AN AULD MAID IN THE GARRET
Traditional
Noo I've aft times heard it said
by my mother and my father,
That tae gang tae a waddin' is
the makins o' anither,
If this be true, then I'll gang
wi'oot a biddin',
O kind Providence won't you send
me tae a waddin'.
Chorus :
For it's Oh, dear me ! whit will
I dae,
If I dae an auld maid in a
garret.
Noo there's ma sister, Jean,
she's no handsome or good-lookin'
Scarcely sixteen an' a fellow
she was coortin'
Noo she's twenty-four wi' a son
an' a dochter
An' I'm forty-twa an' I've never
had an offer.
I can cook an' I can sew, I can
keep the hoose right tidy
Rise up in the morning and get
the breakfast ready
But there's naething in this
wide world would mak' me half sae cheery
As a wee fat man that would ca'
me his ain dearie.
Oh, come tinker, come tailor,
come soldier or come sailor,
Come ony man at a' that would
tak me fae my faither,
Come rich man, come poor man,
come wise man or come witty
Come ony man at a' that would
mairry me for pity.
Oh, I'll awa hame fur there's
naebody heedin'
Naebody heedin' tae puir Annie's
pleadin'
I'll awa hame tae my ain wee bit
garret -
If I canna get a man than I'll
shairly get a parrot.
Footnote : This popular Scottish song goes back to a seventeenth century
English broadsheet ballad called ' The Wooing Maid ' by Martin Parker of
London. His chorus was :
Come gentle, come simple, come
foolish, come witty,
Oh if ye lack a maid, take me
for pity.
The song also crossed the Atlantic and survives in an American version
proving the strength of oral transmission.
