We'd Better Bide a Wee

DESCRIPTION: "The poor aul' folks at hame, ye min', are frail an' ailin' sair, An weel I ken they'd miss me, lad, if I came hame nae mair... I canna lea' the aul' folk, lad, we'd better bide a wee." The girl gives reasons why she must stay with her parents for now
AUTHOR: Credited to Claribel (Charlotte Alington Barnard, 1830-1869) in Heart Songs and in Songs That Never Grow Old (1913)
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (Heart Songs)
KEYWORDS: family mother father loneliness age
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H598, pp. 61-62, "Better Bide a Wee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Heart-Songs, pp. 388-389, "We'd Better Bide a Wee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13365
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(26b), "I Canna Leave the Auld Folk," Poet's Box (Dundee), c. 1890
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Castleroe Mill" (theme)
cf. "Betsy of Dramoor" (theme)
NOTES [62 words]: According to the notes at the NLScotland site, this was quoted by Louisa May Alcott's 1886 novel Jo's Boys. For brief background on Claribel, see the notes to "Come Back to Erin." William H. A. Williams, 'Twas Only an Irishman's Dream, University of Illinois Press, 1996, p. 41, seems to consider that her biggest hit, followed by "I Cannot Sing the Old Songs." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.0
File: HHH598

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