term is over. She's leaving and a new girl will replace her; in six weeks she'll be forgotten. He answers that before three weeks "I'll come and sen' and see ye"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (Greig/Duncan8)
KEYWORDS: courting parting farming dialog nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Greig/Duncan8 1518, "Term Lilt" (1 text)
Roud #12947
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "O Bonny Sandy" (two verses)
NOTES [95 words]: Greig/Duncan8 (Greig quoting Bell Robertson): "Her mother said above was sung by girls when near a term and they were to flit. Thinks there had never been any more." That is significant because, as Greig/Duncan8 notes, these two verses are very close to two verses of "O Bonny Sandy" but "evidently had an independent life." If not for this statement I would have considered this a fragment of "O Bonny Sandy."
Seasonal hiring of servants and farm workers usually was for six months, beginning May and November, and the term day marked the end of the employment period. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81518

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