> Steeleye Span > Songs > Queen Mary

Queen Mary

[ Roud 6281 ; G/D 8:1605 ; Henry H230 ; Ballad Index HHH230 ; trad.]

Ray and Archie Fisher sang Queen Mary, Queen Mary as part of a Glasgow Street Songs Medley on the 1963 Decca album Edinburgh Folk Festival Vol. 1.

Gay Woods sang Queen Mary in 1998 on Steeleye Span’s album Horkstow Grange. Bob Johnson commented in the liner notes:

This ring-game of little girls, in which the action is suited to the words sung, in a relic of Scottish ballad belonging to the close of the 18^th Century. The tune a variant of The Band at a Distance.

The “music box” tune in between the verses is called Hunsden House.

Lyrics

Queen Mary, Queen Mary, my age is 15.
My father’s a farmer on yonder green,
With plenty of money to make me sae braw.
But there’s nae bonny laddy to take me awa.

Each morning I rise and make myself clean,
With ruffles and ribbons and everything fine,
With the finest hair cushions and French curls twa.
But there’s nae bonny laddy to take me awa.