Mary Hamilton (Child 173) - Peggy Seeger

Four Maries / The Four Marys / Mary Mild / Mary Hamilton (Child No. 173) - Sung by Peggy Seeger on "Blood & Roses, Vol. 4" (1986). Note by Kevin W.: Based on Child 173 Version J, taken from the Harris Manuscript as sung by Amelia and Jane Harris in Perthshire, Scotland, in the middle of the 19th century. According to Hally Wood's daughter, Cynthia (Cindy) Tannehill Faulk Ryland: "Mother always credited the unusual tune you're discussing to a Scottish collector..." Liner Notes: "The Four Maries", as this ballad is sometimes called, are generally supposed to be the four maids-in-waiting to Mary, Queen of Scots, Mary Seton, Mary Beaton, Mary Fleming and Mary Livingston. History suggests that our heroine was NOT one of these but that the ballad is based on a confusion of names and events. (1) In Queen Mary's court in the 1560's, there was a liaison between a French girl and the Queen's apothecary, (2) In the court of Czar Peter of Russia in 1718-1719, there was an 'affair between a Mary Hamilton and an officer named Orloff. It has been put forward that there was perhaps an older balled that was called into use when the Mary Hamilton affair arose. The emotional pull of the ballad is strong, its narrative simple and clear. I learned this song from the singing of that magnificent Texas woman, Hally Wood. It is rather moving to think of a Texas singer telling the story of a doomed woman moving down ancient Edinburgh streets and laughing on the steps of Parliament... Song transcription: My mother was a brave woman, A brave woman and bold, She sent me to the queen's court When scarce eleven years old. The queen's meat was so sweet, The wine it was so fine, That I had lain in the old king's arms And rued it all sin, syne. News is to the kitchen News has come to me That Mary Hamilton's borne a babe And thrown him in the sea. Down came the old queen Gold tassels round her head; Mary Hamilton, where's the babe That lay all in your bed? Mary, put on your robe of black, Put on your robe of brown; Mary, come along with me To ride to Edinburgh town, She didn't put on the black, the black, She didn't put on the brown, She put on her brightest white To ride to Edinburgh town, As she rode up the Canongate The Canongate rode she; The ladies leaned over their casements And wept for that lady. As she walked up the Parliament Stairs A loud, loud laugh gave she. When she walked down the Parliament Stairs She was condemned to die. Go bring me the red wine, The reddest that may be; I'll drink a toast to the sailory boys Who brought me over the sea. Last night I washed the old queen's feet, Put gold round her hair; Today she gave me my reward The gallows to be my share. They'll put a kerchief round my eyes They'll never more let me see; They'll never let on to my mammy and my daddy I died way over the sea. Last night there were four Maries, Tonight there'll be but three; There's Mary Seaton and Mary Beaton, Mary Carmichael and me.