Johnnie Sangster

DESCRIPTION: A harvest song about binding sheaves and Johnnie Sangster the bandster. The first part of the song is apparently sung by Johnnie or one of his companions; the end is sung by a girl who wants to marry Johnnie.
AUTHOR: possibly William Scott of Fetterangus (1785-?) (source: Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast)
EARLIEST DATE: 1903 (Greig/Duncan3)
KEYWORDS: farming work harvest
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #3, p. 2, "Johnny Sangster"; "Folk-Song in Buchan," p. 46, "Johnnie Sangster" (1 text plus 1 fragment)
Greig/Duncan3 407, "Johnny Sangster" (6 texts, 3 tunes)
Buchan-ABookOfScottishBallads 69, "Johnnie Sangster" (1 text, 1 tune in appendix)
Ord-BothySongsAndBallads, pp. 265-266, "Johnnie Sangster" (1 text)
ST DBuch69 (Full)
Roud #2164
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Johnny Lad" (tune, per Greig/Duncan3)
NOTES [49 words]: Ewan MacColl's version of this is sung to a Lydian melody -- the only such I can recall in traditional Scottish music. This is not universal; Ord-BothySongsAndBallads's melody is generally quite close to MacColl's, but with that Lydian (sharpened) fourth reduced to an ordinary Ionian fourth. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.6
File: DBuch69

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