The Wexford Girl- Ethel Findlater (Ork) 1961 REC
[Scottish Studies SA1961.88.A17. There are three recordings: 1961, 1966 and 1969, the last two are good. Also in Sitting Out the Winter in the Orkney Islands: Folksong Acquisition in Northern Scotland by Nancy Cassell McEntire; Indiana University, 1990.
Findlater (1899-1973) was born and raised in Dounby, Orkney. A prolific ballad singer and mother of Elsie Johnston (ID 6790). Assuming she learned this when she was young the date should be c. 1914. It's unique among Scottish versions. This version more closely resembles US and Canada versions and was learned independent of the Scottish tradition (see also her version of Gosport Tragedy which apparently came from print).
It's possible that since Orkney's industry is fishing that "the Orkney version came back from the Eastern Seaboard (of Canada). Orkney men were great sailors and many went to the fishing off Newfoundland and of course went whaling to Baffin Bay" [Gardham].
Listen (duet) with daughter, Elsie Johnston:
http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/en/play/93277;jsessionid=AF1306D8C0CE69E5F3FF55F36DD3A150
http://www.tobarandualchais.co.uk/fullrecord/46899/1
R. Matteson 2016]
Summary - A fragment of a murder ballad in which a young man, having promised to marry his sweetheart, invites her to take a walk then kills her.
The Wexford Girl- sung by Ethel Findlater of Birsay and Harray, Orkney. Recorded by Alan Buford, Elizabeth Neilsen. Ethel Findlater learned this song from her mother many years before. My transcription-- November, 2016.
1. Twas in the town of Nabol [1]
Where I was bred and born
And in the town of Wexford
I owned a floury mill.
2. I courted there a Wexford girl
With a dark and rolling eye,
I asked that girl to marry me
And with me right comply.
3. I went unto her mother's house
Bein' eight o'clock at night,
I asked my love to take a walk,
The wedding day appoint.
4. We walked along quite easily
Till we came to meadow's brown,
I pulled a stake from off the fence
And I boldly knocked her down.
5. She fell upon her bended knee
For mercy she did cry,
"Oh Willie my dear don't kill me here,
For I'm not prepared to die."
6. I heeded not a word she said,
But beat her all the more,
Till all about and all around
Lay in the bloody gore.
7. I took her by the yellow locks
And dragged her on the ground.
And through her in the river
That flows through Wexford town.
8. I was taken upon suspicion
And march-ed into jail,
With no one to pity me,
And no one to go my bail.
9. I went into my mother's house
Bein' twelve o'clock at night,
My mother who was sitting up,
Got in a terrible plight.
10. "Oh Willie my son what hast thy done,
Such blood on yer hands and clothes."
The answer I thought best to give,
"Was a bleeding at the nose."
11. I asked her for a candle,
To light me off to bed.
I asked her handkerchief
To tie about my head,
12. I tumbled and I tossed about,
No comfort could I find,
The flames of hell surround me,
And she lay close behind.
13. All ye young men who hear my fate,
A warning take by me,
And do not treat the girl you like,
With any cruelty.
14 For if you do you're sure to rue,
Until the day you die
And be hanged like me at last,
Be hanged from the gallows tree.
1. From Nancy Cassell McEntire's transcription- it's certainly a city name that is corrupt. According to Gardham: "Sounds like the original could be 'Marybone' i.e., Marylebone, pronounced Marlebone." It could of course be Maryborough or Marlborough that was intended.