A Man Came Home- Sheila Stewart (Perth) 1954
[School of Scottish Studies; Track ID - 33027; Original Tape ID - SA1954.122. Their notes follow. Sheila Stewart MacGregor's mother was Belle Stewart (singer) her father, Alex (singer and piper), and her sister Lizzie Higgins.
Listen: http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/person/818
R. Matteson 2017]
Item Notes - 5 verses. This song is from a large family of songs with several floating verses and has similarities with various other songs: Roud Folk Song Index nos. 273, 409, 495, 18828, 18833, 18832.
Summary - In this song a man comes home from work and finds his daughter hanging dead from a beam in her room. He cuts her down and finds words written on her breast, wishing that she was a maid [virgin] again, that her baby was born and sitting on its father's knee, and wishes finally that she were dead. The final verse gives instructions to bury her in a grave with lilies at her feet and a dove at her head, to signify that she died of love.
A Man Came Home From Work One Night- sung by Sheila Stewart (1937-2014) of Blairgowrie, Perthshire; recorded by Maurice Fleming in Sept., 1954.
A man came home from work one night,
And he found his home without a light;
And he went upstairs and to go to bed,
When a sudden thought came to his head.
He went into his daughter's room,
And he found her hanging from a beam,
And he got his knife and he cut her down,
And on her breast these words he found:
Oh, I wish, I wish, but I wish in vain,
I wish that I were a maid again;
But a maid a maid I shall never be
Till an apple grows on an orange tree.
I wish I wish my babe was born,
And sittin' on his daddy's knee;
I wish I wish, that I were dead,
And the green grass growin' over me.
Oh dig her grave and dig it deep
And put white lilies at my feet;
And at my head oh place a dove,
To satisfy[1] I died for love.
1. signify