Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow, The

DESCRIPTION: "O 'twas on a bright mornin' in summer When I first heard her voice singin' low As he said to a colleen beside him, 'Who's the pretty girl milkin' the cow?'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1835 (broadside, Bodleian Firth b.26(457))
KEYWORDS: love work rejection
FOUND IN: US(MW) Ireland Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (9 citations):
O'Conor-OldTimeSongsAndBalladOfIreland, pp. 58-59, "The Pretty Maid Milking Her Cow" (1 text)
OLochlainn-IrishStreetBallads 57, "Cailin Deas Cruite Na MBo" (1 text, 1 tune)
McBride-FlowerOfDunaffHillAndMoreTradSongsInnishowen 14, "Cailin Deas Cruite na mBo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Munnelly/Deasy-TheMountCallanGarland-Tom-Lenihan 13, "Cailin Deas Cruite na mBo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, p. 40, "Who's the Pretty Girl Milkin' the Cow?" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Korson-MinstrelsOfTheMinePatch, pp. 69-70, "The Pretty Maid Milking Her Goat" (1 text, 1 tune, clearly rewritten)
Korson-PennsylvaniaSongsAndLegends, pp. 370-371, "The Pretty Maid Milking Her Goat" (1 text, 1 tune, clearly rewritten)
Hylands-Mammoth-Hibernian-Songster, p. 29, "Colleen Dhas Cruthin Amoe" (1 text, possibly a short form of this); pp. 47-48, "Pretty Maid Milking Her Cow" (1 text)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #1926, p. 129, "Pretty Maid Milking Her Cow" (1 reference)
Roud #3139
RECORDINGS:
Tom Lenihan, "Cailin Deas Cruite Na mBo" (on IRClare01)
Michael Murphy, "The Pretty Fair Maid Milking Her Cow" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
J. W. Myers, "Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow" (Berliner 1772, late 1890s)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.26(457), "The Pretty Maid Milking her Cow," G. Walker (Durham), 1797-1834; also Harding B 25(1563), Firth c.18(163), Harding B 11(2386), Harding B 11(2846), "[The] Pretty Maid Milking her Cow"; 2806 b.11(99), "Colleen Dhas Crutha Na Mho" ("It was on a fine summer's morning"), W. Birmingham (Dublin), c.1867; also 2806 c.15(127), Harding B 19(79), "Colleen Dhas Crutha Na Mho"
Murray, Mu23-y1:029, "Colleen Dhas Crutha na Mho," James Lindsay Jr (Glasgow), 19C
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Peistie Glen" (tune)
cf. "Cailin Deas" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Poverty and Wealth ("How empty our freedom, oft vaunted, How hollow our liberty fair") (by Maurice Enright) (Foner, p. 250)
NOTES [184 words]: O'Conor-OldTimeSongsAndBalladOfIreland seems more complete than Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag. He hears her singing and professes to be "your captive slave for the future." She is not taken in by his profession, nor by his claim that "The Indies afford no such jewel" or that he would trade "the wealth of great Omar... Devonshire's treasure ... the lamp of Aladdin" to "live poor on a mountain With colleen dhas cruthin amoe." He warns "a young maid is like a ship sailing, She don't know how long she may steer" and he asks her to marry.
Samuel Lover in Rory O'More (1836) quotes this fragment: "I saw a young damsel--'twas Noreen; Her ringlets did carelessly flow Oh: how I adore you, ma voureen Ma Colleen dhas crutheen na mbho." - BS
Some of the "Colleen Deas/Dhas" texts have no mention of the Pretty Maid or the singing; I'm not sure they're the same, but am listing them so you can decide for yourself.
Korson's text "A Pretty Maid Milking Her Goat," is clearly a rewrite with humourous aspects. I'd suspect it of being by William N. Allen (Shan T. Boy) if it were in Wisconsin; it has his feel. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.2
File: San040

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