New-Mown Hay, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer walks out "one May morning" and spies "a pretty sweet maid All on the new-mown hay." She convinces him not to ravish her at once; "You'll spoil my maiden gown." She eludes him; he advises men not to worry about spoiling gowns
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1845 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(2661))
KEYWORDS: seduction trick clothes
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond,South,West)) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Bronson 112, "The Baffled Knight" (40 versions) -- but #26-33 (his Appendix A) are "The New-Mown Hay," which we tentatively separate, and #34-#39 (his Appendix B) are "Katie Morey" [Laws N24] which is certainly separate
Dixon-AncientPoemsBalladsSongsOfThePeasantryOfEngland, Song #33, pp. 227-229, "The New-mown Hay" (1 text)
Bell-Combined-EarlyBallads-CustomsBalladsSongsPeasantryEngland, pp. 443-444, "The New-Mown Hay" (1 short text, which I suspect has been cleaned up)
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 184, "The New-Mown Hay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Reeves/Sharp-TheIdiomOfThePeople 14B, "Blow Away the Morning Dew" (1 text, a composite of three texts. Reeves/Sharp-TheIdiomOfThePeople p. 42: "no extraneous words or lines are interpolated.")
Baring-Gould/Sheppard-SongsOfTheWest2ndEd, #102, "Among the New-Mown Hay" (1 text, 1 tune, perhaps bowdlerized)
DT, MORNDEW3*
Roud #2941
RECORDINGS:
John Campbell, "There Was a Shepherd's Boy" (on IREarlyBallads)
William Rew ,"The New-Mown Hay" (on FSB2CD)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2661), "New Mown Hay" ("As I walked out one May morning"), J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844; also Harding B 16(168b), "New Mown Hay"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Baffled Knight" [Child 112]
NOTES [108 words]: As far as the plot goes, this is exactly identical to "The Baffled Knight" [Child 112], and some (e.g. Bronson, Roud) have grouped them together (Roud now separates them, but it looks as if a few versions may be mis-filed). Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland, however, argues that they are separate, and the verse form implies he is right. To me, this looks like a cross between "The Baffled Knight" and "Rolling in the Dew (The Milkmaid)." - RBW
Separate from "The Baffled Knight"? Naah. Never mind "verse form" -- look at Kennedy's verse 3. I call that a smoking gun. - PJS
John Campbell's recording is macaronic, with only the chorus in Irish. - BS
Last updated in version 6.7
File: K184

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