> Steeleye Span > Songs > The Old Maid in the Garrett

The Old Maid in the Garrett / Maids at 18

[ Roud 802 ; G/D 7:1378 ; Henry H138 ; Ballad Index R364 ; Bodleian Roud 802 ; Wiltshire 597 ; trad.]

Marrow Bones The Everlasting Circle Sam Henry's Songs of the People Songs and Ballads of Dundee

Peggy Seeger sang The Old Maid in 1955 on her Folkways album Folk Songs of Courting and Complaint. The album's booklet noted:

The old maid tells of the success of her sisters, gives her own age as “six and forty”, and makes unheard-of concessions to the man who will marry her and take her “out of pity”.

The Reivers sang Auld Maid in a Garret on their 1960 EP The Work of The Reivers Volume 2. The liner notes commented:

It's a queer thing, tradition; this is a song that one might have sworn was written for the old Glasgow music-hall, and perhaps this version was. But in origin this song goes back to a penny sheet ballad written by Martin Parker in the seventeenth century called The Wooing Maid.

Dolina MacLennan sang Dee an Old Maid in a Garrett at Leith Town Hall on November 1963. A recording of this concert was released in the following year on the album The Hoot'nanny Show Vol. 1.

Alex Campbell sang The Old Maid in the Garrett in 1965 on his eponymous Transatlantic album Alex Campbell.

Sweeney's Men sang The Old Maid in the Garrett in the late 1960s on a Transatlantic single that was included in 2004 on their Castle anthology The Legend of Sweeney's Men.

Isabel Sutherland sang Old Maid in a Garrett on her eponymous 1974 EFDSS album Isabel Sutherland.

Lizzie Higgins sang An Old Maid in a Garrett in 1985 on her Lismor album What a Voice.

Steeleye Span recorded The Old Maid in the Garrett in 1996 for their album Time. Their sleeve notes commented:

Definitely to be taken with a large pint of salt, this is probably the first (and last) time that this sung has been sung by women!

Ellen Mitchell sang An Old Maid in a Garrett on her and Kevin Mitchell's 2001 Musical Traditions CD Have a Drop Mair. She and Rod Stradling noted in the accompanying booklet:

Ellen: Although this sounds Scottish it actually derives from a London music hall song. I learned this by osmosis from people around me when I was growing up.

Indeed, it has actually been collected twice as frequently in England. Baring-Gould, Sharp, Hammond, and Gardiner all heard it in the early years of the 20^th century, as did Alfred Williams and Mervyn Plunkett later. In Scotland, four versions appear in Greig-Duncan, and Lizzie Higgins recorded it on her 1985 Lismor LP What a Voice.

Jim Reid sang Auld Maid in a Garret on his 2001 CD Emfae Dundee.

The Witches of Elswick sang Maids at 18 in 2003 on their first album, Out of Bed. They noted:

Bry[ony Griffith] found this song in a book and fiddled about with the tune. As we're all getting on a bit, we can identify with the sentiments… We dedicate it to anybody struggling to find a partner; it usually works out but not always with long lasting success.

Ray Fisher sang The Old Maid in the Garrett live at Newcastle's Bridge Folk Club's fiftieth birthday party in 2008. A recording of this concert was released on the CD 50 Years of Folk Music in Newcastle.

Tracy Boyle sang An Auld Maid in the Garrett live at St Andrew's in the Square, Glasgow, during Celtic Connections 2017. This concert was released in the same year on the TMSA DVD 101 Scottish Songs: The Wee Red Book 2.

Lyrics

Peggy Seeger sings The Old Maid

Chorus (after each verse):
Come a landsman, a pinsman, a tinker or a tailor,
Fiddler, or a dancer, a ploughboy, or a sailor,
Gentleman, a poor man, a fool or a witty,
Don't you let me die an old maid but take me out of pity.

Oh, I had a sister Sally, was younger than I am
She had so many sweethearts, she had to deny them;
As for my own part I never had many
If you all knew my heart, I'd be thankful for any.

Oh, I had a sister Susan, was ugly and misshapen,
Before she was sixteen years old she was taken,
Before she was eighteen, a son and a daughter.
Here am I six and forty and nary an offer.

Oh I never will be scolding, I never will be jealous,
My husband shall have money to go to the alehouse,
While he's there a-spending well I'll be at home a-saving,
And I'll leave it to the world if I am worth having.

Ellen Mitchell sing An Old Maid in a Garrett	Steeleye Span sing The Old Maid in the Garrett
I have often heard it said By ma faither an ma mother Tae gang tae a wedding Is the makkings o another If this is true Then I'll gang withoot a biddin. Oh kind Providence, Won't you send me tae a weddin.	I was told by my Aunt I was told by my Mother That going to a wedding Is the making of another Well if this be so Then I'll go without a bidding Oh kind Providence Won't you send me to a wedding
Chorus (after each verse): And it's oh dear me, whit will I dae, If I dee an auld maid in a garret?	Chorus (after each verse): And it's, Oh dear me, how will it be If I die an old maid in a garret
Auch well, there's ma sister Jean, She not handsome or good-lookin She's scarcely sixteen And a fellow she was courtin. Noo she's twenty four, With a son and a daughter; I am forty twa And I've never had an offer.	Now there's my sister Jean She's not handsome or good-looking Scarcely sixteen And a fellow she was courting Now she's twenty-four She's a son and a daughter Here am I, forty-four And I've never had an offer
I can cook and I can sew I can make the hoos richt tidy, Get up in the mornin An mak the breakfeast ready. But there's nothing in this wide world Would mak me half sae cheery As a wee fat man That would caa me his ain deary.	I can cook and I can sew I can keep a house right tidy Rise up in the morning And get the breakfast ready There's nothing in this wide world That makes my heart so cheery As a wee fat man To call me his own deary
So come tinker or come tailor, Come soldier or come sailor, Come ony man at aa That'll tak me fae ma faither, Come rich man, come poor man, Come wise man or come witty, Come ony man at aa That'll mairry me for pity.	Oh come landsman, come townsman Come tinker or come tailor Come fiddler, come dancer Come ploughman or come sailor Come rich man, come poor man Come fool or come witty Come any man at all Won't you marry out of pity?
Oh, well I'll awa hame For there's naebidy heedin There's naebidy heedin Tae poor auld Annie's pleadin. I'll awa hame Tae ma ain wee bit garret, If I cannae get a man, I'll surely get a parrot.	Tunes They say that the women are Worse than the men They go down to Hell And they're thrown out again.

The Witches of Elswick sing Maids at 18

Maid at eighteen, maid at nineteen, maid at twenty marry,
Here am I at twenty-five, no longer can I tarry.

Chorus (after each verse):
With a hey, hey down and a derry, derry down
Maid or wife, it's a happy life
She leaves his heart, is free from strife
With a hey down, derry down dey

Sister Kate is far too young, she's younger far than I am,
She's had sweethearts by the score, she's forc-ed to deny them.

Sister Bess has an ugly face and besides she is my shape in,
Before that she was seventeen a bride she had been made in.

Before that she had nineteen years she'd a son and a daughter,
Here am I at twenty-five, I'd never had one offer.

Tinker. tailor, soldier, sailor, come before my chance fade,
Come and woe me, please pursue me, don't let me die an old maid.

Links

See also the Mudcat Café thread Lyr ADD: Take Her Out of Pity/Old Maid's Song.