Butcher's Boy Willie Mathieson (Aber) 1952 Henderson
[From Edinburgh; School of Scottish Studies.SA1952.04.B8 (B13)
Listen: http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/play/2972;jsessionid=188816C257A0E249BBC41B53806EFCD5
http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/fullrecord/2972/1
R. Matteson 2016]
Willie Mathieson was born in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, and worked as a farmservant on various farms in Banffshire. An amateur folksong collector in his own right, he amassed an enormous corpus of songs over his lifetime, which is now deposited in manuscript form in the School of Scottish Studies.
Summary - In this murder ballad, a butcher boy meets a young girl, whom he promises to marry. He goes to meet her one day, suggesting they take a walk down by the sea, where he pulls out a knife, stabs her to death and then throws the body in the water. On returning home he goes to bed, only to be haunted by visions of Hell. The crime is later discovered, and the butcher boy is hung on the gallows.
The Butcher's Boy- sung by Willie Mathieson (1879-1958) of Ellon, Aberdeenshire. Recorded Hamish Henderson in 1952.
1. My parents gave me learning,
Learning they gave to me,
They sent me to a butcher's shop,
A butcher's boy to be.
2. It was there I met with a fair young girl,
She'd a dark and a rolling eye,
I promised I would to marry her,
If she would with me lie.
3. So I went down to her mother's house,
Between the hours of eight or nine,
And I asked her for to walk with me,
Down by yon river side.
4. Down by yon river side she said
Down by yon river side,
That we may walk and we may talk,
Down by the river side.
5. But they walk-ed east and they walk-ed west
And they walked all around,
Till he pulled a knife from out his coat
And he stabbed her to the ground.
6. And as she fell upon her bended knee,
And for mercy she did cry,
Oh Billie dear, don't murder me
Or leave me here to die.
7. I took her by her milk-white hand,
I dragged her up and down,
Till I came to the yon river side,
And he pushed her body in.
8. But he went on to his own mother's house,
Between the hour of twelve and one,
But little did his mother think
What her only son had done.
9. He asked her for a handkerchief,
To roll around his head.
Likewise for a candle light
For to show him up to bed.
10. No peace, no rest could this young man get
No peace no rest could he find
For he thought he saw the flames of hell
Approaching in his mind.
11. But the murder was soon found out[1],
And the gallis was his doom,
For the murdering of sweet Mary Ann
That lies where the roses bloom.
1. not clear