Bonnie Lass of Fyvie, The (Pretty Peggy-O)

DESCRIPTION: A troop of soldiers comes to town. The (captain) falls in love with (Peggy). He asks her to marry; she says she will never marry a soldier. When ordered to leave, he asks more time to persuade her. It is denied. He departs, and dies for love
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.16(125))
LONG DESCRIPTION: A troop of soldiers comes to town. The (captain) falls in love with (Peggy). He asks her to marry; she says she will never marry a soldier. When ordered to leave, he asks more time to persuade her. It is denied. He departs, and dies for love (or alternatively, he asks what her mother would think when she hears the guineas clink)
KEYWORDS: love courting soldier hardheartedness rejection death
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South),Scotland(Aber)) US(Ap,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES (20 citations):
Ford-VagabondSongsAndBalladsOfScotland, pp. 121-123, "Bonnie Barbara, O" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan1 84, Greig/Duncan8 Addenda, "The Bonnie Lass O' Fyvie" (23 texts, 19 tunes)
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #15, pp. 1-2, "The Bonnie Lass O' Fyvie" (2 texts)
Ord-BothySongsAndBallads, pp. 304-305, "The Bonnie Lass o' Fyvie" (1 text)
Porter/Gower-Jeannie-Robertson-EmergentSingerTransformativeVoice #63, p. 227-228, "Bonnie Barbara O (The Bonnie Lass o' Fyvie)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Wt 414, "Sweet Peggy O" (1 text)
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, p. 169, "Pretty Peggy O" (1 text)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore3 381, "Pretty Peggy" (1 text)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 381, "Pretty Peggy" (2 tune plus text excerpts)
Hudson-FolksongsOfMississippi 49, pp. 165-166, "Pretty Peggy-O" (1 text)
Browne-AlabamaFolkLyric 75, "Pretty Fanny O" (1 text, 1 tune, so worn down that Browne thinks it a comic song)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 95, "Pretty Peggy O" (4 texts, 4 tunes)
Gentry/Smith-ASingerAmongSingers, #32, "Pretty Peggy O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sackett/Koch-KansasFolklore, pp. 170-171, "Pretty Peggy O" (1 text, 1 tune, with the verses badly disordered)
Dallas-TheCruelWars-100SoldiersSongs, pp. 62-63, "The Bonnie Lass of Fyvie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scott-TheBalladOfAmerica, pp. 20-22, "The Bonnie Lass o' Fyvie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 282, "Peggy-O" (1 text)
DT, FYVIOLAS* FENARLAS* FYVIOLS2 (FYVINOTE -- background notes)
ADDITIONAL: W. Christie, editor, Traditional Ballad Airs (Edinburgh, 1876 (downloadable pdf by University of Edinburgh, 2007)), Vol I, pp. 276-277, "The Bonny Lass o' Fyvie" (1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Pretty Peggy and Pray Pa-Pa, illustrated by Rosina Emmet, illustrated chapbook by Dodd, Mead & Company, New York, 1980, "Pretty Peggy" (1 text, presented both continually and in an illustrated version, 1 tune)
Roud #545
RECORDINGS:
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "The Maid of Fife-E-O" (on IRClancyMakem02)
Jimmy McBeath, "Bonnie Lass O' Fyvie" (on Voice01)
John Strachan, "The Bonnie Lass O' Fyvie" (on Lomax43, LomaxCD1743)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.16(125), "Pretty Peggy of Derby" ("There was a regiment of Irish dragoous [sic]"), J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Harding B 15(244a), "Pretty Peggy of Derby"; Harding B 25(1565), "Pretty Peggy of Derry"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Noble Duke O'Gordon" (tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Pretty Peggy of Derby
Lowlands o' Fyvie
NOTES [100 words]: Christie: "[The informant] was of the opinion that the Ballad was composed after a company of Dragoons had escorted the O'Connors to Fort-George, who had been engaged in the Irish rebellion in 1798. If so, this would account for the 'Irish Dragoons' in the Ballad. The Dragoons may have been at 'Lewes of Fyvie' on their way to, or from Fort-George."
Christie's captain "was ca'd Captain Ward." He notes, "In one of the copies of the Ballad sent to the Editor, the hero is called 'Captain Ned,' in another 'Captain Ade.' He has given the name 'Captain Ward,' from the copy referred to in the note." - BS
Last updated in version 6.4
File: SBoA020

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