> 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.]

Dolina MacLennan sang Dee an Old Maid in a Garrett at Leith Town Hall on November 1963. 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.

Isabel Sutherland 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 sleevenotes 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 Musical Traditions CD Have a Drop Mair. She and Rod Stradling commented 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.

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

Bry 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.

Lyrics

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.